by Vivian Wood
She felt the familiar burn of shame in her chest. I am a modern woman, she reminded herself. It’s not my shame to bear…
Suddenly Rose’s hands tightened on the wheel, and she came back to the present. She looked again, couldn’t immediately see him. Had she imagined him?
Fuck you, Jared Chalke, she thought. No more…
She threw her car into reverse, backing out haphazardly. She nearly backed right into a beautifully restored red Ford truck, sending the dogs skittering for footholds.
She didn’t care, though. She needed to go, needed to drive. That was the only thing that would ease this tightness in her chest, make the tingling in her hands fade away.
Rose threw the car into drive and punched the gas as hard as she could.
No more, she promised herself. It wasn't him. You aren’t going to have a panic attack. You are not going to have a panic attack…
With that thought riding her, she drove out of town as fast as she could.
4
Colt pulled his truck up outside the address he had written down. This was the spot where he’d seen the little blue Volvo speed off the day before; the Volvo now sat in the driveway, unmoving.
Ahh, he thought. Maybe the new veterinarian has a need for speed… and little in the way of peripheral vision.
He turned off the engine, listening to it settle. The classic red 1968 Ford F-100 was his baby. Having a truck around to haul trailers and equipment was essential on a farm, but it also proved useful in other ways.
Leaving the keys in the ignition, he got out of the truck. He checked out the house, which was one of the older rentals in town. It was one-story, with an oddly flat roof and a postage stamp-sized lawn. The house was maybe yellow once, but was now so sun-bleached that it was impossible to know for sure.
He walked up to the front door. The second his boots hit the concrete, a clamoring of dogs made their presence known inside the house.
He stopped, his brows shooting up.
He’d grown up around Catahoula curs, a local breed of dog. They were underfoot everywhere you went on Roman Ranch, always trying to help… and get some bits of human food in the process.
This wasn’t quite the same, though. The curs knew him, these dogs didn’t. A man with one foot missing knew better than most what he didn’t want to run from…
Blowing out a breath, he moved forward to knock on the faded blue door. Honestly, he was a little surprised that the vet hadn’t already come to see what the ruckus was.
He knocked on the door once, then again.
No answer.
He looked back at the Volvo in the driveway, then at the lights on behind the curtains.
What was he supposed to do, leave a note?
Colt heard a noise from the backyard. He walked around the house, and came upon quite a scene.
A woman with dark, waist-length hair wet from the shower, was trying to break into the house in nothing but a towel. The towel hid enough, but he could see the outline of her breasts, a goodly portion of each leg, the delicate but proud curve of her neck.
She was completely, utterly gorgeous. Her skin was beautiful, tan and without blemish. Colt thought she might be a mix of Mexican or Native American.
Whatever she was, she was hot. She was breathtaking, as a matter of fact…
She caught sight of Colt, and screamed.
“Whoa!” Colt said, holding up his hands and backing away. “I’m just here to help, uhh… with the veterinary office?”
The woman tried to pull the towel around more of herself, pressing a hand to her throat. She looked panicked. Her face was bright red with embarrassment; Colt felt a little bad for checking her out a second ago.
Damn, though.
“I— That is, I’m locked out,” she confessed. Her accent was local, he could tell that much. He lowered his hands.
“I could take a look at the door, if you want,” he offered. “Not that my lock picking skills are really on par, or anything…”
She gave him a long look, then backed away from the door.
“Um, I’m Colt Roman, by the way,” he said, looking at the door.
“Rose,” she said, looking around nervously. “Rose Elliott.”
“You must be the new vet, then,” he said, keeping his eyes on the door.
“Yeah.”
He glanced over at her, saw that she was still painfully embarrassed. “Let me get something out of my car to jimmy the lock with.”
Her mouth turned down at the corners, but she just looked away and nodded.
Colt fetched two bobby pins that some girl had left in his truck. He hurried back and got down on one knee.
As he worked, he chatted, to keep things from getting too weird. Or, at least weirder than they already were.
“Is that your blue Volvo out front?”
She nodded, biting her lower lip, but didn’t answer.
“You almost hit me yesterday,” he said. “I’m the red Ford truck.”
“Oh. Uh… sorry,” she said.
He looked at her, and she visibly got more red. So he turned back to what he was doing. Within a minute, he had the door unlocked.
“You should fix that,” he said, nodding to the lock as he stood. “Anybody can get in.”
“Okay,” she said, starting to open the door. She paused, unsure what she should do. “Umm, thanks.”
“Wait—” he said as she started to close the door on him. “I’m supposed to help you with the renovations to the vet clinic.”
“Oh. Ummm… I’ll meet you there. In a few hours, I guess?” she said.
“Like… two? Three?” he asked.
“Two!” she said, then shut the door in his face.
Colt blinked. Jeez, and Sawyer thinks I’m careless?
He looked at his watch. Maybe he could go see his brother, grab a bite.
He went back around the house, setting off another frenzied barking session. Climbing back into his truck, he pulled out and drove the short distance to Sawyer’s house.
Sawyer was in the front yard, carrying Shiloh around. Colt parked and jumped out.
“Hiiiiiiii!” Shiloh said from his place riding on Sawyer’s back.
“Hey,” Sawyer said. “Remy needed some boy-free time.”
“Ahh. Where are you off to?”
“Diner. You wanna come?”
“Sure,” Colt agreed. “Hey, I met the new vet.”
“Oh yeah? Is he anywhere as mean as the old guy?”
“Uhhh…” Colt said. He considered telling his brother everything, then kept the conversation light. “It’s a she. She got locked out of her place, so I jimmied her lock.”
Sawyer’s brows lifted. “Oh yeah?”
“Come on, it wasn’t like that.”
Colt started across the street to the only restaurant in town, Roxie’s Diner. It was all chrome and red leather, inside and out, classic diner style.
“No?”
“No,” Colt said, shaking his head. “Although… she is worth looking at.”
“Ahhh, now the truth comes out.”
They entered the diner, saying hi to the eponymous Roxie. She was a five foot tall ball of energy, topped with bright red hair that couldn’t be achieved outside of a dye box.
“Hey boys,” Roxie said, blowing them a kiss. “Sit wherever you want.”
There was only one other seated table at this hour, though it got packed on weekends.
Sawyer let Shiloh slide down off his back. Watching him go was like watching a miniature version of his father running across the restaurant.
“It’s crazy how much like you he looks,” Colt said, following Sawyer and Shiloh.
“I know, I’ve got a Mini-Me,” Sawyer said, tickling Shiloh as he climbed into the booth of his choosing.
Shiloh screamed, and Sawyer shushed him a little.
“I know. It’s hard to believe that you didn’t know about… things… for so long,” Colt said as he and Sawyer sat down.
H
e was alluding to the fact that Remy had kept Shiloh a secret for the first four years of his life.
Sawyer cleared his throat and looked at Shiloh meaningfully. Colt shrugged and picked up a menu, even though he always ordered the same thing.
“People have their reasons,” Sawyer said, defensive of his wife.
“I was just kidding. Hey, Shiloh, are you gonna get pancakes?”
“One pancake,” Shiloh said somberly. “One egg, one sausage link.”
“Oh man, that sounds good.”
Roxie came over and took their order. Sawyer got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich; Colt ordered the Greek omelette.
Roxie brought Shiloh crayons and a coloring book, and he was soon totally absorbed with his kindergarten artistry.
While Roxie was taking their order, the Jackson brothers came in. A few years older than the Roman brothers, the Jacksons were short, blond, and perpetually sunburned.
“Hey, Sawyer, Colt,” Greg Jackson said.
“Hey,” said Sawyer.
“How’d the rodeo go?” Colt asked.
“Good. We sold two broncos afterward, second and third place champions,” Will Jackson said, grinning.
They sat down at the next booth over, happy to chat about the horses they were selling this season, and what kind of prices the Romans should be expecting when they were ready to look at the horse market.
Colt’s attention drifted away. He’d heard all of this already, since he’d called Will out to look at one of the horses. Of course, now that there was a new vet in town…
He let his mind wander. Specifically, he found himself wondering what she liked, what kind of things he’d have to do to make her flush the same color as he’d seen earlier.
He imagined picking her up, stripping the towel from her body, and kissing his way down to a place that would make her moan…
“Saw the new vet on the way over here,” Greg said, pulling him from his thoughts.
“Oh yeah?” Sawyer asked.
Greg whistled low. “She’s a fox, tell you what. Little Indian princess.”
Colt looked at him sideways. That last bit was more than a little bit racist, which made him bristle.
Sawyer spotted his discomfort, and changed the topic before Colt could say a word.
“Colt saw her, too,” he said. “Said she’s worth looking at.”
“Yeah. I’d do her, but she probably ain’t into guys her own height,” Will said, looking bummed.
“Probably not guys missing some of their leg, either,” Colt muttered.
“I don’t know what y’all are talking about,” Greg said. “I think I’m just the kind of man she needs.”
Colt's fists tightened. He liked Greg, but for some reason his face was looking really punchable right now.
Luckily their food arrived just then, and the Jackson brothers turned around to give them privacy.
Colt dug into his breakfast, thinking about her. She wasn’t exactly soliciting that kind of attention or interest, but there it was.
She was four-alarm fire kind of hot. She certainly wouldn’t be interested in a busted up half of a soldier like him.
She could definitely get whoever she wanted, with no issues. She might even have a boyfriend, for all Colt knew.
One thing he was sure of was that he shouldn’t even be thinking that way. He rubbed his prosthetic under the table, feeling the familiar ridges between his shoe and where his leg started.
His fake leg might do okay with girls he went to high school with, or the pretty divorcees he liked. They sort of went for the hometown hero thing, and he… well, he dealt with it.
But it wouldn’t work with her. Or rather, he wasn’t even going to try.
No matter how breathtaking she might be…
“You okay?” Sawyer said.
Colt looked at him, and at Shiloh sitting beside him, demolishing the pancake. He felt a twinge of jealousy, mixed with sadness.
Maybe Sawyer’s road had been a twisted one, with lots of breakneck turns… but at least he’d had one.
Colt was never going to have that. Never.
He smiled, covering it all up. “Yep. Thinking about which of the mares to put to pasture.”
Sawyer nodded, distracted suddenly by what Shiloh was doing.
“Buddy…” he said, exasperated. He pulled out his napkin and wiped Shiloh’s face.
“I’m gonna finish all of it, Daddy!” Shiloh cried.
“Okay, let me help you…”
Colt pushed his plate back and watched them, wishing that his pang of envy would go away. He could hang with Shiloh anytime, and soon he’d have another one around to spoil.
That will be enough, he told himself.
He looked out the window, wondering if that was really true.
5
Rose was unlocking the door to the vet clinic when Colt showed up. She immediately blushed; part of her had hoped that he would just decide she wasn’t worth it.
Instead, he was here, smiling that movie star smile. Peering at her dogs, momentarily corralled in the Volvo.
Too good to be true! shouted a voice inside her head.
She scowled at him.
“Hey,” he said, holding up two toolboxes. “I’m not sure what we’re doing, exactly.”
“Uhhh…” was all she managed.
He walked up beside where she had unlocked the doors, and put down the toolboxes. She didn’t mean to, but she took a step back.
There was something about Colt that reminded her of him, of Jared Chalke. She wasn’t sure if it was that he was self-assured, or handsome… God, was he handsome.
But there was something about the tall, dark, and muscle-bound type that she just couldn’t trust.
“Maybe you should go,” she blurted out.
The words were out of her mouth before she could tame them.
He looked confused.
“No, I’m like… free labor,” he explained, as if she misunderstood his presence. “The welcoming committee, like. I’m here to help.”
She bit her lip, and looked at the clinic. Yeah, it would be emotionally easier for him to go… but it would be practical for him to stay.
“Okay…” she said, blowing out a breath. “Let me get the dogs out of the car.”
She walked over to the car and let the dogs out. When she turned around, he was backing up toward the building, looking wary.
“They’re well-behaved,” she said. “Promise.”
“Ehhh…” he said, brows raised. “It’s not that. It’s just that no matter how well-behaved big dogs are, they want to sniff… That can throw me off balance.”
The dogs crowded him, sniffing but not harming him in any way.
She stopped, confused. “What do you mean, throw you off balance?”
She watched as he looked down, then back at her.
“Uh… I’m missing a foot,” he said. “All the way to the shin.”
Rose put a hand to her heart, looking at his feet. She whistled to the dogs, who came and sat near her feet obediently.
He looked perfectly normal. When she continued to study him, he grimaced and pulled his pant leg up. She couldn’t see the foot, as it was in the shoe, but the leg was assuredly cool, hard metal.
And all she could come up with was, “Oh!”
He dropped the pant leg with a shrug.
“It’s not a big deal.”
Rose felt her face grow pink again.
“I didn’t mean… that is, you shouldn’t have had to show me your injury.”
His lips twitched.
“It happened when I was serving overseas, in the SEALs.” He seemed to inflate slightly at that.
“You were in the military?”
He screwed up his face. “Yeah.”
“Well… thank you for your service,” she said, feeling a bit lame as she said it.
“Yeah, well… Anyway…”
He looked as if he would rather not get into it.
She shook hersel
f. “Yeah. Yes. Ummm…”
He gave her that million-dollar smile again.
“Where do we start, boss lady?”
Boss lady… that’s me, she thought.
“Umm, I have a list,” she said, waving him inside. He gave the dogs a watchful eye, then followed. “We’ll need to sweep and dust, paint… reline and redo the driveway… clean the gutters…”
He raised his brow.
“That’s a lot,” he said.
“Well… I mean, I can pay for someone to do the heavy stuff…”
“Pfft, that’s what I’m here for,” he said.
“Well, what about your…”
She stopped, unsure how to continue.
“My disability?” he said, lips twitching again. “Other than not having a leg from the ankle down, there’s not a whole heck of a lot that I can’t do. Trust me, people have tried to keep me out of things, and failed.”
He said the last with a note of determined pride.
Rose nodded. “Okay. Well… let’s do some things, then.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I guess we should clean the gutters first,” she said, walking out a little so she could see them.
“I can do that, if you want.”
“Yeah… that’d be nice. I can start dusting and sweeping. Honestly, there’s a couple days worth of work there, at least.”
“Okay,” Colt said. “I guess I’ll get to work. Is there a ladder?”
“Around the side of building.”
“Okay. I’ll get to it, then.”
Rose nodded. She watched him walk over and pick up the only ladder from the side of the building. Noticed the way his muscles rippled as he lifted it…
She turned away. Yeah, like you need a hot guy in the mix right now, she thought. She rolled her eyes at herself as she headed inside.
She looked around. Best to start dusting up high, that way when she swept she would carry it away. She grabbed her feather duster.
Climbing up on a chair, she prepared herself for a lot of dust in her hair and on her clothes.
She set about dusting the ceiling first, then the top half of the wall. She sectioned off the walls as she went.
By the fifth small section of wall, she was sneezing and sweating. She looked at her watch. She’d been working for nearly an hour. The dust she couldn’t do anything about, but with any luck the air conditioner worked.