Page 34 of Only Her (K2 Team)
“Found in gopher bait. Mix it into raw meat, leave it where you know an animal will get to it, and walk away.”
“That’s going to be almost impossible to trace.”
She scrubbed her hands over her face. This whole business infuriated her. “I know. I did an Internet search. It’s as easy to buy as candy.”
“All we can do at this point is what we’re already doing. We’ve put the department on notice to keep an eye out, and we’ve beefed up patrols in this area. I wish there was more we could do.”
“Yeah, me, too.” They’d saved Rascal this morning, but would the next dog or cat be brought in fast enough to save? “Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s time to close. Go ask Brooke out before she leaves.”
Mike shot her a grin. “Yes, ma’am. I’m on it.”
After he left, she completed the notes on her last patient. Brooke came bouncing in, followed by Michelle.
“Oh my God. Stud Two asked me out.” Brooke grabbed Michelle’s hands, dancing them in a circle. “He’s so freaking hot. We’re going to dinner tonight. Tell Michelle she has to come home with me and help me decide what to wear.”
Riley watched them, smiling at Brooke’s excitement. “Michelle, go home with Brooke and help her.”
Brooke came to a sudden halt and turned to Riley. “Is that okay? I mean, he wouldn’t have asked me out if he was going out with you, too, would he?”
“No, Mike wouldn’t do that. Michelle, get her out of here before she explodes all over my desk from giddiness.”
Brooke grinned. “Thank you.”
“You bet. Enjoy your date.”
“Oh, I’m gonna. See you Monday.”
Riley spent a few more minutes organizing her office, then made the rounds before leaving. Denny wouldn’t come until later that night, so she made sure the one cat and three dogs being boarded had water. If Rascal hadn’t recovered enough to be sent home, she would have waited for Denny to arrive. But because she was seeing Cody, she was glad she could leave. She had just enough time to go home, take a shower, shave her legs, and dress.
With her purse over her shoulder and her phone in hand, she headed for her car. Her long sex drought was going to end tonight. The hottest bad boy on the planet was going to see to it. Her toes tingled just thinking about it.
She clicked her remote a few feet from her car, and at the sound of footsteps behind her, she started to turn, her heart sinking at the thought of someone rushing their sick pet to her. Before she could see who it was, pain exploded in the back of her skull, and her world faded to black.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The plate of assorted cheeses, paper-thin shaved ham, grapes, strawberries, and blackberries looked good if Cody did say so himself. He visualized feeding those berries to Riley with his fingers. Because he’d noticed that she liked her beer slushy, he had a bottle in the freezer. For dessert, he had the makings for ice cream sundaes. A fun meal, and one he wouldn’t have to spend time in the kitchen making.
His plan was for them to eat their dinner on the porch, then watch the sunset while he played for her. She seemed to like that, and other than for his teammates when they had been on deployment, he only played his guitar for his dogs. Until Riley.
Although it seemed like it should be just the opposite, being around her calmed him. She wasn’t quiet or meek, so he didn’t understand why that was. Where was she? He’d been keeping an eye out the window, thinking she should’ve been home by now. Hopefully, she hadn’t had a last-minute emergency, especially another poisoned pet.
Whether or not Maria could narrow down his search of the suspect’s car to a reasonable number with only the first two letters of the license plate remained to be seen. He’d given her the info on the model he thought the car was, and with that and the letters, he hoped she could give him a list to start working on.
He was feeling pretty good about the decisions he’d made. Letting Riley into his life for however long she could put up with him, agreeing to see the head doc, and this morning, e-mailing everyone he knew even vaguely who was still in Afghanistan—sending them a picture of Layla—were all positive steps in getting his head screwed back on right. Seeing the doctor meant he’d have to face whatever had happened that was giving him nightmares, but he was finally ready to deal with it. Yep, he was feeling good that he was finally taking control.
At another glance out the window, he saw that the sun was starting to set, and if she didn’t get here soon, they were going to miss watching it together. Where the hell was she? He took the bottle of beer out of the freezer before it exploded and put it in the fridge.
There was nothing left to do until Riley arrived, and he realized that even more than the sex they had put on the agenda for tonight, he just wanted her with him. Not that he wasn’t looking forward to the sex. He wasn’t going to kid himself about that, but it was more than that with her. Too restless to stay inside, he decided to wait for her on the porch.
“Wanna go out?” Both dogs jumped up and ran to the door. Before he could reach them, his phone buzzed, Riley’s name popping up on the screen.
“Hey, darlin’. You get delayed?” At the sound of heavy breathing, he frowned. “Riley?”
“Hel-help.”
“Riley! Where are you?” No response. Phone in hand, he grabbed his keys. “Stay,” he said when the dogs tried to follow him. Not bothering to lock the door behind him, he slammed it shut on his confused dogs and ran to his truck. The only thing he knew to do was to drive from his house to her clinic, watching for her car.
He was two blocks from his destination when a siren sounded behind him. With a glance in the rearview mirror, he saw a cop car, lights flashing, on his tail. Eyeing his speedometer, he saw that he was traveling far faster than the residential speed limit. Too bad. The cop could just follow him.
