I decided to play with him a little; partly to see how he would handle it and partly because I was bored out of my mind. “Monty who?”
Confusion fleetingly crossed his face before the self-assured mask he seemed to wear so well was back in place. “Funny.”
I shrugged. “Some customers would find it funny but something tells me that you don’t have much of a sense of humour.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. Shit, it was bad enough to insult a customer, but to insult this badass could be taking it too far.
His eyes widened. Bugger. I waited for him to erupt; I hadn’t forgotten that temper of his. But then a smirk slowly appeared and the tension left me, to be replaced with butterflies. Yeah, he was one sexy man, especially when he looked at me like that. “You’d be right with that assumption. And it shocks the shit out of me that I find you amusing, but I do.”
Well, colour me surprised. I cocked my head to the side and smiled at him. He was a bit of an enigma to me; so far I knew that he was the kind of man who disliked rudeness, but also the kind of man who didn’t look out for his sick pet. He had a temper on him and didn’t hesitate to threaten a stranger, but he also treated his kid with such gentleness and kindness. This was one complex man. He smiled back, and oh my freaking god, when that dimple popped, I swear my panties almost caught on fire.
That dimple managed to scramble my thoughts, so I was sure I looked like a complete idiot when I said, “Uh, yeah, I’ll just go get Monty for you.” I scurried out to the back without a second glance at Scott; I didn’t need to confirm how stupid I must have just looked.
A couple of minutes later, I placed the cat cage we’d put Monty in, onto the front counter. “Here he is; all better.”
Scott took one look at Monty and then his eyes flew to mine. “What the fuck happened to his face?”
“Sorry, I should have mentioned that before I brought him out. We had to remove some of his skin because it had died. We’ve flushed the wound and now we need any further infection to drain out, so we’ve left the wound open. You’ll need to keep it clean as the pus and blood drain from it. Just use a cloth to wipe it away. Also, keep this collar on him so that he can’t scratch or lick the wound, which he will try to do. He’s been given antibiotics so he’s well on his way to a complete recovery now.”
Scott’s full focus was on what I was saying. Even though he’d taken his sweet time to bring Monty in, I felt certain that he would do everything to make sure his cat recovered quickly. “Jesus, the poor fuckin’ cat. Okay, I’ll be calling you if I hit trouble with this; he’s not getting this sick again.”
I nodded. “Good, and yes, please don’t hesitate to call us if you feel he’s not recovering.”
Scott pulled out his wallet. “Right, how much do I owe you?”
I pulled up his invoice on the computer. “For the operation, anaesthetic and antibiotics, it comes to a total of five hundred and seventy dollars please.”
“Fuck me! You sure that’s right?”
“Yes,” I replied, wondering if I was going to have an argument on my hands. I sighed. This was the least favourite part of my job; arguing with pet owners who didn’t want to spend the money to get their pet better.
He shook his head and ran his hand over his hair, visibly annoyed, but he handed over his credit card. “Christ, I hope he won’t need a follow up appointment.”
I put the payment through and gave him his card back. “You’ll need to bring him back in ten days, but there won’t be a fee. We just need to take out the couple of stitches he does have and check to make sure he’s healing. It’ll only be a very quick visit,” I assured him.
“Okay, so we’re done here?” he asked as he lifted the cat cage.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Thanks for your help. I’ll return your cage as soon as I can.”
I waved my hand at him. “No rush, you can bring it back when you bring Monty back in.”
He gave me one last dimple inducing smile before turning and walking towards the door. As he got to it, he stopped and swung his head back to face me. “You have any more trouble with that asshole from yesterday?”
“No, I haven’t heard from him.”
“Good. Remember what I said; call me if you do. Pricks like him need a boot up their ass.”
I smiled. He certainly had a way with words. “Thanks, will keep that in mind.”
And then he was gone. And I turned my attention to my next patient, but thoughts of him throughout the day sent a thrill through me. Scott Cole was the kind of man that women like me threw their checklists out the window for.
Chapter 3
Scott
I banged on Michelle’s door and waited. It was the third time, and when she didn’t answer, I yelled out, “Michelle, open the fucking door or I’m kicking it in.” I didn’t have time for this shit. It was nearly two o’clock and I had to get to Indigo within the next half hour to help J interview possible managers.
The door was flung open and I sucked in a breath as I took in Michelle’s appearance. She was obviously high on something and looked like she hadn’t showered in days.