Cherishing Brianna [Fate Harbor 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  Chaos was licking her muzzle through the wire of the pen. Brianna stepped over into the pen, and sat down cross legged on the linoleum. Chaos whined, so she got up and found the way to open it and let him in, and then all three of them were inside. Soon both dogs were lying against her, and she relaxed.

  It was Beauty who finally got up and yipped at her empty food bowl. “You know, for an invalid, you sure do get around pretty well.”

  Her phone rang just after she fed and watered the dogs. It seemed that Chaos wasn’t inclined to leave the pen.

  “Brianna, it’s Zac.”

  “How’s the horse?”

  “Hmmm? Oh. Well, we’re going to be awhile. This is getting complicated. There’s a problem with one of their bulls as well. Emily’s working with the bull, and I’m taking care of the mare. We’re definitely not going to be back tonight. Let me tell you how to take care of the animals. We have some large animals in the barn, and other animals in the clinic.”

  Damn, she hadn’t even noticed them, she had been so focused on the dogs. She went over to the desk and started taking notes.

  “You can sleep over at the house. The only two beds are Em and mine. Em said not to go into her room, it’s a bit of a shambles.”

  “I thought you said she didn’t live with you.”

  “She broke up with her boyfriend. It finally took some persuasion for him to vacate their residence, so Emily’s in the process of moving her stuff back into her apartment. According to her, that’s the reason her room at my place is even worse than normal. I know that’s bollocks. She’s always been a slob.” He chuckled, and the sound sent a flutter through her stomach. But then she remembered what he had said.

  “What kind of persuasion did it require?”

  “It really doesn’t matter, the piece of trash is out of her life, and he now knows it’s in his best interest to stay out of her life.” It was the first time Brianna had heard Zac sound angry. Normally she thought of him as a lithe and lean healer, but he was well over six feet tall and really fit. Zac in a temper would probably be very intimidating. Yep, she’d definitely want him on her side.

  “Well, I’m glad he was persuaded to leave.”

  “Once again you’re going to have to sleep in my bed, Brianna.” There was no mistaking his tone of voice, she shivered.

  “Look, Zac, I have something to tell you.”

  “Is this about you and the sheriff?” God, this really was a small town. “How about we talk about this when we are face-to-face, okay, Brianna? In the meantime, please care for my animals. They need you, and then we’ll talk about what you need.” He hung up. She sat there staring at her phone. Damn it, how had he gotten her cell phone number anyway? She called Sam.

  “Sam, did Zac call you?”

  “So you’re a vet now.” Her brother chuckled. Damn man.

  “Did he?”

  “Yes, he called me. I gave him your number. Seems like you’re picking up admirers left and right. Was it like this for you in Dallas?” Brianna worked to unclench her jaw. “Look, asshole—”

  “We don’t use that kind of language.”

  “What, Lissa is listening in on your phone calls now?” She looked over to where the dogs were now curled up against one another. It made her smile and relax a little so she could talk to her brother without wanting to kill him. “Zac isn’t interested in me,” she lied.

  “Bull Caca. Look, Brianna, you’re just going to have to face the fact that this place is good for you. I haven’t heard you this worked up in forever. You had a blast over at our place today. I remember staying at your place in Dallas for a couple of days when I was on leave. Your life sucked.”

  “It did not suck.” It so sucked. It needed to suck. She needed a regimented routine. It was important for her. The last six days were not good for her. “Sam, you know that a routine is important for me.”

  “Bri, you always took things to the nth degree. Fine, your dad was batshit crazy.”

  “Batcaca crazy,” she corrected. She so didn’t want to talk about this.

  “In this case, I’ll stick with batshit. The bastard. You’re not your dad, sweetheart.”

  “Schizophrenia is hereditary. Living an orderly life is one of the things you’re supposed to do to help stop any kind of onset.”

  “So what the hell were you doing riding a motorcycle from hell and back?” This was the reason she hated family, they knew all your secrets. “Tell me what’s really going on, Bri.”

  “Nothing’s going on, Sam.” She needed to get off the phone. Now. She heard him sigh. “Look, I’m going to spend the night, can you tell Butch and Betty that I won’t be able to make it over for dinner?”

  “Sure, I’ll call them. But I need you to think about one thing, okay?”

  “Fine, what?” She couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice, but it was better than the tears that were just as close to coming to the surface.

  “We love you, and we’re your family. We’re going to love you no matter what. You need to start really thinking about staying here, because you’re not fooling any of us.” Sam hung up. She wanted to throw her phone. She was sick of men hanging up on her.

  “Chaos, you’d probably hang up on me, too, wouldn’t you? I’m so sick of males!” She picked up the pad of paper and went out to the barn to see to the large animals. Then she came back and fed and watered the small animals in Zac’s area of the clinic. Zac had told her which animals she could take out of their cages and cuddle. She enjoyed herself.

  By the time she was done seeing to everything, she needed a shower. She checked in on the two dogs, and both of them needed a trip outside. Beauty moved very slowly. Chaos was a total gentleman, going slowly so that she could keep up. If she wasn’t mistaken, Chaos had a crush on the wounded dog.

  When Beauty was done, Chaos herded her back toward the door of the barn, and Brianna put her back into the pen where she immediately plopped down on her blanket and fell asleep. Chaos didn’t join her, and instead followed Brianna outside. She locked up and grabbed her overnight bag out of Sam’s truck. When she got to the house, she found that door wasn’t locked either. She peeked inside Emily’s room and grinned. It was a pit, so she headed into Zac’s room. It was nice and orderly. He had even made the bed. Since he hadn’t known she was going to be staying there Brianna smiled, glad to know she wasn’t the only one with such a sense of neatness in the world.

  She went into his bathroom, and found it to be just as neat and orderly. When she got in, she couldn’t help but notice that as soon as she turned as the hot water started, she was enveloped by Zac’s scent, and she loved it. Foolish woman, she admonished. But it didn’t stop her from using his body wash instead of her own. Olivia’s words kept rolling through her head.

  When she was done with the shower, she went into the kitchen and found some soup to warm up. Then she decided to go for a walk before she fed the animals for the night. She was surprised how tired she was. She peeked into Emily’s room one last time. It couldn’t be as bad as she remembered. But she laughed when she saw all the crap on her bed. It was, when she compared it to Zac’s clean room. What’s more his smelled good, not to say her room smelled bad, but it didn’t smell like Zac.

  She dumped her overnight bag onto the chair in the corner of his room, and undressed, pulling on her sleep shirt. She’d left the door open hoping that Chaos would sleep in the bedroom with her, and he showed up just as she was crawling under the covers. He gave her a yip and then curled up on the floor between the bed and the door. It made her feel safe, even though she had made sure all the windows and doors were locked.

  * * * *

  She couldn’t believe how well she had slept. She rummaged through the cupboards and there was a clear delineation of what was Emily’s food and what food belonged to Zac. At least she was pretty sure that the Froot Loops were Emily’s. She poured herself a bowl and went over the list of things that she needed to do this morning. Just as she was putting things into
the dishwasher her cell phone rang.

  “Did you sleep well, Angel?”

  “How’s the horse and her baby?”

  “She’s doing well. The foal is already standing up.” Zac’s voice was warm and rough. “We’ll be home in a couple of hours. The bull is still going to take a bit longer to stabilize. While Em’s working on him, I’m going to check out the rest of the herd.”

  “You sound tired.”

  “Bed is sounding like Nirvana. Well it was when I thought you were still in it.” She wasn’t touching that line with a ten-foot pole.

  “So when can I expect you two?”

  “We should be back around noon. I just wanted to give you a call and let you know how late we were going to be. I’m sorry I’m leaving you with morning chores.”

  “It’s not a problem. I like staying busy. I like cuddling with the animals. That Siamese cat is a love.”

  “Yes, he is. He needs a lot of attention. His parents will be picking him up tomorrow.” She heard Zac yawn, and then a woman’s voice in the background. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me. You’re a real special woman.”

  “Trust me, I’m not. I’m really not, Zac, okay?” She needed him to believe that.

  “Brianna, you—” The woman’s voice was closer. “Look, I have to go. I’ll talk to you when I get home.” He hung up, and Brianna looked out the kitchen window. It was a beautiful sunrise, and his voice replayed over in her head. She hated him thinking she was special. She knew the truth. She felt Chaos lean against her.

  “I’m not special, you know that, right, Chaos? I’m really a hot mess who needs to get away from everybody.” Chaos shoved his nose against her hand, and started licking. She stroked his head.

  “Well enough of that, let’s get to work.”

  After she was done with the chores, she took Jose out of his cage and plopped down in the pen and settled him in her lap while Beauty came and sniffed him. Apparently the cat was used to dogs, because he just gave Beauty a look of disdain and stretched out across Brianna’s legs. Once again she was surrounded by animals. Maybe she could foster an animal when she got to San Clemente. She didn’t know when her full set of symptoms would manifest. She should be good for a while, and fostering animals before they found a real home was something that was needed.

  She sat in the pen for at least an hour, imagining her life a little less lonely when she moved down to Southern California, fostering animal after animal, having to part with animal after animal as they were adopted to a real home, like Beauty would be. She brushed away her tears. Finally she got up and kissed Jose as she put him back in his cage.

  Chaos joined her as she walked to the back of the property, and climbed through the fence. This time she had brought some boots that she had bought in town, so she could hike. She was immediately immersed in a beautiful forest. She wasn’t worried about getting lost, confident that Chaos would be able to lead her back to the house.

  It was amazing how green it was, how peaceful it was, how tall the trees were. She felt humbled and safe. She pulled out her phone and saw that it was eleven o’clock.

  “Home.” Chaos immediately moved in front of her and started picking a path that was easy for her to follow. He ambled at the same leisurely pace that Brianna had been walking. He even seemed to pick out areas that had more sunlight coming through the trees. He was absolutely amazing. She couldn’t believe all the different shades of green, especially when comparing the shaded greens to the greens in the sunlight. She took out her phone again and started to take pictures. Chaos stopped and seemed to smile at her.

  “Yeah, you like it here, too, don’t you, boy?” She wondered how often he came out here to explore. She saw little white flowers growing, and bushes with salmon-colored berries. Charlie would probably know what those were since he grew up here. She got the feeling that he had a happy childhood, and it wasn’t just because of the area he grew up in, but his family.

  “I wonder what a happy childhood would be like, huh, Chaos?” Chaos stopped again and looked at her, and then came over and rubbed his muzzle against her leg, like he could understand she was sad. It was kind of nice to be able to say things to someone who would offer comfort but not pity.

  “Thanks, Chaos, I’m glad you understand.” She gave him a hug, and they continued on. They were soon climbing through the fence. Zac’s SUV was pulled up as she made it to the gravel drive. Zac and Emily climbed slowly out of the vehicle, and both of them looked like they had been ridden hard and put away wet.

  “Do you want showers and bed, or would you like showers and me to make you food, and then bed?”

  “Cooked food?” Emily asked hopefully.

  “Oh, the woman is wanting something besides sugared breakfast cereal, who knew.” Brianna could tell that this was common banter, but it lacked any real energy.

  “Yes, it would be cooked food. Go and get cleaned up, and I’ll have hot food waiting, and then you can get some sleep. I’ll stay a bit longer, and get the next round of chores done.”

  “Zac, marry this woman.”

  “I’d hug you, Brianna, and then propose, but I stink.”

  “Then please go shower,” she said, crinkling her nose. She could actually smell the two of them and they did let off a certain aroma.

  She let them go into the house first, and she followed at a good distance, and then went into the kitchen. By the time she was done cooking the French toast, bacon, and eggs, they were both at the table. Emily had her head resting in her crossed arms on the table. Zac looked wonderful with his hair slicked back. He was looking at the food with interest.

  “Haven’t seen food for a while?” she asked as she put a plate in front of both of them.

  “I haven’t seen a lot of things that I wanted this much for a while.” Brianna’s cheeks heated.

  “Should I eat this in my room?” Emily asked as she picked up her fork. “Oh fuck it, I don’t care if you do the deed on the dining room table, I’m too tired to get up, and there is no way you can pry me away from this food until I’ve eaten all of it.” Brianna laughed. She went and dished up a plate for herself. Zac got up and pulled out glasses and orange juice for everyone.

  “The woman cooks. Kill the sheriff and marry her.” Now she was blushing again, and if she wasn’t mistaken, so was Zac.

  Minutes later Emily and Zac were in bed. Brianna spent the next couple of hours reading one of her favorite authors from Zac’s library, and then she went out and did another round of chores with the animals. She considered waiting around until they woke up, but she wasn’t up to another round of Emily’s teasing. At least that’s what she told herself.

  Chapter 11

  Over the next two weeks, she spent three nights in Charlie’s bed, experiencing the best sex of her life. She also was spoiled by Butch and Betty, and gained five pounds because of the cooking and baking that Chance and Josie subjected her to.

  Four different times she went and visited Beauty, and out of those four times, she ran into Zac only one time. Emily had gone to visit her family in Iowa, so he was covering her large-animal practice, and there was a temporary vet named Royce who had taken over the small-animal practice for Zac. She and Royce got along famously. That one time, Zac had invited her in for a cup of coffee and regaled her with his exploits of his first year working as a vet in England. She had told him the first time she had worked as a customer service rep when she had graduated.

  “I thought I knew everything about how a computer worked. But at least three times a day people stumped me. The best was this woman who kept complaining about the pedal not working. I finally figured out she was talking about her mouse, and she had it on the floor and was stepping on it.”

  “You’re making that up.”

  “Nope.”

  “Do you like working with computers? I could see you working more one-on-one with people. More like a counselor or something.”

  “I do work with CAS
A.”

  “Doesn’t that have something to do with kids and courts?”

  “Court Appointed Special Advocates. Basically kids who’ve had a rough time, and might end up taken from their families, need to have someone who will walk them through the court system. They might have a social worker appointed to them, but their caseworker isn’t there to work with them through the entire legal proceedings. That’s where a CASA worker comes in. I advocate for the best interest of the child, I’m empowered directly by the court, and I’ll offer the judge information to ensure that the child’s rights and needs are being cared for while they’re in foster care.”

  “Did you have a CASA case worker?”

  “Many times.”

  “What do you mean many times?”

  “I went back and forth between my biological parents and the Hutchins. Sometimes years went by, so different social workers and CASA workers were involved. But Butch and Betty always took me back.”

  “How many times, Brianna?”

  “I really don’t want to talk about it, Zac.” She watched him, and saw him struggle, but eventually he went back to telling her funny stories, and she really appreciated it.

  As she went to leave, he walked her to the door. “There’s something else I’ve been meaning to talk to you about, Brianna.”

  “Beauty?” she guessed.

  “In a sense. You are beautiful.” He pulled her into his arms, and dipped his head. It started out as such a soft kiss, but in a mere moment she was floating. His tongue stroked lightly and she followed his lead, and she craved more. His hands tangled in her curls, and she gripped the silk of his hair, pulling him closer. He tasted of coffee and Zac, and her body pulsed in time to his heartbeat.