Page 1 of Talk Wicked to Me

Chapter One

“I CAN’T BELIEVE you’re leaving me.”

Baz clicked the icon on his computer screen, confirming the last of his travel plans for his long-awaited four-month assignment with Veterinarians without Borders, and looked up at Evie, one of his closest friends and his veterinary assistant. Her long brown hair spilled over her scrub-clad shoulders in messy, end-of-the-workday waves. Her arms were crossed, chin lifted in adorable indignance. “It’s not like I’m leaving you high and dry, Eves. You know I’ve got interviews lined up this week and next.” He was hiring another veterinarian to ease his workload and hold down the fort while he was away. “We’ll find the right person soon and get them on board before I go.”

“I’m not talking about work,” she huffed.

He knew exactly what she meant. They spent most of their free time together, and he was going to miss her, too, but he’d put off this trip long enough. He’d wanted to go right after vet school, but his family was still reeling from the death of his younger sister, and just when they’d found their footing, his younger brother, Gunner’s, best friend and military comrade, Sidney, had suffered career-ending injuries, and Gunner was a mess. He’d come to Baz proposing a business partnership. Gunner was leaving the military after his tour ended, and he’d needed help purchasing property in Harwich, the small Cape Cod town where they’d grown up, and opening Wicked Animal Rescue, which he’d wanted to do for Sidney. Baz agreed, fast-forwarding his own plans of opening a veterinary practice. He’d spent the next few years helping Gunner and Sidney with the rescue and getting his practice up and running. Once that was stable, he’d started planning the trip, but they’d suffered another loss and in the aftermath had nearly lost his older brother, Tank. That was two and a half years ago. His family was finally on solid ground, and as nervous as he was about leaving them, he was also excited to fulfill one of the most important promises he’d ever made by going on this trip.

Evie cleared her throat, looking at him expectantly.

“Eves, you’re always saying you can’t pick up guys when I’m around. I think you’ll be okay.” She had plenty of girlfriends to hang out with, and despite her bitching about the lack of available men in her life, there was never a shortage of them showing interest in her.

She rolled her eyes and hoisted herself up, sitting on his desk. “Of course I’ll be okay. When am I ever not okay? But I’ll miss your ugly face, and who’s going to get all snarly when guys bug me at the Salty Hog?” His parents owned the rustic restaurant and bar.

He sat back, meeting Evie’s amused and equally annoyed gaze. “Not that you need any help, but you know my brothers and cousins have all got your back, and they’re plenty snarly.” His brothers and their male cousins, were all Dark Knights motorcycle club members, like Baz. They’d known Evie forever, and they were as protective of her as they were of all their other close-knit friends.

“It’s not the same. Most of them are coupled off.”

“Then when we’re at the Hog tonight I’ll ask Zan to stick by your side while I’m gone.” Zander was one of his single cousins.

“Zander? Really?” she said flatly. “He’ll be too busy flirting with every woman in there.”

“He may be a player, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. If I ask him to stick by you, he’ll be as diligent as Tank.” He’d ask Zeke, one of Zander’s older brothers who was also single, but he didn’t go to the Hog as often as Zander did.

Her eyes widened. “Forget I said anything. I love Tank, but I need bait, not a bodyguard.” She pushed off the desk to her feet. “Let me know how today’s interview goes.”

She turned to leave, and he grabbed her wrist. “Whoa. Bait? You’re always saying you can’t pick up guys when I’m around.”

“Did I say bait? I meant…” She bit her lower lip, trapping a mischievous grin, her gaze flicking to the ceiling, the walls, the floor. Anywhere but at him.

“Spill it, Eves. Exactly how do you use me as bait?” he asked as Tori, the shared office administrator for the veterinary clinic and the animal rescue, which was on the same property, walked into the room.

Eyeing the two of them, the supremely organized, twentysomething blonde pushed her black wire-framed glasses to the bridge of her nose and looked expectantly at Evie. “This ought to be good.”

“Hey. What happened to the girl code?” Evie complained. “You’re supposed to have my back.”

“I’ve got your back when it counts,” Tori said. “But the entertainment factor on this one is way too high to let it go.”

Baz smirked. “Give it up, Eves.”

“Fine.” Evie planted a hand on her hip. “Guys pay more attention to me when I’m with you. It nudges their competitive nature or something. I don’t know why, but it works.”

He pushed to his feet. “Then why do you always bitch about me making it hard for you to meet guys?”

“So you’ll keep doing it, obviously.”

He could do little more than stare at her as he tried to puzzle that out.

“And there it is, folks,” Tori announced. “The confounded look of a Wicked man slowly morphing to gritted-teeth annoyance and the blooming grin of his one-upping bestie. I really wish you two would get together purely for the entertainment factor.”

“Ew,” Evie said at the same time Baz said, “Not happening.”

“Ew?” he asked, amused. There had been a time years ago when he’d been attracted to Evie in that way, but he’d known hooking up would screw up their friendship. In the years since, she’d become the person to whom he compared all other women, purposely setting the bar too high for him to be reeled in by anyone before he was ready.

“It would be like hooking up with my hot, annoying brother from another mother,” Evie explained.

“Not to mention Mr. Husband Material’s commitment issues,” Tori added.