“You answered ‘Neve Embry,’ and that’s who I want to take to dinner, so I’m pretty sure I have the right number.”
“Um, like when?”
“How about now? I mean, if you’re done for the day. Are you hungry?”
“Oh! No! I mean, I-I just got back from the Miners Tavern, and I’m at the clinic and I have this sick kitty …” she stammered.
“A male tabby,” he offered. She didn’t miss the hint of amusement in his tone. “I get it. This is totally last minute, but I found myself with some unexpected free time, so I decided to take a chance, hoping you were available. How about tomorrow night?”
“Uh …”
“Or the night after that? I’ve thought about you a lot since that race, and I finally decided to screw up the courage and ask you out. Assuming you’re not already taken. You’re not, are you?”
She let another laugh slip. Partly because she was tickled by his direct, somewhat old-fashioned approach, and partly because she couldn’t picture Leo Cantrell “screwing up courage” to ask a woman out. They probably fell out of the roof rafters or pushed up through floorboards everywherehe went, at the ready to drop their panties, hoping for a shot at him. And there was another point in his favor: He had the air of a man who knew what the hell to do in bed, and boy, could she use some steam in her life. Maybe he could even teach her a thing or two.
“I’m flattered.” And she was. Leo Cantrell not only owned and ran Silver Summit, but he was also a hotshot mover and shaker. A nice one, according to the rumors. It wasn’t every day that men with millions falling out of their pockets not only noticed sheexisted, but seemed genuinely interested in spending time with her.
Why was she hesitating, then?
It was a stab of guilt holding her back, as if she were being unfaithful to a lover, except she had no lover to be unfaithful to. She was patheticallynottaken.
Pushing aside her cockeyed conscience, she rushed to answer before she could change her mind. “I would love to go out with you tomorrow night.”
She could have sworn he hissed a “Yes!” under his breath, and happiness tickled just behind her breastbone. “Perfect. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“I’m looking forward to it, Leo.”
She hung up, her blood fizzing with anticipation, and her mouth stretched in a wide grin. Forgotten were the missing meds, the injured cat, and the encounter with Reece. Pearl looked up at her with a quizzical expression.
“No, I haven’t lost my mind. At least not completely,” she informed the dog.
How quickly the evening had turned. Neve had gone from lecturing herself about wasting time pining for a man who’d been making her hope for stupid lovesick stuff since she’d been in grade school to having a dinner date with a man who was pursuingher.
Was it any coincidence that Leo asked her out at the same time she’d decided to bury her infatuation with Reece forever? Nope. No coincidence at all. The universe had heard her and sent her the ticket she needed to make that change once and for all, and that ticket was emblazoned with Leo Cantrell’s handsome face.
Wait. What ifhewas her benefactor?
Chapter 2
Small-Town Grapevine
Mr. Whiskers blinked upat Neve with his one good eye as she cuddled him in her arms. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to stick around a little longer, buddy. You need more rest and recovery.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Deputy Shane O’Brien stood beside Neve in front of the cabinet that held the clinic’s medicines. Holding on to the brim of his hat with one hand, he reached out and scratched the cat’s head.
“Whatisn’twrong with him?” Neve quipped. “Cade found him hiding under some construction debris and brought him in.”
“Cade, the kid who works for Charlie's restorationcompany?”
Charlie was the youngest of the three Hunnicutt brothers, whom Reece often referred to as hisbabybrother—a term Charlie hated and, at over six feet, didn’t fit.
“He’s the only Cade we’ve got.” The boy’s mother worked for Noah at the Miners Tavern, and after getting mixed up with the wrong people, the townies had silently taken to looking after him, starting with Charlie. Cade was the embodiment of the idiom “It takes a village to raise a child.”
Nevelovedthat about Fall River. It was security, safety that cocooned her like the heated blankets she used on her furry patients. Sometimes running through the web of connections in this small town tickled the word “incestuous” and teased an inner chuckle inside Neve.
She alsohatedthat about her hometown. Being among people constantly up in her business was suffocating—the well-intentioned who wanted to know if she was dating anybody and if she wasn’t getting a little old to be single, and didn’t she want to have children someday? With the wedding of the year only two weeks away, these were the questions constantly buzzing around her these days.
Maybe she was exaggerating the reality a bit, but damn, it sure felt that way sometimes.
