Valerie Hansen - The Perfect Couple

Reassured, he sauntered around the table. “Okay. No sweat.”

“Thanks.” She leaned her head to one side. “It's this eye that hurts. See if you can clear that first, will you?”

Tyler lifted his hand. Hesitated. Discovered he actually wanted to see what it felt like to touch that beautiful, silky hair. Until now, that kind of act had been reserved for his late wife. Transferring those feelings to any other woman was totally unacceptable.

Kara peered over her shoulder as best she could without letting go of the puppy's cast. “Well? This stuff is hardening. What are you waiting for?”

What, indeed? He didn't even like this woman. Surely, there was no reason to avoid touching her. He leaned closer so he could see the fine hairs against her cheek, reached out and carefully swept them back.

A tingle danced across Kara's face and skittered down her spine. His fingertips were rough, yet his touch was light, barely there. It was amazing that a man that big, that imposing, could be so gentle when he wanted to be. She shivered, aware of his closeness, of his breath on her cheek as he examined her eye.

“Did I get the hair out?” he asked quietly.

“I—I think so. Thanks.”

Tyler straightened. Stepping behind her he carefully gathered the rest of her hair in both hands and held it back while she worked. “Okay. Just hurry up, will you? I've got other things to do besides hang around here.” He knew his words sounded unduly harsh, especially since Kara was being a Good Samaritan, but he didn't like the feelings she'd awakened in him and he wanted to escape from her influence as soon as possible.

She continued to smooth the cast, glad the job was nearly done, because she could barely think straight with him standing so close. He made her miss the quiet companionship of a husband. Even one like Alex.

She blinked and sniffled, blaming the moisture pooling in her eyes on irritation from the stray hair.

Still holding her hair, Tyler leaned closer. “You all right?”

Kara felt his breath tickle her ear. She searched for words, any words, to answer and found none. His presence filled the room, overwhelmed her. All she'd have to do was turn her head and…

And what? Make a fool of herself? She was just overtired and stressed out. She must be. Only temporary insanity would make her think of Tyler Corbett as romantic.

She sniffled again, stalling for time to get her errant emotions under better control. Please, Lord, she prayed silently, simply, help me.

No bolt from the sky came to rescue her. No mountains crumbled. No seas parted. Tyler still bent over her, and her heart continued to hammer. The only change in the room was the sudden wafting odor of…pizza?

Kara's head jerked toward the door. Tyler hadn't been ready for such an abrupt move and inadvertently pulled her hair. She yowled.

He let go and jumped back. “What the—?” His gaze followed Kara's.

Standing in the doorway, with a broad grin on her face and a pizza box in her hands, was her sister, Susan.

Susan giggled. “Well, well. What have we here?”

“Not what it looks like,” Kara countered. “Mr. Corbett found an injured dog and we were…I was…just setting its broken leg.”

“Okay. If you say so.” Susan laid the pizza box on a chair and stepped up to the table so she could steady the puppy. It licked her hand and she smiled down at it.

“I do say so,” Kara insisted, stripping off her latex gloves and dropping them in the trash. “If I'd known you were coming back tonight, I'd have waited till you were here to help.”

“Looks like you did okay without me.” Her eyebrows arched as she glanced over Kara's shoulder at the flustered man who was doing his best to appear unconcerned. He'd thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans, hiding them as if they might be considered evidence against him.

Now that the atmosphere in the small room was no longer romantic, Kara was easily able to resume her professional bearing. “Give that a few more minutes to set,” she told Susan, gesturing at the puppy, “then put him in one of the empty cages up here. I want him close so I can observe him tonight, just in case he has internal injuries, too.”

Tyler spoke up. “You're going to stay here? All night?”

“She does that all the time,” Susan explained. “That's why I brought the pizza. I figured she'd need something to eat besides the one brownie left over from lunch.”

“I didn't mean for you to have to go to so much extra trouble,” Tyler said, addressing Kara. “I just didn't know what else to do with him. Once I spotted him, I couldn't drive off and let him die. I wouldn't have brought him here if there'd been any other vet hospital close by.”

“Of course you wouldn't,” she said, trying to ignore the implication.

“I didn't mean it like that.”

“Don't apologize,” she said flatly. “And don't worry about me. I have a couch in my office where I sleep whenever I have to stay over. I'll be fine.” She turned her attention to the drowsy pup. “He looks good so far. I'll check on him every hour or so till I'm sure he's going to be all right.”

Susan was glancing around the room. “Where's the paperwork?”

“Well…” Kara's expression was apologetic. “Would you believe we didn't get around to making any?”

“In a heartbeat,” Susan said. She looked to Tyler. “I'll need a name to put on the cage for identification. What do you call him?”

He drew the fingers of one hand down his cheeks to his chin, thinking. “All I've called him so far is 'Road Kill.'”

“Okay,” she said. “Road Kill Corbett, it is.”

Kara interrupted. “You can't give that poor little innocent thing a name like that.”

“Why not?” Tyler was grinning broadly, obviously pleased with his witty selection.

The boastful look on his face did something strange to Kara's usually even disposition, making her decide to say exactly what she was thinking. “Because it isn't fair. What's he ever done to deserve a terrible slur like that?”

“You mean besides get hit by a car and nearly die?” Tyler's brows knit above deep-brown eyes that punctuated the question.

“Oh, that,” she said sweetly, smugly. “I didn't mean the Road Kill part. I meant Corbett.“

“I thought he was never going to close his mouth,” Susan said, smiling at her sister as they got the puppy settled in his cage and went back to straighten up the exam room together. “Did you see the look on the poor man's face?”

“See it? I'll never forget it. It was all I could do to keep from busting up laughing. If he hadn't stormed out of here when he did, I might have exploded!”

“I couldn't believe you had the nerve to say something like that in the first place. What came over you?”

“I don't know. I guess he made me mad when he told us he only came here because he had no other choice. I wasn't very Christian, was I?”

“No. But the whole situation sure was funny.”

“It was, wasn't it?” She grew thoughtful. “When, exactly, did you decide I needed a pizza?”

“On my way home. Why?”

“Oh, no reason.”

“Come on, Kara. We've been sisters for too long. You can't hide stuff from me and you know it. Fess up. Why is the pizza important?”

She busied herself wiping down the stainless steel table as she answered, “I just thought it might have been the answer to a prayer. But the timing's wrong. I didn't even ask for anything until long after you decided to come back.”

“It could still be an answer.”

“I don't see how.”

Susan put her arm around her sister's shoulders. “Because God knows what we need before we even ask Him.” She stopped being serious and added, “Although, I must say, I've never asked Him to get me a pizza before.”