“Mark. You. Umm. You said that out loud. And you kinda growled at me.”
“I did what?”
“Growled. Low. Deep. Sexy. Shit. I’m sorry,” she said, backing up and hitting the computer station with her hip.
The clipboard fell, startling Phoebe, who hissed and attempted to climb underneath my shirt, digging her claws in and breaking my fantasy. She rubbed the spot, spinning out of the way of the computer station to stand beside me.
Wow—as she moved in front of me, I leaned in, smelling her hair and almost getting a broken nose for my trouble. But I was under her spell, tangled in her web, and needing one more hit to make it through the rest of my day.
“No, I’m sorry,” I replied, picking up the clipboard and handing it back to her. I gave up on prying Phoebe off of me to face Jenna and squeeze her arm. I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to reciprocate touching her after hearing the sounds she made—sounds I thought were a figment of my imagination.
“My house has termite damage, and I need to move out for who knows how long. I don’t know where I’m going to go, especially with Phoebe. I don’t even have a carrier, for fuck’s sake.”
The words spilled out of my mouth, and I regretted them as soon as they did. I wanted anything but her sympathy.
“Did you know that termite queens have the longest lifespan of any insect in the world? Some live between thirty and fifty years, and they reproduce annually.”
I let go of her arm and furrowed my brows. She listened and spouted off a useless fact without judgment, looking at me with an adorable smattering of freckles across her nose and a quirky fact on her lips. Lips I couldn’t stop staring at...
“Why do you do that?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“What?”
Jenna pretended to look over the clipboard retrieved from the floor, but it was easy to see the way her eyes tracked my hands as I adjusted my collar and tried to contain Phoebe’s squirms.
“You’re upset about the house, even though it was something out of your control. There’s no point in apologizing or telling you it will be fine, so I told you a useless animal fact.”
She shrugged her shoulders and reached out to pet Phoebe. “I gave her more medicine. Text me if she still isn’t eating after adding the baby food.”
“Sure. Sorry about, umm, growling. I hate not being in control. This situation is frustrating.”
“I’m not. I’ve never heard anyone make that noise before. It’ll work out—Phoebe’s attached to you. As long as you’re with her, she’ll be fine. I mean, as long as you’re staying in a safe place, where she has space. And there shouldn’t be any other animals in the house. It would be best if it was with someone she already knew—that might help. Someone who was used to kittens and wouldn’t mind giving her the extra attention. In fact, why don’t you both just stay with me.”
As soon as she said those words, her posture got stiff, and her cheeks turned red as if she hadn’t realized what words just tumbled out of her cherry-red lips, but I heard her loud and clear. So did my dick, who decided he wanted in on the action.
“I mean, I’m sure a guy like you has a ton of friends and plenty of options. You don’t need to stay with me and my hundred plants. That was a stupid thing to say. Plus, my house is older and not very big, and you look like you need a lot of space. I mean, your beard, muscles, tattoos, and strong, rugged features. Your beard looks a hundred times better than a mustache, and it brings out your dark, soulful eyes...”
Her eyes got wide, looking like a deer in headlights, and she glanced at her feet, then back at me, fanning herself again with that damned clipboard again. I wanted to yank it out of her hands and see if I could make her whole body as pink as her cheeks. “Another fun fact, I ramble when I’m nervous.”
She swore under her breath, and damn if it wasn’t as cute as she was.
“Thank you for the offer,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck and trying to ignore the needle-claws ruining my shirt and digging into my chest.
Truthfully, she was probably my best option, but this had fucking complicated written all over it.
“Oh, it’s no trouble. And you don’t have to give me some random excuse for why you can’t. It was weird of me to ask you. I think we have some baby food around here. I’ll check and send Melissa in. It was good to see you, Mark. Really good. I’m glad you grew your mustache out.”
She hurried out of the room before I could pry my foot out of my ass to respond.
Melissa came in a few minutes later with several jars of chicken and turkey baby food and a spare carrier, but I kept glancing at the door, hoping Jenna would come back in. I wanted to say goodbye and tell her how good it was to see her and to thank her for the carrier and the offer.
“She’s already seeing the next patient,” Melissa said, not looking up from the computer.
“Am I that obvious?” I answered, chuckling to myself and safely stowing Phoebe away.
“Just a little.”
Melissa reached out to shake my hand and walked me to the receptionist’s desk to check out. As the front desk ran my card, I looked at the receipt and realized they didn’t charge me for the extras. I opened my mouth to say something when the receptionist read my mind.
