Behind me, Marie sighed, and my heart followed suit.
Our eyes searched each other’s. “When we get the bleeding to stop, you can have the caramel coffee I brought you.”
He’d brought me coffee. Caramel coffee—my favorite. Through the towel, I said, “Thank you. That was really sweet.”
Marie gave another sigh, and I think I let one slip, too. Now we‘re sighing at his every word? Hell, even Marie went a little cuckoo around this man. Marie handed me a new towel then discreetly helped me out of my white coat. As I took it off, Marie stood in front of Mike and mouthed, “It’s not very sexy with blood on it.” I gaped at Marie as she left.
“You doing okay?”
“Yes. I think you need one of those warning bells to let me know when you’re in the vicinity.”
“What?”
Oh, shit. Did I say that out loud? What is wrong with me?
I glanced at him and his flirty smirk. “No way am I repeating that.” I needed to change the subject. “Wait… did you mention coffee?” Before Mike could answer, I jerked to an upright position. “Double wait… you had a dog. Is he or she okay?”
Light pressure on my shoulders pushed me back down. “Marie has her. She’s fine. Let’s make sure the bleeding has stopped first.”
Two nosebleeds in one day would not have been good. “Where’d you find her?”
“Outside the coffee shop on the side of the road. Figured since I knew the vet, I’d bring her in. It might win me some brownie points.”
Heat quickly spread to my cheeks. “Saving a dog definitely gets brownie points. The coffee is a bonus.”
“That’s what I hoped.”
He hoped? Wow.
Something started to shift between us, and the intensity increased. If I wasn’t careful, I’d fall off the exam table and blurt out how he was buttering my bread. Oh hell, I needed to focus. I pulled back the towel and dabbed my nose with a fresh spot—no more blood.
I pushed myself to an upright position. “Let’s take a look at the puppy.”
No thoughts of bacon or bread are allowed.
The beautiful boxer puppy licked me as I checked her over. No tag. No chip. Healthy. All vitals and responses were normal. “She’s in great shape. We can list her as missing on the local community boards and on a few forums I know. I don’t know of any local families who had boxers eight to ten weeks ago.”
“I found her hiding underneath the bench. When I squatted close to her, she ran into my arms, shivering. By the time we got here, she seemed fine. She looks like she’s purebred.”
“I agree. Someone probably paid a lot of money for her because of her markings.” The little boxer had a perfect white stripe down the middle of her head and four perfect white socks on her paws.
Mike took a few steps back to lean on the counter. The little boxer whined while trying to escape my arms, apparently not happy with him walking away. It was precious—it appeared as though she’d latched onto him. Testing my theory, I set her down on the floor. She nearly lost traction on the tile as she scampered to his leg. Before she had a chance to whine a little more, Mike picked her up. I knew what those arms felt like, and a twinge of jealously went through me.
For goodness’ sake, it’s a dog.
“It’s all good, little girl. Syd will take good care of you,” he cooed.
The dog snuggled into him. I wanted to swoon again but stayed steady on my feet. I had already fallen way too many times around Mr. Sexy Cop. Stop calling him that. I bet he smelled heavenly. If only my nose hadn’t been bleeding, I might have been able to sniff him. My eyes widened in horror at my thoughts. I’d hit a new low, for sure.