Sheltering His Desire Read Free

officially become a doctor less than a
year ago. When the owner had to sell three years ago, for personal
reasons, Jared had loaned her the money to purchase the business
itself. Well, technically Tate had loaned her the money through
Jared, but she didn’t know that. Tate tried to offer, but she
refused to owe him. Now she was looking to expand the place and buy
the property it sat on, which meant she needed another infusion of
capital. Hence the crowdfunding campaign.
    He followed her out of the office, staying a
few feet back for his own sanity. Getting too close to that heady
scent of soap would just screw with his head again. His footsteps
slowed as he reached the front lobby of the clinic. The panicked
woman near the front desk was probably just a little younger than
his thirty-four, and she looked painfully familiar.
    He scanned the face against a list in his
head. Not a business associate. Not a one night stand, or a friend
of a friend. Where did he know her from?
    She looked up as soon as Alyssia drew close.
Her words ran together. “He’s hurt, I don’t know how badly, but he
won’t come out of the car, and he just keeps whimpering, and you
have to help him, please.”
    Alyssia rested a hand on her arm, tone kind
but firm. “We will. Show me.”
    He’d let them get to work. Lys had everything
under control. But he couldn’t help following her to the SUV near
the front door. And then it clicked in his head. The woman worked
for a friend of his parents. Friend was a deceptive word. Her
employer was sleeping with Tate’s mother. The country club’s dirty
little secret that everyone knew. The woman was a housekeeper. She
swung the back doors open, and a low growl echoed through the dark
parking lot.
    “Come on, boy.” Alyssia’s voice was low and
soothing, as she crawled inside the vehicle. A loud series of barks
reverberated, and she scrambled out backwards, face pinched.
    “See?” Hysteria crept into the woman’s voice.
“I can’t get him out. I don’t want him to bite me again. He already
did it once when I was putting him in there. She held up a hand
wrapped in gauze.
    “Tranquilizer?” Sara asked.
    Alyssia shook her head. “Not until I can take
a look at him.”
    While they were conferring, Tate pushed
through the small group. His chest clenched. It was the neighbor’s
dog. Belonged to their teenage son. Even in the dim light, it was
obvious he was in pain. Tate crawled toward him slowly, murmuring
random reassurances in the softest voice he could. The dog
whimpered, but didn’t pull away or snap. It felt like it took ages
to close the distance, but it was probably less than a minute. He
cradled the mutt and backed out just as slowly, trying not to jar
any injuries or startle the animal.
    Three faces stared back in wide-eyed
surprise. Alyssia recovered first. She didn’t say anything, just
nodded toward the clinic. He followed without question into one of
the rooms. He set the dog on the table, gently stroking his head
and whispering more incoherent reassurances while Alyssia examined
the dog, and then hooked him to an IV.
    “Okay.” Her quiet voice sounded loud and
abrupt, shattering the stillness but not the tension. “Thank you. I
need you out now, though.”
    He nodded and extracted himself from the
room. He let out a long breath when he was in the hallway. “Cait,”
he called to the pacing woman in the lobby. “What happened?”
    She tugged on her blonde braid, not meeting
his gaze. “Nothing. I got clumsy cleaning his dog run.
Left…something out, and, um…he got hurt.”
    Tate wasn’t even going to point out what a
bad lie that was. He stared at her a minute longer, and her
shoulders slumped. “I can’t tell you. I need this job. You can’t
even tell them it was me who brought it in. Please.”
    It was times like this he had no idea how
Alyssia did her job without surrendering everything fun and amazing
about her personality. He jammed his fists in his pockets to hide
his