Finish What We Started (6 page)

He quirked his lips in a playful grin. “But I’ve had my eye on a water monitor.”

“No.”

“How about a hedgehog?”

“Lee.” Her expression held a warning.

“Then maybe just your professional advice on the perfect pet for me.” Tiny feet with tiny toenails held onto his shirt. Candy didn’t offer assistance, so he decided to be more direct. “Do you think we could have coffee and talk sometime?”

Candy shook her head.

He steeled himself, then gently removed Tinkerbell from his shoulder and cradled her in his hand. He wasn’t giving up on this. “I’ll be talking with you soon.”

By her expression, it seemed Candy thought she’d won. He hadn’t even put up a fight, and she had definitely not won. The clinic was long from finished. There were weeks left for him to finesse an apology into their conversation. He wasn’t even a little worried.

He prayed he wouldn’t end up having to adopt a scary-ass lizard.

Chapter Six

Candace parked her borrowed car in the dirt parking lot that would eventually be paved over for the clinic. The lot was full of construction trucks and a giant, filthy roll-off Dumpster. It was hard to imagine the skeleton of a building she was looking at would be her clinic in just a few short weeks. The roof was on and the interior walls had been roughed in with studs, but it looked smaller than she’d thought it would be.

It was hers, though. So many sacrifices, so much work, and it was all finally coming to fruition. Since construction had begun she’d driven past the site almost every day, noting each subtle change. There were changes in Lee, too, also worth noting. While she might not be interested with the way he was trying to be friends again, or whatever the hell it was he was doing, she was very impressed by his leadership of the workmen. It was obvious that those who worked with him respected him. Now if he just didn’t have to look so hot every time she saw him.

It had been over six days since Lee’d been in with the rat, and she thought she must have gotten her point across because she hadn’t heard from him at all. It might have been a mistake, and it was always possible he’d think she was making an overture, but she’d called Lee and asked if he would walk her through the beginnings of the building.

Across the lot, Lee was standing at his work truck with papers laid out on the open tailgate. There were several men standing with him and there was some debate going on over blueprints being held down by a hammer and a wrench. She watched the argument from her car. Lee was clearly in charge. He had an air of authority she could detect from inside her closed car and across the expanse of packed dirt. He lifted his ball cap and swiped a forearm across his brow before replacing it. The men nodded and then departed for the job site, leaving him alone, bent over the plans.

She wasn’t interested in him, but she sure spent a lot of time checking him out.

And thinking about him.

And remembering him.

With an impatient huff, she got out of the car. She walked across the parking lot with purpose and determination. “Are you ready, Lee?”

He turned around and grinned at her. Damn it. Her breath caught. The man oozed masculinity. One wouldn’t think ooze and sexy would go together, but with him, all kinds of strange thoughts and associations fit together nicely. Rough hands with thick fingers that feathered across her skin so delicately.

She was an idiot with no sense of self-preservation.

“Hello, gorgeous.” He tossed out the compliment. She could have responded with the same words. “Are you ready?”

“It still seems so far from finished. Are you on schedule?”

“You’ll be surprised at how quickly it all comes together.”

“Hmm.” She looked back at the frame work. “Can we walk through it so I can see where things will be?”

“Sure. Hang on.” He disappeared around the side of his truck, then came back with a hardhat. “We need to protect your noggin. Can’t have Clay and your father killing me should anything happen to your pretty head.”

She took the hat. “Clay?” Why he’d bring up her brother?

“They were both by earlier.” He snorted. “Clay is still trying to intimidate me.”

That would be a fight worthy of a cage match. Her older brother was just about as tall as Lee but probably not as hulking overall. He was two years older than her next brother and five years older than her. Clay had never liked Lee, but then, he never liked anyone she dated. Her father had never had to play the heavy when dates picked her up in high school. He had Clay.

Now Clay was a veterinarian, too. When his father retired in the next couple of years, Clay would take over the main clinic, which was why this second site was being built across town. If she’d had to practice alongside her brother...Well, that was just too many Claessons for comfort.

“I hope you ignored him,” she said, following him across the loosely packed soil to the geometric display that was the site. Even though it seemed haphazard, the studs were all perfectly aligned and at right angles to each other. It was elegant in an unfinished way.

“Nah, I hauled off and clocked him like I’d been dying to do back then.” He flexed the fingers on his right hand into a fist and shook it.

Candace laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “Oh, yeah? Then what happened?”

“I called the ambulance.” He gave her that killer grin again.

“I’m certain he deserved it for something or another.” They paused where the concrete pad started. She waved her arm at the jumble of wood and open space. “So what is this?”

His hand landed on the small of her back as he guided her through an opening. “Walk right through here and you’re in the front door.” His hand slid away and he made a slow circle. “This is the lobby. Through here is the hallway to the exam rooms. Up top there is number one, number two, then number three here.” He pointed out the rooms like a flight attendant showing the exits. “Your office here in the corner.” With a hand on her back again he walked her through exam room number two and then through another opening. “This section—” he indicated the top of the room and the bottom, “—is the lab area. Around this corner leads to the surgery and such. Do you see it?”

She closed her eyes and envisioned the rooms as he’d described them, ignoring the sounds of construction. “Yes.” It came together in her mind the way the plans had looked on paper. She could imagine the walls and doorways now that she’d walked through them.

When she opened her eyes, Lee was staring at her. He blinked hard, then turned away. “Right. So I wanted to show you something in the back here.” He led her to the quadrant of the slab that would house the surgical area and kennels. “I made a few alterations to the plans. I hope they’re all right.”

She stared at the area marked off with tape and tried to envision what would go there.

Gesturing with his hands, he said, “Right here at the counter I moved everything over because it will be easier to get to the supplies with your left hand.”

He’d remembered she was left-handed. She watched him while he talked and gestured, demonstrating how his change would make things easier for her. She stared at him for a long second then, before she could stop herself, she touched his shoulder. “That was really nice. Thank you.”

“Bennett!” A shout bellowed through the wall-less building, pulling his attention away. “Excuse me.” Lee turned away. “Let me see what the hell’s going on.”

She closed her eyes again and envisioned the finished building. She wouldn’t be able to set foot in the door without being reminded of Lee and his thoughtful gestures. That didn’t make her as angry as she would have expected.

She wasn’t thinking of him in friendly terms yet, but she was still thinking of him. Unless they were in the same room, it didn’t happen much when she was awake, but sleeping—jeez. His sexuality was insidious, creeping into her dreams and leaving her panting and achy when she awoke.

By the time she met him at the truck, he was talking to another guy with a hammer. “I’ll have the rest of it here tomorrow if I have to drive down there myself. Go ahead and start the back with what you’ve got.”

The other guy strode away and Lee rolled his eyes. “Just give me one second, okay?” When Candace nodded, he got on his phone.

While he conducted business over some missing drywall, she wandered back to her car. There was a granola bar in there calling her name. She leaned against the front quarter panel and munched while trying to envision the completed building.

“Hey, pretty lady. How you doin’?”

She paused with a mouth full of dry oats and turned her attention to the man on her left. She swallowed hard. “Fine.”

He nodded in appreciation. “Yes, you are.” A Robo Electric shirt with cut off sleeves stretched across his shoulders and revealed well-cut arms.

“Thank you.” She took a sip of vitamin water and gave him a non-encouraging smile.

“You must be with the big guy, huh?” He lifted one booted foot and dropped it on her bumper, then leaned forward on a bent elbow.

She took a small step backwards. “The big guy?”

He crooked his head in the direction of Lee. “Yeah, Bennett. But if you’re not hooked up yet, you wanna get a drink with me?”

“Ah. What kind of drink?”

He settled his weight on the bumper and relaxed a bit. “Any kind of drink that makes some headway with you. What do you say, pretty lady?”

A deep voice came from behind causing the man to jump upright. “I’d say you’ve got a panel to finish up, Freddy.”

“Sorry, man.” Freddy nodded and made a face that indicated none of this mattered much. “She didn’t say she was yours.”

Candace turned a hard glare toward Lee. “What?”

Lee actually seemed to grow taller. “She’s a client, bonehead.”

Freddy turned back to her. “So if you’re not with him, wanna get a drink or not?”

A smile made the let down easier. “I’m sure I’ll come to regret it, but I’m going to have to pass.”

“Let me know if you change your mind. I’ll be here the rest of the week. Bennett will know where to find me after that.” Freddy touched his finger to the bill of his hat in an offhand salute as he headed back to work.

Lee rolled his eyes. “Sorry. He’s an asshole.”

She shrugged. “You lose a lot of girls to Freddy?”

“I lose a lot of patience to Freddy. Come on. I want to get your final agreement on that cabinetry.”

She couldn’t help herself. She made her voice as conversational as possible. “Are you with anyone these days?” She’d convinced herself that if he was taken her dirty dreams would stop.

He stared at her for a moment, then shrugged without answering.

She silenced a groan and shook her head. “Me neither. Between studying for the boards and time at the clinic...My hours are brutal. When it’s a call between clubbing and sleep, I gotta go with sleep.”

“Have you been skipping meals again? You do that when you’re stressed and it always makes things worse. I told Mom I’d seen you. She’d love you to come by the house for dinner some Sunday.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

Candace had adored his mother.

He continued, “You can see Mark and his new wife. Sarah and Sidney will be there, too.”

A pit settled in her stomach at the mention of his sister and nephew. She didn’t think seeing them was any better of an idea than asking Lee to come chat it up with her own brothers.

The reasons she’d left when she did were valid and important ones, but she’d still left the entire Bennett family at the worst time imaginable. She’d been right to go, had needed to, but it had still been awful. As much as she had liked his family, seeing them now would only confuse the matter. She was having a hard enough time keeping her mind straight, especially when he remembered she was left-handed and that she often forgot to eat.

She made a noncommittal noise and he took the hint. The end of their love affair had hurt so many people. With a hand on her car door, she said, “Well, it looks like you have everything under control here. I’ll let you get back to it.”

They needed to quit talking about his family. It didn’t matter that he was sexy as sin
and
considerate. It didn’t matter that he was obviously trying to win her over. All that mattered was that she was never going down that path again.

Chapter Seven

Four years and eight months ago

“You know what you need?” Lee said, and nuzzled the sensitive place where Candace’s neck met her shoulder. He thought he had snuck up behind her while she was studying, but she could smell him as soon as he entered her room. Shampoo, aftershave and clean T-shirts were her favorite smells, and he could rock the hell out of a fresh T-shirt.

“I need to finish this paper.” But she still tilted her head so he could nuzzle properly.

Her earlobe disappeared into his mouth where he worried it with his teeth. He whispered, “Are you hungry?”

She paused. “Hungry for what?” Oh, the options were endless.

“Dinner. Ice cream. Me.” He found that same sensitive spot on her other side.

She rolled her neck backward and he took the invitation to kiss her. He held her head in one large hand and took her mouth. Lee was always especially good at hello. Eventually he let her up for air. “Seems maybe you got those in the wrong order.”

He leaned his perfect rump on her desk and gave her a stern look. “Did you eat today?”

She had to think about it, hence the stern look. “I ate breakfast.”

“Because I made it for you. What did you have for lunch?”

Ah, lunch. Not so much. “I had some peanut butter pretzels.” She flashed him a coy grin to distract him. Hopefully the two day old ponytail and the sweat pants wouldn’t spoil the effect.

He placed both hands on the arms of her desk chair and pushed her back until he could step between her and the desk. He leaned over her until she could only see his freshly shaved face. She tilted her face to invite another kiss.

“Oh, no. You’re not plying me with your tricks, witchy woman.” But he still gave her a brief kiss before straightening again. “You’ve been here all day and you haven’t eaten. Don’t tell me you had protein in the peanut butter either. How much time do you need to finish this paper?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. Bacteriophages were not the most scintillating topic but she’d powered through and she wasn’t that far off from finishing the first draft. “About an hour, I guess.”

“You finish. I’ll go get stuff for dinner.”

She slid her hands beneath his shirt, toyed with the ridges on his abdomen and ran her thumb along the vee shaped by his abdominal muscles. “If my paper is good, can I have dessert?”

“If your paper is very good, then we’ll see.”

She’d been at the desk all day, and she was due a little distraction. Slipping her fingers from both hands inside his waistband, she tugged him toward her again. His skin was warm, and the intoxicating aroma of clean male made her want to press her nose to his middle and inhale deeply. Instead she nipped the flesh on his hip, just above his jeans.

“Candy, I won’t be the reason you didn’t finish,” he warned her. But his tone suggested he could be swayed. Swaying him would be the most fun she’d had all week. He grasped her hands in his and pulled them away. “I’ll bring back dinner. You’ll be finished by then.” He stepped farther way from her, then bent and touched his lips to hers. “Are you hungry for anything in particular?”

She gave him a look that told him it was very obvious what she was hungry for.

He laughed. “God, you’re sexy. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m leaving to get dinner. You get to work, because there’s no way I’m going to be this strong when I get back.”

She watched his ass as he left. She’d never been this into a guy before. Candace prided herself on her dedication and focus. That’s how she’d gotten scholarships and maintained a 4.0 grade point average all through pre-med and her first year of veterinary college. It was those grades and the prize money from the bar contest that she hoped would take her even further. This year was harder yet, and staying focused required a herculean effort.

To his credit, Lee did his best not to interrupt or interfere with her studies, but he didn’t even need to be present for her thoughts to drift in his direction. She’d be reading about systemic pathology and out of nowhere she’d remember something funny he’d said and she’d be in la-la land for twenty minutes. On her clinical rounds the previous week she’d missed half a lecture on the results of an ultrasound for an Irish terrier whose case they’d been following. Her study partners had commented on it.

As soon as the door clicked closed, she turned back to her laptop and wrote the conclusion of the paper. During a quick read through she moved around a couple of paragraphs, added an entirely new one, and corrected a few misspellings. She printed it out and left it on her desk.

He’d only been gone forty minutes. She rushed into the bedroom to do something about her appearance and was horrified. When had she last showered? Yesterday? No, the day before. There was no way this was repairable with a quick brush of her hair. She tossed her clothes in the hamper—or near the hamper, she’d pick them up later—and hopped in the shower. She’d just finished shaving her legs when the shower curtain moved aside.

Lee’s face appeared and gave her an assessing glance, clearly approving. Her nipples hardened in response. “Did you finish?”

“Yep.” She let the water roll over her body and sluice down her breasts. She arched her back ever so slightly to entice him even more.

“Good girl,” he said with a husky voice. He extended a hand and curled his fingers under her breast and ran his thumb over the hard bud.

“You’re letting the cold air in.” She stepped closer, the warmth of the water only hitting her back now. His hand trailed down her body, following the contours of her waist, the flare of her hips, and came to rest on her butt. He gave a little squeeze, then a loud, wet smack.

“You’re letting the water out.” His fingers traced the cleft of her ass. “Are you still hungry?” Those same questing fingers were now finding their way through the damp hair at the apex of her thighs.

“Uh huh,” she said on an exhale.

“Are you hungrier for spaghetti with clams or me?” Lee’s hands were huge and when he slipped one finger inside her she leaned her head back into the shower spray and moaned.

“You now, clams later.” Oh Jesus, he felt good.

“Lean back.”

He hooked his free hand around her middle to secure her, and she placed her hands flat against the back wall of the shower stall to keep herself upright. When he withdrew and slid two fingers inside her she almost came right then. She opened her eyes and watched him concentrate on her body, the strong planes of his face intense with focus. He took the hard tip of her breast in his mouth, sucking in rhythm with his hand until she couldn’t hold back and she came. Her moans echoed off the tile. She relaxed in that position, his strong arm holding her, back arched, head against the tile, and let the sensations roll through her. His tongue stroked from her navel to her clavicle, straight up through the valley of her breasts, lapping up the warm water that flowed down her body.

She grasped his face and brought him to her lips, kissing him, pressing her wet body against his. Yanking on the back of his shirt, she untucked it from his jeans and pulled it over his head. Quick fingers loosed his belt and button fly until she could shove his jeans down with his boxer briefs. He kicked off his shoes and snagged a foil package from his pocket. With a giggle, she hauled him into the shower with her.

Fitting her softer body against all his hard planes, she resumed the kiss. While she caressed the inside of his mouth with her tongue, she let her hands roam, pinching his nipple, then cupping his balls with one hand, playing with their weight until he groaned. She slid her other hand up and down his cock, slowly, using soapy water as lubrication until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“You’re killing me, woman.” He turned her around and placed her hands on the wall over her head, then took her from behind. The empty condom wrapper was tossed over the shower curtain. He clutched her hips and she moved against him until they were both gasping. Already primed from her first orgasm, she came quickly.

“Oh fuck.” He groaned deep in his chest. With his head against her shoulder, his body still jerking from the sensations, he held her close. She pulled away so she could turn around and take him in her arms. She loved these few moments of quiet afterward when they could just be still, basking in the afterglow. It was corny and she didn’t care.

“Now I’m starving,” she told him while she stroked her fingers down the length of his spine.

“Mmm-hmm.” He was still breathing heavy. “And now I’m cold.”

They switched position so he was under the shower spray. The water was decidedly less warm than when her shower had started. Stupid old building. They lathered each other quickly and rinsed as the water turned icy.

He’d cooked dinner while dressed in a towel. His brother had taught him how to make spaghetti with clams. “Otherwise, it’s peanut butter and jelly or takeout,” he explained.

“Tell your brother he’s an excellent teacher. What else has he taught you to make?”

He slurped up a noodle. “You mean real food?”

“Yeah.” She swabbed a baguette in white sauce and tucked it in her mouth. “Besides barbeque. Every guy can barbeque. It’s in your DNA.”

He looked at the ceiling like he was cataloguing his many menu items. “Did I tell you I make a mean peanut butter and jelly? Sometimes I use Nutella. Or Almond butter. I’ll even cut off your crusts. I have mad skills.”

She nudged him with her big toe. “How about peanut butter and banana?”

His expression became very serious. “Fried or unfried? This is a very important lifestyle choice. Answer wisely.”

She giggled. “Oh the pressure. Lightly fried so the peanut butter is a little melted.”

“Hmm.” He narrowed his eyes. “Mashed banana or cut into discs?”

“Who mashes the banana? That’s wrong on an elemental level. The bananas are cut long ways.”

He launched himself across the table, sweeping the plastic plates to the floor. “Oh my God, I love you.”

Laughing, she swatted him away and took off out of the kitchen in a run, dodging his hand as he grabbed at her towel.

“Oh, I’m coming for you,” he called.

She responded by throwing her towel over her shoulder once she reached the hall. It took him longer to arrive in the bedroom than she expected. She had taken a tactical position, standing on top of the head of the bed armed with a pillow. When he showed up, he had in his hand a bowl of strawberries, chocolate, a bottle of wine, and the printed version of her research paper.

“Let’s see how well you did on your homework, little girl.”

The pillow landed back on the bed. “I’m tired of homework.”

“Then you’re doing it wrong.” He dropped his towel. Jeez, construction work was good on his body. The man was wide and narrow and huge in all the right places from his shoulders to his hips and...other things that wielding a hammer didn’t necessarily influence. “You read aloud and for each part I like you’ll get a treat.” His eyes twinkled and his killer grin promised the treats would be worth it.

She lay down on the bed and he stretched out on his side next to her. He kissed her jaw line, behind her ear, nuzzled her neck.

“Read,” he said against her skin.

She read the title aloud. “Chromosonal Integration and Excision: a contrast of the subfamily of site specific serine recombinase.”

“You’re so sexy, baby,” he cooed in her ear. A finger dipped in chocolate traced her bottom lip. “Keep going.”

Ooooh.
This could get very interesting indeed. “Peptidoglycan hydrolyzing proteins were recreated using a strategy of putative endolysin and tail hydrolase.”

This time the chocolate was delivered via a strawberry dangled over her stomach and swirled with dripping chocolate. “Don’t stop, Dr. Claesson.”

She tried to concentrate on the words but it was exceedingly more difficult with each creative chocolate delivery. “Used topically and—ooh—systemically, bacteriophages are—ah—an alternative therapy to halt the spread—oh my God—of antibiotic-resistant genes.”

“How long is this paper?” he asked after he licked the chocolate from a breast.

“Ten pages.”

“Ten?” He looked up from what he was doing and focused on her with raised eyebrows. “Really?”

She rattled the pages. “Uh-huh.”

“Screw that.” He grabbed the pages and tossed them over the bed. “I’m never gonna make it.”