Page 5 of Shifters Awakening

My shoulders drooped slightly. “If I’m up to it, I’ll stop by tonight.”

“You better. We have a live AC/DC tribute band, and they’re pretty good. They get the whole place wound up,and you’ll have fun.” Sheila grinned and followed the squeals of her happy daughter.

Sully-Boy was the last appointment of my regular day, so I planned to head home while Riley and Shannon closed up, and disinfected the exam tables, the cabinets, and the floors. Shannon always took an hour in the afternoon to pick up her kids from school and get them a snack, and then the kids helped their mom around the office while she finished disinfecting and processing accounts.

Shannon had been with me since I’d opened my practice a few years ago, and she could nearly run the place without me. After her divorce last year, she’d needed more flexibility with her schedule, and I didn’t mind giving it to her. Single moms had it rough. Single dads did, too, but Shannon was the one I could help.

Willow Creek was a small community, without a lot of job employment opportunities, so my employees never minded working extra hours as often as I let them. Riley was just out of high school, but she still lived at home. However, Shannon had three kids, and she always needed the money. Neither of them knew it, but I was planning to give them both Christmas bonuses… or maybe Thanksgiving bonuses when the time came around. And maybe I’d deposit a box of toys and other gifts on Shannon’s front porch anonymously. That made me chuckle, too. Those kids were something else.

I stepped into the recovery room where Callie and Sheila still cooed over their barn kitty turned invalid. “I’m headed out, Riley. Shannon should be back any minute.”

“Sure thing,” she said, already working on cleaning out one of the cages we’d used for a spaying that morning.

I stopped beside her and discreetly handed her Logan’s card. “Give this to Shannon to use when she settles Sheila’s bill.”

“Slide it in my pocket,” she said, jutting her hip toward me. “My hands are a little messy.”

I did and turned to leave, thankful Riley hadn’t noticed the name on the front of the card.

Callie waved at me, as though she meant to get my attention. “Do we have to leave?”

“No, you can stay as long as Miss Riley says it’s okay to stay.”

Riley’s cheeks pinched in a grin, and she winked at the girl. “I guess we’ll see how you behave, huh?”

Sully-Boy hissed at everyone to show his general displeasure with the whole situation.

Callie bounced up to the front of his cage. “You don’t get to talk that way, Sully. You take that back.”

The cat meowed at her as if in apology, and I shook my head. Sometimes, it really seemed like they spoke to each other. “You all have a great evening. You’ll be able to pick him up at noon tomorrow. Riley, don’t forget to send them home with the meds tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am. You have a good trip!” She straightened from her task and pinned me with a look. “I hope you do everything I would do.”

“Unlikely.”

But I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting to a certain dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes. I wasn’t about to mess up my life for a guy, no matter how broad his shoulders were or how his biceps bulged in the sleeves of his polos.

Yet if I sat down to sketch out my perfect type…

Well, Logan placed at the top of the list, and he was beginning to look like a long, sexy drink for my thirsty workaholic lady parts, if I were honest. My lips parted slightly, and goosebumps slid over my skin as I wondered what it might be like to go on a date with him. Could he handle nothing serious? Could I?

A sigh escaped me. Fat chance. Wishful thinking. It’d get messy, but I had to admit, one crazy night sounded delicious, salacious, and a great prescription to combat the doldrums.

Though, I’d die before I ever admitted any of my new revelation to Riley. One of these days, maybe I’d bump into Logan somewhere around town. Nevertheless, I decided to wait for Shannon to run the credit card, so I could take his credit card with me. Just because. Maybe Logan would show up somewhere, and maybe I liked the idea of his name in my pocket.

In the meantime, work hard, play hard, right? Time for a little routine shake-up.

I’d be damned. After I got back into my street clothes, I was heading to Vixen’s to have a big glass of “Animal Doctor.”

Whatever the hell it was.

CHAPTER THREE

logan

Vixen’s was the designated shifter hangout in Willow Creek, and I strolled in, pleased to see most of my construction crews already waited on the barstools and in the booths.

When I stepped up to the counter of the “rustic-chic bar,” as Sheila called it, a dozen of my employees gathered around me to place their orders. Sheila knew about my rule of two drinks per employee, so she always made them pay for anything more. Beer steins started sliding down the bar.

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