His Strings to Pull (In the Line of Duty)

by Cathryn Fox

  Many hours later, after helping Sky out, Jenny made her way home. She crawled into bed, her body tired but her mind too hyped up to sleep. She thought over her conversation with Sky for the hundredth time, and after a deep consultation with herself, she decided while her friend said those things because she cared about Jenny’s well-being, she was wrong where Ving was concerned. He was a great man and she could trust him. She was sure of it. With that last thought in mind, she fell asleep, anxious to see him first thing tomorrow morning.

  * * *

  A bird outside Jenny’s window pulled her awake. She blinked her eyes open and groaned when she noticed that it was only six in the morning. She tossed and turned for half an hour, all the while thinking about Ving, and when she finally concluded that she wasn’t going to fall back to sleep, she pushed her covers off.

  She jumped from her bed, showered and dressed, then made her way to Sweetie’s Café. Knowing Ving had said he’d be up early to meet her at the pool, she decided to surprise him and the kids with a special breakfast before they all began their day. She ordered bagels, old-fashioned donuts and croissants, and two strong coffees for her and Ving. A short while later she drove down his street, stopping when she spotted his truck. She made her way to his door, taking note of the swingset in his backyard. Why would the set be in his yard and not the neighbor’s? Just as she was about to knock, the door flew open.

  She came face to face with the three kids he was babysitting, and the littlest girl, Kate, looked at the bag of goodies with bright-eyed enthusiasm.

  “Are those for us?” Andy asked.

  “They are.” She handed him the bag and looked past his shoulder, expecting to see Ving milling about. “Isn’t Ving up?”

  “No,” Marley, the oldest girl, said. She pointed toward the hall, to where Jenny assumed the bedrooms were. “And you don’t want to go in there. He’s grumpy.”

  “Grumpy? Why is he grumpy?”

  Kate rubbed her tired eyes. “Because he was up all night with Ella.”

  An uneasy feeling moved through Jenny as the seed of doubt Sky planted last night started blossoming inside her. “Ella?” Who the heck was Ella?

  The boy reached into the bag, pulled out a croissant, then handed the bag to Marley. “Yeah, and she was so loud, she kept us up all night long.”

  Kate plugged her ears, like she was reliving the god-awful noise.

  “No one got any sleep,” Marley said, grabbing a bagel.

  “He was supposed to take us to the pool,” Kate said, as she pulled a treat from the bag. “But every time we go in there to get him, Ella whines so he doesn’t want to leave her.”

  Jenny’s heart raced. What the heck was going on? Why would Ving be in bed with a girl when he was babysitting three kids, and why would Ella be so loud that they could hear her?

  Deciding to get to the bottom of matters, she looked at Andy and tried to keep her voice even when she said, “Why don’t you take your sisters to play on the swingset while I check on things.”

  “Sure,” he said around a mouthful of croissant.

  Once they disappeared through the door, Jenny made her way down the hall. She knocked quietly, worried about what she was going to find on the other side. For a second she thought about leaving and trying to put Ving out of her mind, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t possible, and she did want to get to the bottom of matters.

  “Come in,” he grumbled.

  Jenny sucked in a breath and held it as she opened the door, and when she saw a figure in bed beside him, her blonde hair splayed across the pillow, her heart fell into her stomach. As the image dredged up old memories, a lump pushed into her throat, and she gripped the doorframe.

  “Ving,” she managed to get out as her heart slammed in her chest. “What’s going on?”

  “Jenny,” he said, surprise in his voice as he jolted upright in bed. “What are you doing here?” He pushed the covers off, and slid his legs over the side of the mattress, and that’s when she got a good look at Ella.

  Her pulse leapt in her throat and her knees nearly gave as she took in the vision before her. She thought about her whirlwind romance with Ving and how the night before he’d asked her if she believed in love at first sight. The truth was she didn’t. At least not until she met him.

  His gaze went from her to Ella, then back to her again. He gave her a sheepish look, one that had love rushing to her heart, and said, “She was sick. I think it was something she ate.” He ran his hand over Ella’s head, stroking softly. “She’s feeling much better now though.”

  Jenny’s whole world shifted and a bone-deep warmth flooded her as he looked at her with such warmth and emotion—such happiness to see her. God, how could she not love a man who watched his neighbor’s kids, a man who put a swingset in his backyard for them because their mother likely couldn’t afford it? A man who stayed up all night with a sick dog and let her sleep in his bed?

  A man who said he wanted it all—with her.

  She stood there looking down at him, her heart swelling with all the things she felt for him. That’s when two things occurred to her. Too good to be true really did exist, and eventually she’d learn his full name, because, like he said, this romance came with strings, and someday soon she was going to be his wife.

  Afterword

  Thank You!

  * * *

  Thank you so much for reading, HIS STRINGS TO PULL, in my Line of Duty series. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to check out the other 6 books in the series. Please keep reading for an excerpt of HIS OBSESSION NEXT DOOR.

  * * *

  His Obsession Next Door

  His Trouble in Tallulah

  His Taste of Temptation

  His Moment to Steal

  His Best Friend’s Girl

  His Reason to Stay

  * * *

  Interested in leaving a review? Please do! Reviews help readers connect with books that work for them. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

  His Obsession Next Door

  “What’s gotten into the puppies tonight?” Veterinarian Gemma Matthews asked her assistant as she finished securing the last howling pooch into its kennel.

  Victoria gave a mock shiver and shot a nervous glance toward the shelter window. “It’s the moon. It’ll be full tomorrow night.”

  Despite the uneasy feeling mushrooming inside Gemma, she laughed at her assistant and followed the long column of silver moonlight illuminating a path along the cement floor. She reached the front lobby of her clinic, now eerily quiet after a demanding day of surgeries, and turned to Victoria. She gave a playful roll of her eyes, and said, “You’ve seen too many scary movies.”

  Victoria dabbed gloss to her lips, smacked them together and countered with, “Hey, it could happen.”

  Gemma arched a brow, humoring the young girl she’d hired straight out of veterinary college. “You think?”

  “Sure.” Victoria’s long, blonde ponytail flicked over her shoulder as she gestured to the no-kill shelter attached to the clinic. “That’s why the dogs are barking.” Her green eyes widened and her voice sounded conspiratorial when she added, “They can sense the big, bad wolf out there, ready to shred a human’s heart into a million tiny pieces.”

  “I hate to break it to you, Victoria,” Gemma said, grinning at her assistant’s antics, “but werewolves don’t exist.” Even though Gemma didn’t believe in the supernatural, there was nothing she could do to ignore the jittery feeling that had been plaguing her all day. The truth was, the dogs weren’t the only ones feeling antsy and out of sorts on this hot summer night.

  Her assistant held her arms up and jangled the big, silver charm bracelets lining her wrists. “Well I’m not taking any chances, which is why I’ve armed myself with silver.”

  Before Gemma could respond, the office phone started ringing. As Victoria turned her attention to the caller, Gemma dimmed the lights and made her way to the front door to
stare out into the ominous night. She stole a glance skyward and took in the mosaic of stars shimmering against the velvet backdrop. Even though the Austin night was calm, with not a cloud to be found in the charcoal sky, deep inside Gemma could sense a strange new ripple in the air. It left her feeling ill at ease. She placed a hand over her stomach, unable to shake the feeling that all was not right in her world.

  Honestly, she had no reason to feel apprehensive or troubled, considering she finally had everything she ever wanted—her own clinic in the city, a no-kill shelter to help re-home animals, and an upcoming banquet that would hopefully raise enough funds to expand her animal sanctuary before she had to start turning pets away.

  Swallowing down her edginess, Gemma set the deadbolt and was about to switch the sign from Open to Closed when a tall, dark figure stepped from the inky shadows. She sucked in a quick breath and felt a measure of panic as the very male, very familiar figure came into view.

  Speaking of the big, bad wolf.

  “Oh. My. God,” she rushed out breathlessly.

  “Is everything okay?” Victoria asked from behind the counter.

  Instead of answering, Gemma’s shaky hands went back to the deadbolt, certain she had to be hallucinating. The bell overhead jangled as she pulled the door open and the second she came face to face with the man from her past, the same man who’d rebuffed her seduction days after her seventeenth birthday, she feared nothing would ever be okay again.

  Moving with the confidence of a man on a mission, he came closer, the long length of his powerful legs eating up the black sidewalk in record time. Even in the dark she’d recognized that hard body of his, developed from hardcore military training rather than endless hours in some sleek gym. Her gaze took in the leather motorcycle jacket stretched over broad shoulders before traveling back to his chiseled face. Dark, penetrating eyes—harder now from having seen too much carnage—locked on hers, and the raw strength of the impact hit like a physical blow.

  He came barreling through her front door. “Gemma,” he rushed out breathlessly. The urgency in his voice had the fine hairs on the back of her neck spiking with worry.

  “Cole,” she somehow managed to say around a tongue gone thick as she stumbled backward. “What…how…?” She choked on her words as she glanced past his shoulders to see where he’d come from. She’d been positive that after the funeral last year she’d never set eyes on this man again, and if she did, their chance meeting wouldn’t go down like this.

  Worried eyes full of dark concern cast downward. “Gemma…it’s…it’s Charlie…he’s hurt…” Cole’s fractured words fell off and that’s when Gemma’s gaze dropped.

  Her heart leaped into her throat and she instantly snapped into professional mode when she caught the silhouette of the Labrador Retriever bundled in his arms. “Follow me.” Jumping into action she turned and found Victoria rushing down the hall toward Exam Room 1, already a step ahead of them.

  Gemma moved with haste and worked to quiet her racing heart. “Tell me exactly what happened.” She kept her tone low and her voice controlled in an effort to calm Cole and minimize his anxiety.

  Keeping pace, he followed close behind her, his feet tight on her heels. “We were out for a run in Sherwood Park,” he began. “A squirrel sidetracked him, and he veered off the beaten path. He was jumping a log and didn’t see the sharp branch sticking up.”

  She stole a quick glance over her shoulder and when dark, intense eyes focused on hers, her stomach clenched. “It’s going to be okay, Cole. I promise.” She drew a breath and gave a silent prayer that it was a promise she could keep. Gemma pushed through the swinging door and gestured with a quick nod toward the sterile examination table while she hurried to ready herself.

  Understanding her silent command, Cole secured the whimpering dog onto the prep counter. Gemma’s heart pinched when he placed a solid, comforting hand on the animal’s head and spoke in soothing tones while Victoria went to work on preparing the pre-surgical sedative.

  Gemma scrubbed in quickly and put on her surgery gear. She gave the dog a once-over before she dabbed at the blood to assess the depth of the wound. Angling her head, she cast Cole a quick glance. “Why don’t you take a seat in the other room. This could take a while.”

  “I’m staying,” Cole said firmly, their gazes colliding in that old familiar battle of wills.

  Uncomfortable with the idea of him watching while she worked, and fully aware that he was a distraction she didn’t need during surgery, she urged, “It could get messy.”

  “I’ve seen blood before, Gemma.” With his feet rooted solidly, he folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not leaving him.”

  “Cole—”

  “I’m fine.”

  Not wanting to waste time with a debate and knowing Cole was a bomb expert who’d seen his fair share of blood in the field, she gestured toward the chair in the corner. Once Cole stepped away, she cleansed the animal’s wounds and continued her assessment.

  She checked temperature, pulse and respiration before evaluating Charlie’s gums. She shot Victoria a look as her assistant secured the blood pressure cuff and waited for the go ahead on the pre-surgical sedative.

  “He’s already trying to crash,” Gemma said. “We have to go straight to surgery.”

  Working quickly, Gemma hooked the dog to an I.V. catheter and induced anesthesia while Victoria began the three-scrub process to shave and sterilize Charlie’s skin.

  Once the dog was clipped and scrubbed, Gemma reassessed. “He’s lost a lot of blood, but I’m not seeing any visible organ damage. We’ll have to flush the cavity to clean out the debris before we stitch.”

  As Gemma sprayed the area with warm saline, Victoria called out, “Pulse ox dropping, heart rate down to forty-five.”

  Damn, this was not good. Fearing she was missing something, she sprayed the area again and gave the cavity another assessment. That’s when she noticed the tree had nicked a vessel on the liver. Gemma’s heart leaped and worry moved through her as she exchanged a look with Victoria. Keeping her fingers steady and her face expressionless for Cole’s sake, she worked quickly to tie the vessel off before it was too late. Once complete, she rinsed the area, and when the bleeding came to a halt, she exhaled a relieved breath.

  She turned her attention to her suture. A long while later she glanced at the clock, noting that more than an hour had passed since Cole had first stepped foot in her door. Gemma secured the last stitch, wiped her brow and stood back to examine the dog.

  “Vitals are good,” Victoria informed her. Gemma gave a nod and took off her surgery garb. She quickly washed up and let loose a slow breath, confident that the dog would recover.

  “Will he be okay?” Cole whispered.

  Gemma’s skin came alive, Cole’s soft, familiar voice sending an unexpected curl of heat through her tired body. She turned to him and he stepped closer, the warmth of his body reaching out to her and overwhelming all her senses. As he looked at her with dark, perceptive eyes that knew far too many of her childhood secrets, she jerked her head to the right. “Let’s go into the other room.”

  She pushed through the surgery doors and Cole followed her into the lobby where she could put a measure of distance between them.

  “Is Charlie going to be okay?” Cole asked again, raking his hands through short, dark hair that had been cut to military standards.

  Gemma rubbed her temples and leaned against the receptionist’s counter. “He’s lucky you got him to me when you did.”

  For the first time since stepping into her clinic, his shoulders relaxed slightly. “He’s going to be okay?”

  “Yes. He’s going to be fine.” She drew a breath and stared at the man before her, hardly able to believe that he was here in her clinic. Shortly after her botched seduction some ten years ago he’d enlisted in the army and had gone out of his way to avoid her.

  As she considered that further, she decided to brave the question that had been plaguing her since
he’d darkened her doorway. She waved her hand around the front lobby. “Why did you bring him here? There are other clinics closer to Sherwood Park.”

  Silence lingered for a minute, then in a voice that was too quiet, too careful, he said, “Because you were here, Gems, and I wouldn’t trust Charlie’s care in anyone else’s hands but yours.”

  Her throat tightened at the use of his nickname for her, and while her heart clenched, touched at the level of trust he had in her, her brain cells made the next logical leap. “You’ve been back for a while, then,” she stated in whispered words.

  An expression she couldn’t quite identify flitted across his face as he said, “A week now.”

  “Oh.” Gemma shifted slightly, trying not to feel wounded that he’d been home for seven long days and hadn’t even bothered to say hello.

  She averted her gaze to shield the hurt but when he added, “I wanted to come sooner,” she knew she could never hide anything from him.

  She held her hand up to cut him off. “I understand how difficult this must be for you,” she assured him, her mind going back to the last time they’d seen each other. Even though he’d been in a tremendous amount of pain at Brandon’s memorial service, suffering as he said good-bye to his lifelong friend and fellow soldier, Cole had tried to console her, watching over her and taking care of her the same way he used to when they were kids.

  It warmed her heart to know her brother hadn’t died alone in the line of duty and that Cole had been there to care for him until the end. Her gaze panned his face. She took in the dark smudges beneath even darker eyes and couldn’t help but wonder, who was taking care of him?