Read Online Winter at Mustang Ridge by Jesse Hayworth - Free Book Online
Authors: Jesse Hayworth
Ads: Link
Jenny?”
“Just curious.”
“A hot and heavy kind of curious?”
“Ah, Ruth. Always the romantic. Nope, I’m not going there. Not even thinking in that direction.” Okay, maybe he was, a little. But not in any serious kind of way.
“Because if you were, I’d have to suggest you think more in Krista’s direction. They’re twins, after all, and she’s still going to be in town come spring.”
“Like I said, not going there.” Especially when Krista wasn’t the one who’d left him grinning after only a few minutes on the phone.
• • •
Jenny parked the Jeep in front of the vet clinic at six on the dot, snagged the picnic basket from the passenger’s side footwell, and climbed out into a night that had gotten darker and colder during the twenty-minute drive from Mustang Ridge. Or maybe—probably—she was feeling the cold because she had swapped out her down parka for a trim ski jacket, wanting to look less like a teenager and more like . . . well, herself.
Maybe Gran’s eyes had been laughing as she handed over the basket, and maybe Jenny had taken an extra five minutes on her hair, but what was the harm? She could think of far worse ways to pass the next five weeks and five days than flirting with the local vet.
She stepped onto the porch, the door opened and there he was, just like last night. Only this time she was carrying treats rather than an injured dog, and she didn’t look like the Michelin Man and smell like bratwurst.
Hopefully.
Nick was wearing the same lab coat, thermal shirt, and jeans routine as yesterday, but unlike her, he hadn’t had any ground to make up in that department. The light loved him from every angle, putting sexy shadow-smudges along his cheekbones and jaw, and highlighting the waves of his finger-rumpled hair.
“Right on time,” he said with an easy grin, ushering her in and closing the door behind her. “You ready to bust your newest family member out of this joint?”
Her flush didn’t come from the warm air inside; it was all about the full-on eye contact he was giving her. Still, she managed to come up with a breezy, “Definitely. The others are dying to meet him.”
“If that’s your dog crate,” he said with a nod at the picnic basket, “I’ve got bad news for you.”
“Nope. It’s for you.” She held it out. “A thank-you from my gran.”
Eyes lighting, he took the basket. “Tell me she sent cookies.”
“Double chocolate chunk, along with peanut butter brownies and apple cinnamon muffins.”
“Score.” He flipped up the lid and took a deep breath, which was a pretty universal response where Gran’s cooking was concerned. Then he set the basket on the reception desk. “I’ll have to scarf the muffins before Ruth gets in. I wouldn’t want her to think I was two-timing her.”
“Good plan. They’re sworn enemies on the local bake-off circuit.”
“And Bingo?”
“No, Ruth’s got the edge there.”
They shared a grin that went on a beat longer than required and put a flutter in Jenny’s chest, one that said,
Oh, yeah
, like an oldie-but-goodie Kool-Aid commercial. He wasn’t anything like her usual type, but maybe that was part of the attraction.
He held out a hand. “Can I take your coat?”
“Sure. Thanks.” Coming from a world where she opened her own doors and schlepped her own equipment, it felt strange to hand over her ski jacket and gloves. Strange and kind of girly, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, she decided as he hung her stuff on a rack beside the door.
“Your guy is waiting in my office. He looked so sad in his cage, I took pity once Ruth left for the night.”
“Ah, you’re a sucker.”
“Guilty as charged.” He opened the office door with a flourish. “Ta-daa!”
Jenny did a double take at the sight of a big golden retriever rising slowly from a nest of blankets in the corner. Because while the dog might be moving like an old cowboy who’d hit the dirt a few too many
“Just curious.”
“A hot and heavy kind of curious?”
“Ah, Ruth. Always the romantic. Nope, I’m not going there. Not even thinking in that direction.” Okay, maybe he was, a little. But not in any serious kind of way.
“Because if you were, I’d have to suggest you think more in Krista’s direction. They’re twins, after all, and she’s still going to be in town come spring.”
“Like I said, not going there.” Especially when Krista wasn’t the one who’d left him grinning after only a few minutes on the phone.
• • •
Jenny parked the Jeep in front of the vet clinic at six on the dot, snagged the picnic basket from the passenger’s side footwell, and climbed out into a night that had gotten darker and colder during the twenty-minute drive from Mustang Ridge. Or maybe—probably—she was feeling the cold because she had swapped out her down parka for a trim ski jacket, wanting to look less like a teenager and more like . . . well, herself.
Maybe Gran’s eyes had been laughing as she handed over the basket, and maybe Jenny had taken an extra five minutes on her hair, but what was the harm? She could think of far worse ways to pass the next five weeks and five days than flirting with the local vet.
She stepped onto the porch, the door opened and there he was, just like last night. Only this time she was carrying treats rather than an injured dog, and she didn’t look like the Michelin Man and smell like bratwurst.
Hopefully.
Nick was wearing the same lab coat, thermal shirt, and jeans routine as yesterday, but unlike her, he hadn’t had any ground to make up in that department. The light loved him from every angle, putting sexy shadow-smudges along his cheekbones and jaw, and highlighting the waves of his finger-rumpled hair.
“Right on time,” he said with an easy grin, ushering her in and closing the door behind her. “You ready to bust your newest family member out of this joint?”
Her flush didn’t come from the warm air inside; it was all about the full-on eye contact he was giving her. Still, she managed to come up with a breezy, “Definitely. The others are dying to meet him.”
“If that’s your dog crate,” he said with a nod at the picnic basket, “I’ve got bad news for you.”
“Nope. It’s for you.” She held it out. “A thank-you from my gran.”
Eyes lighting, he took the basket. “Tell me she sent cookies.”
“Double chocolate chunk, along with peanut butter brownies and apple cinnamon muffins.”
“Score.” He flipped up the lid and took a deep breath, which was a pretty universal response where Gran’s cooking was concerned. Then he set the basket on the reception desk. “I’ll have to scarf the muffins before Ruth gets in. I wouldn’t want her to think I was two-timing her.”
“Good plan. They’re sworn enemies on the local bake-off circuit.”
“And Bingo?”
“No, Ruth’s got the edge there.”
They shared a grin that went on a beat longer than required and put a flutter in Jenny’s chest, one that said,
Oh, yeah
, like an oldie-but-goodie Kool-Aid commercial. He wasn’t anything like her usual type, but maybe that was part of the attraction.
He held out a hand. “Can I take your coat?”
“Sure. Thanks.” Coming from a world where she opened her own doors and schlepped her own equipment, it felt strange to hand over her ski jacket and gloves. Strange and kind of girly, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, she decided as he hung her stuff on a rack beside the door.
“Your guy is waiting in my office. He looked so sad in his cage, I took pity once Ruth left for the night.”
“Ah, you’re a sucker.”
“Guilty as charged.” He opened the office door with a flourish. “Ta-daa!”
Jenny did a double take at the sight of a big golden retriever rising slowly from a nest of blankets in the corner. Because while the dog might be moving like an old cowboy who’d hit the dirt a few too many
Similar Books
