Wilde Chase (2 page)

As much as he
liked Dr. Hertz, lately Ben tried to time Chase’s appointments so that they got
to see the new vet, Dr. Towers. She was a lot prettier to look at than Hertz,
and Chase had taken to her the first time they had met. Hell, so had Ben. He
had a recurring fantasy about peeling her white coat off and finding out what
kind of lingerie she wore. Was she a lace or satin kind of girl?
 
Ben was hoping he’d get a chance to find out,
but until now their timing had been off.

It was hard to
admit, but Chase got more attention from the ladies than Ben did these days.
He’d sworn off badge bunnies a long time ago, wanting something more
meaningful. So far, though, he hadn’t found it. It wasn’t like he was hideous,
far from it. Ben was on par with the rest of his siblings in the looks
department. Two of them were even close to him in height and appearance, right
down to their dark hair and hazel eyes, and none of his four brothers had any trouble
getting female attention.

No, Ben knew it
wasn’t his looks that were the problem, it was his job. It was nearly
impossible to meet someone when he didn’t get home until
midnight
most nights and spent a large part of his
day talking to a dog instead of another human being. He wouldn’t give up his
job or his partner for anything in the world, but there were times he missed
his life before the academy. At least back then, he had a social life.

They pulled up
behind the squad car already parked outside the clinic and Chase stood up right
away. The moment he recognized where they were he barked once and then sat, his
tail thumping impatiently against the side of the vehicle as he waited for Ben
to come around and let him out. “You are not the boss of me,” Ben grumbled as
he snapped the leash onto Chase’s collar.

Ben spotted
Kelly’s shoulder-length chestnut curls from the window outside and smiled a
little.
Looked like it was his lucky night.
He hadn’t
been sure she would even be here, but the alarm company must have notified her
of the break-in after they called it in to the station. He’d dropped by to
check up on things, but if fate gave him a shot at asking her out, he was going
to take it. The last few times he’d tried, either dispatch had called him away
or Kelly had been summoned to deal with an urgent case. Ben knew he better make
his move soon or be left standing on the sidelines. Kelly was way too fucking
gorgeous to stay single for long.

The moment he
stepped inside and got a good look at Kelly, Ben lost his smile. The normally
unflappable vet looked shaken and she jumped slightly when the door chimed,
announcing his arrival.

“Officer Wilde?” She
flashed him a weak smile in greeting that warmed as Chase appeared. “And you
brought my favorite patient with you. What are you two doing here?”

Officer Danny Chapman
glanced up and shook his head as he saw who it was, his freckled face breaking
into a grin. “That’s a good question, Wilde. What
are
you doing here? Shouldn’t you be heading back to the precinct to
wrap up and call it a night?”

“I caught the
address on the radio. This is Chase’s vet, so we thought we’d come by and make
sure everything was okay.” Ben made his point by releasing the leash, allowing
Chase to go bounding over to visit Kelly.

“We did, did
we
?” Danny Chapman drawled. “I always
suspected Chase was the brains in your outfit.”

Ben ignored the
jibe from his friend and turned his attention to Kelly. “I thought this was
just a break-in the alarm company called in. I get the feeling there’s more to
it than that.”

Kelly had slipped
out of her waiting room chair and onto the floor while he’d been talking to
Danny. Now she had her fingers buried in Chase’s thick fur, giving the dog a
hug that made Ben downright envious of his four-footed partner.

“Dr. Towers got a
call from her receptionist about an hour ago, telling her that the alarm hadn’t
been activated. She came down to check on things and surprised a couple of
thieves. It looks like they got two laptops and a few bucks in petty cash.”

Kelly picked up
the narrative from Danny. “It looks like they were trying to pry open any
locked cabinets, probably hoping to find drugs. They didn’t find any though.”

“The doctor here
got shoved out of the way, so it’s assault on top of the theft, if we ever find
the ones who did it.”

Her gaze lowered
to the floor and she sighed. “I wish I’d gotten a better look at them, but all
I saw was a pair of black high-top sneakers flash past the door.”

“You sure you
don’t want to go to the hospital and get checked out?” Danny’s partner, Travis,
asked as he appeared from the back half of the clinic.
“Hey,
Wilde.
What brings you out?”

“His dog likes the
vet so Wilde drove him over here to check up on things,” Chapman sniggered.

“I always knew
Chase was the brains in that outfit,” Travis commented and Ben just rolled his
eyes.

“You two really
need to get some new material.”

Kelly was muffling
her laughter against Chase’s coat, and Ben was happy to see the color returning
to her face. It was pure luck that she hadn’t been seriously hurt, walking in
on the thieves as she had.

“If you’re hurt,
you should go to the hospital and get it all reported,” Ben suggested.

Kelly looked up at
him and then shook her head. “I’m okay. Bump on the head and a few assorted
bruises. Rosie and Stern are more shaken up than I am. They haven’t moved from
under Amber’s desk this whole time. They’re both fired as security, poor
things.”

“You have security
on the premises, ma’am?” Both officers looked slightly confused as they glanced
around the cozy waiting room as if expecting someone to appear.

“The office cats, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern. They didn’t like having invaders in their domain.”

“I’ll add them to
the report as witnesses,” Chapman said with a grin as he wrote something on his
notepad. Damn it, was he was flirting with Kelly? Chase seemed to think Danny
was up to something too, because he leaned into Kelly and put a paw on her
knee, drawing her attention away from the sandy-haired Romeo. Ben owed him a
cheeseburger for that move.

“That’s everything
we need, Dr. Towers. Do you want us to stay with you while you lock up? It’s no
bother.”
 

Son-of-a-bitch.
Chapman was definitely hitting on Kelly. A hot spike of jealousy
slammed through him and Ben knew he had to put a stop to it. It was time to
stake his claim, Kelly was off limits. “I can stay if you want, Kelly.” He used
her first name to get the point across to Chapman. “Chase and I are at the end
of our shift. After this we’re heading to the station to log out and then go home.
I’m sure these two have other calls to get to.”

Kelly gave him a
smile that made his night and then nodded in agreement “That would be great,
thanks. Officers Chapman and Travis, thank you so much for your help. Please
let me know if you find out anything about the missing computers.”

“We will, but I
wouldn’t count on getting them back. Odds are good you won’t be seeing them
again.”

“Well, I hope they
enjoy reading lab reports, because that’s about all that’s on them.” Kelly let
go of Chase and got to her feet, waving off both Chapman and Travis as they
reached out to assist her. “I’m fine. I just need a hot bath and a couple of
ibuprofen.”

Danny handed her a
card. “Here’s my name and number. If you think of anything else to add to the
report or you just want an update, give me a call.”
 

“Thank you, I
will.”

“Good night,
Officer Chapman,” Ben said pointedly and Danny smirked on his way past.

“Bye, Officer
Wilde. See you back at the station later.”

Ben couldn’t be
sure, but he thought he heard them laughing as they headed for their cruiser.
Let them laugh. Kelly was too good for either of them. Too good for him too,
but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. Just, maybe not tonight. The
woman had just been roughed up by a couple of thieves. It didn’t seem the right
moment to ask her out on a date. He would have to settle for her phone number
and making sure she got home okay.

“Will you and
Chase do a walk-through with me? There’s a liver treat in it for Chase.”
 
She flashed him the sweet smile that he’d
been seeing in his dreams since the day they’d met and he wondered for the
hundredth time if she would taste as sweet as he imagined. “And since you’re going
to be late getting home tonight because of me, maybe I can repay the favor by
buying you dinner some time?”

Ben blinked. Had
she just asked
him
out?

“You don’t need to
do that,” he started to say and then stopped when he noticed that her cheeks
were turning pink. She was definitely asking him out. Say what you like about
the Wilde boys, their mother hadn’t raised any of them to be fools. Well, not
total fools. “I would like to go to dinner with you, Kelly, but not because
you’re trying to thank me for looking out for you.”

“Oh. Well, then,
what reason would you need to go out with me?” she asked, the corners of her
mouth turning up into a grin that had his blood heating and his cock stirring
as he imagined kissing those lush lips.

“I don’t need a
reason. Hell, I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while now, but every time I
tried either you had to run off on a call or I did.” He scrubbed a hand through
his short hair and gave her a sheepish grin. “I figured given the night you
had, this wasn’t a good time either. I guess I was wrong, huh?”

“I like that
you’re a gentleman. But after you very nearly growled at Officer Chapman for
flirting with me, I thought it might be time we actually went out, Ben.” She
used his given name for the first time and he inwardly cheered.

“He shouldn’t have
been flirting with you while he was working your case.”

“And you shouldn’t
be here at all. You weren’t sent to investigate this case,” she pointed out
with a wink that had his blood heating.

“No comment,” he
muttered and changed the subject. “So, when and where are we going for dinner?
Tomorrow’s the last day of my shift which means I’m actually free this weekend.”

“What about Friday
night?”

“Perfect. How
about we lock this place up and figure out the rest of the details while Chase
and I walk you to your car?”

“I didn’t drive,”
she confessed, her lower lip vanishing between her teeth.

“You
walked
here?
At this
time of night?”
Ben’s blood pressure jumped several points in less than
a second. The neighborhood was not that safe.
 

“I walk here a
lot. I only live a few blocks over.” She waved toward the street.

“Well, you’re not
walking tonight. I’m driving you home. Promise me, no more walking around this
part of town in the middle of the night.”

“After
what happened tonight?
I’m going to be much more
careful.”

“Good, I’ll sleep
better now.”

She tipped her head
back to look up at him. “You’d lose sleep over me?”

Ben found himself
falling into the gray-blue depths of her eyes. Before he could over-think
things, he gave into temptation, cupping her cheek in his hand as he leaned in
to brush a gentle kiss to her mouth. She tasted even better than she had in his
daydreams. “I’ve already lost sleep thinking about you.”

Kelly made a tiny
noise of surprise as his lips met hers, but then her hand came up to rest on
his chest and he wished that he wasn’t wearing Kevlar so he could enjoy the
feel of her hand on his body. He kept the kiss brief, but even that single
taste of her lips left him craving more.

He lifted his head
just enough to give her space and watched as she blushed, the pink glow climbing
her cheeks. He was still near enough to feel her skin heat as she whispered, “Thank
you. I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.”

Before Ben could
kiss her again, Chase decided he was feeling left out of things. He uttered a
low, pathetic whine that had both of them laughing. Kelly stepped back, leaning
down to scratch between Chase’s ears. “Let’s go find you some treats, boy. Then
you and your master can take me home.”

Chapter Two

Friday had been
blessedly quiet and Kelly even managed to slip out a few minutes early. More to
the point, Chris had very nearly shoved her out the door and threatened to
change the locks if she so much as set foot back in the clinic before Monday
afternoon.

When Chris learned
the place had been robbed and Kelly attacked, he’d been horrified. Panic alarms
were going to be installed by the end of next week, and they both agreed that
they were busy enough they needed to hire at least one other vet to share the
workload, as well as more staff in general. Chris didn’t want anyone alone in
the office at night, and Kelly was in full agreement. These were all things
that had been on their list to deal with eventually, but the break-in made it
clear that it was time to start making some changes.