Entice Me Box Set: The Truth About Shoes and MenCover MeMy Favorite Mistake

by Stephanie Bond

  I blew dust off the phone, then dialed Helena’s number. She answered on the first ring.

  “Kenzie?”

  My chest tingled at the concern in her voice—maybe I’d imagined the recent distance between us. “Yes, Helena, it’s me. I ran into a few delays, but I’m at Dr. Long’s—”

  “How is Angel?”

  I smirked, thinking I should’ve known the concern was all for her dog. “She’s fine, trying to adjust to dirt.”

  “Dirt?”

  Apparently it was a foreign concept to Helena, too. “Urn, she’s fine.”

  “Does Dr. Long suspect why you’re there?”

  Her second concern—the magazine. I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was alone. “I don’t think so.”

  “He hasn’t said anything about the cover curse, has he?”

  “No, but we haven’t had much time to talk. He’s preparing for a patient now.”

  “Tell me it isn’t a big, dangerous animal, like a mountain lion.”

  I blinked—there were mountain lions in this area? “Uh, no, it’s just a family dog.”

  “Good. Try to keep him from taking on anything too hazardous. And I’ve been thinking that someone might try to contact Dr. Long about the cover curse. Is there a way you can screen his calls?”

  I frowned. “What? No, I can’t screen his calls. And I don’t know that it would be such a bad thing if he did find out—wouldn’t he be more careful?”

  “Kenzie,” Helena chirped, “how would it look if everyone thought we actually believed in this cover curse enough to send someone to watch him?”

  Something false and fearful in her voice stirred a memory chord…the woman with the exotic voice I’d taken a message from—Madame something-or-other. The only people who went by Madame these days were brothel keepers and psychics. Aha! “Helena, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  I wasn’t comfortable confronting my boss about her phone conversations, so I tried another tack. “Helena, do you believe in this curse?”

  “Kenzie, that would be…unnatural.”

  I pursed my mouth. She so believed in this curse. “Is that why you wanted Sam on the cover, because he’s big and strong and less likely to come to harm?”

  “Oh, there’s my doorbell, Kenzie. I’m glad you and my Angel arrived safely. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

  I hung up the phone feeling befuddled…and a little used. Helena hadn’t been completely up-front with me, but then again, did her opinion of this cover curse really change my circumstances? Still, I had that panicky feeling of the situation spinning out of control. And deep down, I wondered what I would do if something did happen to Sam on my watch. And how I felt about the possibility of something happening to Sam, period—not good. I toyed with the idea of telling him about the cover curse.

  “How’s it going in here?”

  I jumped and turned around, then my knees weakened. If possible, the man was even more breathtaking in a white lab coat. I didn’t need the stethoscope hanging around his neck to know my heartbeat had picked up. I realized how ludicrous a cover curse would sound to him, and decided to stick with my original story—the article I was writing. “It’s going…well.”

  He looked sheepish. “Sorry about the mess in here—I can never seem to catch up on my paperwork.”

  “Do you have an assistant?”

  “Urn, not at the moment.” He glanced at his watch. “Are you starving?”

  My mouth was watering, but not for fried chicken. “I’m fine.”

  “I hope this appointment won’t take too long, then we can eat and relax.”

  Relax? There went my heart again. Was Sam expecting us to…you know? Somehow I had the feeling that Val Jessum wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of Sam and me…relaxing. And I had made up my mind—if he tried anything like that confusing little half kiss again, I was going to have to set him straight.

  From another room came a high-pitched screech, then Angel came skidding into view. Sam laughed and leaned over to pick her up.

  “What was that?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.

  “Come see for yourself.”

  I followed him down the hall, sticking close just in case something pounced. He pushed open a door and I was besieged by a bevy of screeches and squeals, and a pungent, musky smell. White cabinets lined the walls, and at least two dozen glass or wire cages were situated all around the room on top of the cabinets. I identified one dog, two cats, a few birds, some hamsters and—

  “Oh my God—are those rats?” I stepped behind him and pointed.

  Sam followed my finger, then gave me a little smile. “Yeah. This can’t be the first time you’ve seen a rat.”

  “No, we have those in the city, but we don’t make pets out of them.”

  Sam laughed and jerked his thumb to the right. “I keep the mice and rats around to feed the snakes.”

  I froze. I couldn’t look, I just couldn’t look.

  His head turned toward the entrance. “That must be the Randalls. Ready?”

  “You bet,” I said, eager to leave the rodent room. My skin was still crawling when I stopped in the office to pick up my camera. A full-body shiver overtook me, then I trotted behind Sam down the hall. En route, we decided to put Angel in an exam room with food and water to keep her out from underfoot.

  The Randalls were an adorable family—mom, dad and two kids, with one on the way. They were distraught over their pet Mister, a cute little beagle whose pain-filled eyes peeked out from under a blanket. Dad Randall and Sam moved Mister from the family’s SUV onto a mini-gurney and wheeled the little guy into the clinic. I maintained a respectful distance and clicked a few photos in the low light of dusk.

  Dr. Samuel Long had built an impressive facility at the top of his mountain. Despite the disaster in his office, and the questionable choice of animals he kept on-site, the lobby and two exam rooms were squeaky clean and reeking of antiseptic. On an empty stomach, the fumes made me a bit queasy, but I forged on, following Sam, Dad Randall and Mister into an exam room. I was riveted on Sam in his take-charge mode, and was glad to have the excuse of the camera lens to keep looking at him. Between the odor and his aura, I was getting downright light-headed.

  “Let’s take a look at you, Mister,” he said, then pulled back the blanket.

  I saw blood, then I saw black.

  *

  “HAVE YOU two had sex yet?”

  I stared at the phone, then jammed my mouth to the receiver. “Jacki, have you heard a word I’ve said?”

  “He has a girlfriend, he lives on the set of “Bonanza,” he maintains a menagerie, and he’s saving a family pet as we speak.”

  “I’ve been here all of two hours—when do you think we would have had the opportunity or the inclination to have sex?” I wedged the receiver between my ear and my shoulder so I could transfer a piece of unidentifiable chicken to a paper plate while holding an ice bag to my head. “I forgot to mention that I’m also wounded.”

  “What?”

  “I took a dive on the clinic floor at the first sight of dog blood.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I bumped my head. Sam said I don’t have a concussion, but if I start babbling, hang up and call for an ambulance.”

  “Oooh, did Dr. Long and Strong sweep you up and carry you to safety?”

  “No, but he rolled me over and slapped a Band-Aid on my forehead. Then he relegated me to the house to keep me out of the way.”

  “Oh. Well, where are you staying?”

  I licked a dab of mashed potatoes from my finger— hmm, not bad. “There’s an apartment over his clinic—Angel and I are staying there with the menagerie. But right now I’m in Sam’s kitchen.”

  At the sound of her name, Angel yipped from beneath the kitchen table where she had barricaded herself against her foreign surroundings and the exuberant barking of Sam’s dogs locked a few rooms away. I knew how s
he felt, and had developed a darting eye in the event the doc kept any no-legged pets at home.

  “What’s his house like?” Jacki asked.

  I scanned the log walls and butcher-block kitchen coun-tertop where I stood doling out “fixin’s.” “His house is…woody.” I looked up. “He has a chandelier made out of something that looks like animal bones—I think maybe it’s antlers. And his furniture still has bark on it.”

  “Sounds cozy. Does it look like his girlfriend lives there?”

  “I don’t see her underwear in the kitchen, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Have you seen his bedroom?”

  “No!”

  “Liar.”

  I sighed. “Okay, I peeked—but only because I was looking for the bathroom.”

  “And?”

  “And the bedroom doesn’t have curtains.”

  “That’s a good sign. Did you see girl stuff in the bathroom?”

  “I didn’t look.”

  “Liar.”

  “Okay, I peeked—but only because I was looking for painkiller for my head.”

  “And?”

  “And I didn’t see any girl stuff, but there’s a bathroom off the master bedroom where his dogs are locked up, so her things could be there.”

  “Do you think they’re serious?”

  “I haven’t met them, but their barks sound pretty serious.”

  “Hardee har. I meant the girlfriend.”

  “It’s none of my business,” I said primly.

  “Right.” Jacki didn’t bother to hide her sarcasm. “How’s the man allergy?”

  “Intact.” I sniffled for proof. “How was the Jersey shore?”

  “Wonderful,” Jacki breathed. “I’m so happy, Kenzie. I think Ted is the one.”

  I worked my mouth from side to side. “That’s great, Jacki, really. But does there have to be only one? Can’t he be one of the ones?”

  “One of the ones?”

  “One of the many ones that could be a lifetime partner.”

  “But I only want one lifetime partner.”

  I rubbed my itching nose, then heard footsteps on the porch outside the kitchen door. “There’s Sam now. I’ll call you soon.”

  Jacki was still talking when I hung up the phone. I caught the word hypochondriac—or maybe it was nymphomaniac—before I slammed down the receiver.

  Much foot pounding sounded outside, and I assumed Sam was stomping something rural off his boots. He walked in the door in his sock feet, still wearing the fabulous lab coat over his jeans. He looked tired, but he grinned. “Smells good in here.”

  I was seized by the bizarre sensation of being a pioneer woman greeting her mountain-man husband at the end of a long day, and had to resist walking over to loop my arms around his neck. It was the painkillers kicking in. “How’s Mister?” I asked.

  “He’s going to be fine.” Sam put his warm hand over my hand that held the ice bag on my head and lifted. “The question is, how are you?”

  “Just a bump,” I said, but my heart was beating double-time at his nearness. “Sorry about passing out on you like that.”

  He gave me a little smile, but his eyes were dark with concern as he skimmed his fingers over my bump. “Have you been feeling light-headed?”

  “No.” At least not until he’d touched me.

  “Are you sleepy?”

  “More tired than sleepy, I think.”

  He seemed satisfied that my noggin hadn’t been permanently compromised, then he swept my damp hair back from my temple with his thumb. “You’ve had a long day.”

  I wet my lips. “So have you.”

  He wet his lips. “I didn’t get to give you a proper welcome.”

  My mouth opened involuntarily and softened in preparation for his kiss. He landed with authority, awakening every nerve ending in my body. He slipped his arm around my back and pulled me closer as the kiss intensified. My breasts grew heavy and my stomach tingled where his growing erection pressed insistently. When he slid his hand down over the curve of my hip, my throat began to itch, and I remembered all the reasons I couldn’t let down my guard…any more than I had.

  I dragged myself out of his arms and touched my mouth. “We can’t,” I said, gasping for breath.

  He looked perplexed and his breathing was uneven. “Why not?”

  “Because…” I flailed an arm, buying time. “Because I’m here to work, Sam. Fooling around when we didn’t know each other was one thing, but now…I can’t.” I was here for a byline, not a fling.

  He pushed his hand into his hair and exhaled noisily. “Okay. We’re both adults—we should be able to get through this week without doing something that you’ll regret.” He grasped the edge of the counter and seemed to grapple for control. I have to admit it gave me a twinge of feminine satisfaction. He inhaled and exhaled a couple of times, then emitted a little laugh. “But if you change your mind, just yell.”

  A shiver passed through my body as it remembered every wonderful thing he’d done to it that night in the hotel room. I opened my mouth to yell, then clamped it shut and turned back to the chicken. Getting through this week without getting naked with Sam was going to be more of a challenge than I thought.

  “Meanwhile,” he said, “why don’t we sit and eat?” He shrugged out of the lab coat and folded it over the back of his chair. “Would you like tea?” He pulled a plastic gallon jug of it out of the refrigerator, and I nodded. I didn’t need the caffeine, but I didn’t see any bottled water handy, and I wasn’t going to risk the tap—God only knew the source.

  Sam’s dogs must have heard his voice because their barking increased to a crescendo.

  “Settle down in there,” he yelled, and they stopped mid-yelp.

  I wanted to go home, but instead I asked, “How many dogs do you have?”

  “Just three.”

  “Just three?”

  He grinned. “Every stray dog in the county seems to find its way here. Between you and me, I think people drop them off at the bottom of the ridge, hoping they’ll find their way up here and I’ll take them in.”

  “Do you?”

  “Usually. But I try to find homes for them. These three, though, were uglier than most and nobody wanted them, so I decided to keep them. How about some music?”

  He didn’t wait for my answer, but flipped on a radio on top of the refrigerator. The station was local and folksy, and the music made the space seem more intimate. I was still jumpy from the kiss when I took a seat at the rough-hewn table, a plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits in front of me. Angel came out from under the table, whining, to lean against my leg.

  “She’s a little spooked at being in a new place,” I said.

  He picked up a large piece of chicken with both hands. “I imagine that coming here has been culture shock for both of you, hasn’t it?” The grin was back, which eased the tension a bit.

  I bristled at the notion that I wasn’t worldly. “I see this assignment as a great adventure, a chance to discover new things.”

  “Oh, I suspect you’ll see a few things you’ve never seen before while you’re here.”

  “Good,” I said cheerfully, then bit into what I thought was a chicken leg. The first bite I got nothing but the crinkly, crispy batter, but on the second bite I hit meat. My empty stomach was happy. “You have quite a place here. Did you build it yourself?”

  He nodded. “I built the clinic first and lived in the apartment while I finished the house.”

  Log-home living wasn’t my bag, but I appreciated the work that had gone into building it. “Wow…that’s amazing.”

  He seemed amused. “Not really. I like to work with my hands.”

  My cheeks warmed. I remembered those superb calluses, and now I knew how he’d gotten them. Time to change the subject. “Are you excited about your magazine cover hitting the stands tomorrow?”

  He shrugged. “No offense, but I haven’t thought much about it.”

  �
��Your family and friends must be excited.”

  Another shrug. “My mom, of course, and some of the people in town.” His eyes danced. “Mostly I expect to get razzed for it.”

  “By the way, I hear you gave me all the credit for talking you into it. Thanks—you made me look good in front of my boss.”

  “It was the least I could do after accusing you of setting me up.”

  I thought about it, then nodded. “You’re right.”

  He laughed and drank from his iced tea glass. “You have to admit that was some coincidence.”

  I nodded again.

  “I assume your boss still doesn’t know how we first met?”

  “No.”

  “Well, don’t get me wrong—I’m glad you’re here, but I was surprised when Ms. Birch called me about your writing an article about me.”

  I squirmed. “Why would you be surprised that readers would be interested in what you do?”

  “I was surprised that you were doing the story. I thought you were her executive assistant.”

  More squirming. “I am, but I had mentioned to Helena that I wanted to put my journalism degree to use. She thought I was a good fit for the assignment.”

  “I would say you are a perfect fit,” he murmured with a half smile, then shook his head. “Man, this is going to be one long week.”

  My neck began to itch violently. I scratched like a wild animal, stretching the neck of my sweater to reach as much skin as possible.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Allergies,” I mumbled. “They seem to have gotten worse since I arrived.”

  “It must be all the pollen. The entire outdoors is having sex right now.”

  I stopped scratching and began ovulating. “I really should get my antihistamine.”

  He nodded toward my glass. “Drink up—it’s green tea, a natural antihistamine. Three or four glasses of that a day and eventually you can give up your over-the-counter drugs.”

  I sipped the sweet amber liquid in my glass. “I, um, have this theory about allergies.”

  “Oh?”

  “I think that nature gives us allergic reactions to things that are bad for us.”