Vet's Desire (31 page)

Dropping his
forehead to rest against hers, Tim smiled. “And you knew just what
to do.”

“Peace and
quiet never hurt anyone.”

Dipping his
head to kiss her lightly on the lips, the taste of her strawberry
lip gloss filled him. Lifting his head, he licked his lips. “Mmmm.
Yum.” And he kissed her again, this time coming up to smack his
lips. “Oh yeah. Now I want to lick you all over.”

She giggled. “I
don’t taste like strawberry all over.”

“True.
Strawberry at the top, cream at the centre.” He felt a little surge
of heat at just the thought. “My taste buds are tingling.”

“Maybe it’s
your guilty conscious at not talking to your mother?” Devilment
danced in her eyes.

“Not likely.”
He started to pull her skirt up. “I’ve had a hellish day and now
here you come, all dessert and-”

She smartly
stopped him from pulling her skirt the rest of the way up.
“No.”

“No?”

“We’re meeting
Mike, Maddy, Rick and Cherry for tea.”

“We are?”
Totally unconcerned, he resumed trying to tug her skirt up.

“At the Pizza
Place.” She smacked his hand away. “In ten minutes, actually.”

“Ten minutes?”
He reached for her as she backed away. “I can work with that.”

“Pizza now,
dessert later.” She picked her car keys up from the hook by the
door.

Tim sighed.
“Promise?”

Cindy smiled
widely at him. “Yep, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of
it.”

“You?”

“Oh, honey.”
She winked at him. “Do you really think you’re the only one who can
give oral?” And she walked out the door.

Stunned, Tim
stared after her, the meaning of her words filtering through him,
followed hard by heat.

He started for
the door in determined strides.

“Pizza first!”
she called out from the reception area.

Damn it, he
knew that tone. Hands on his hips, he frowned. But if he put his
mind to it, he could change her mind. Grinning, he started for the
door again.

“And if the
on-call vet comes in and finds us doing anything, Tim, you’ll get
nothing from me,” Cindy added. “Zilch. Zip. In fact, you’ll be
going home alone. Just you and your hand.”

He knew her
enough now to know that it wasn’t an idle threat. With a sigh, Tim
shrugged out of his coat and hung it up, pocketed the mobile and
picked up his car keys.

As he walked
out into the reception area, Cindy smiled approvingly at him.

“Don’t say it.”
Unlocking the door, he pushed her outside gently.

“Good boy?”

“Exactly.”

“Oh honey.” Her
smile was pure sin as she got into her car. “I promise you, it’ll
be worth it.”

Chapter
Ten

Her silky tone
and darkening eyes had his shaft hardening, and placing his hand
atop the hood of the car, he leaned down to peer into the window at
her. “Sure we can’t skip the pizza?”

“No.”

“Trust me, Rick
and Mike won’t even notice us not being there, not with their
ladies there as well.”

“No.”

“Are you
sure?”

“Yes. Now get
into your car and go home. I’ll follow and pick you up.”

Hot damn, he
still had a chance. Tim drove home quickly, got out of the garage
and shut the door, and then leaned against the fence and looked at
her, one brow raised. “Want to come in for a quick cuppa?”

She laughed
outright. “Get in the car, Tim.”

When they
pulled up in the car park at the Pizza Place, he said, “I’m on
fire.”

“Think cool
thoughts.”

He watched her
get out of the car, those luscious curves now out of range of his
hands, but not his sight or imagination. “Not going to work.”

“Hopeless.”
Coming around, she opened his door. “Come on, princess.”

“I hope you
know that it’s all your fault that I’m half crippled.” He used the
motion of getting out of the car to rearrange the front of his
slacks.

Amused, she
grinned.

“Boy, are you
in trouble.” Wrapping his arm around her waist, he deliberately
dropped his hand to clutch her bottom. “Wait until later.”

Reaching behind
her, she deftly moved his hand higher. “You want oral, you behave
yourself.”

Tim nearly
tripped going into the restaurant.

Mike and Rick
saw him because, of course, they were sitting in the chairs facing
the doorway. Sitting in the chairs opposite them, Maddy and Cherry
had their backs to the door.

Seating Cindy
in a chair at the end of the table, Tim sat in the remaining chair
opposite her. “Evening ladies.” He nodded to Cherry and Maddy
before turning his gaze to Mike and Rick and nodding again.
“Ladies.”

“Hey,” replied
Rick.

Mike
grunted.

“So let’s have
the pizza and blow this joint fast.” Tim held his hand up for the
waitress.

“Tim.” Cindy
said warningly, but laughter lurked in her eyes.

Rick knocked
his hand down. “You haven’t looked at the menu yet.”

“I’m only
interested in dessert.” Oh boy, was he. Dessert. Tim eyed Cindy
hungrily. Yeah, only dessert.

Ignoring him,
Cindy turned to Maddy and Cherry and started talking to them. How
she could do that knowing what was to come back home, he didn’t
know. All his attention was pretty much focussed on it.

“Put ice on
it,” Rick advised.

“Huh?” Tim
looked at him.

“Man, you’re
looking at Cindy like you could eat her up.”

“Heh heh.”

Mike frowned.
“She’s a lady. Knock it off.”

“You have no
idea what she taunted me with.” Tim reached for the menu. “Not
exactly what I’d call lady-like.”

“Don’t care.
Get a grip on yourself.”

Rick grinned.
“Good day at work?”

“Shit day, but
the ending is going to be bloody awesome.”

“I’d say so,
going by your shirt.”

Tim stuck out
his chest. “Oh yeah, baby.”

The picture on
his shirt was of a cartoon bull with steam coming from his
distended nostrils and a set of huge balls on the other end.
Printed beneath the picture was
Get Balled by the
Master
.

“Impressive,”
Rick said. “Turns on all the girls, does it?”

“Only one I
want to turn on.” He glanced over top of the menu at Cindy, sure
she was deliberately ignoring him, until she glanced at him and
winked. Hoo boy.

“Just don’t do
it here.” Rick turned his gaze to Cindy. “She doesn’t seem very
turned on, though.”

“She will
be.”

Mike glowered
at him.

“Sorry,
precious.” Tim blew him a kiss. “Am I upsetting you with my rude,
crude words?” He fluttered his eyelashes. “Want to spank me for
being naughty?”

“Pound you into
the ground, more like,” Mike replied.

Maddy glanced
at him and his scowl dropped away to be replaced with a small
smile.

“Jesus,” said
Tim. “Whipped.”

Mike returned
to frowning at him.

“What are you
talking about?” Cherry looked at Tim. “Who’s being whipped?”

“Mike.”

She glanced at
Mike.

“Tim’s being
feral,” Cindy explained. “Ignore him.”

“I wasn’t this
feral until you came along,” he said.

“Crap.”

“She’s right,”
Rick said. “I’m surprised you grew up without having your head
ripped off.”

“I don’t think
he actually grew up,” Mike growled. “Dragged, more like it, and not
very successfully.”

“You’re just
jealous.” Tim pulled the ringing phone from his pocket and clicked
it off without looking at it. “You didn’t grow up, you just
appeared as the surly, scowling, big bear you are.”

The waitress
came and they ordered the pizzas and drinks before settling back to
laugh, joke, and chat the evening away.

It was pleasant
and Tim relaxed, his eyes lingering often on Cindy as she laughed
and chatted to their friends. Looking around the table, he thought
how much had changed in their lives. Rick had Cherry, Mike had
Maddy, and he had Cindy. And they were all friends. Life was good.
No, better than good, it was great.

Watching the
closeness between his friends and their women, he saw the ease with
which they talked to each other, the warmth in their eyes, and he
wondered if he had the same with Cindy, if she looked at him the
same way. He glanced across the table and in that moment Cindy
glanced back at him, and the warmth in her eyes hit him full on,
seeping through him and lower, pulling at little strings of not
only desire, but pure contentment.

Yeah, she had a
similar look in her eyes. His heart leaped a little. Very similar
to the way Maddy and Cherry looked at their men, as though they
were the only men in the room, as though they would never tire of
gazing into their eyes, as though-

“Hey, Tim.”
Rick kicked him under the table and handed him his mobile phone
with a puzzled expression. “Your mum is on the phone.”

“What?” Tim
looked at the phone.

“Your Mum. On
my phone.”

Annoyed, Tim
put the phone to his ear. “What is it this time?”

“Tim,” Dr
Clarke said, “I need to talk to you, but you’ve got your phone
switched off.”

“Look, I’m with
friends at the moment.”

“It’s
urgent.”

He sighed. “How
urgent?”

“Please.”

That had him
frowning. His mother never said please.

“This is
important, Tim. Come and see me.”

Loath to do so,
but now a little worried and more than curious, he glanced up to
find Cindy looking at him with concern. Rubbing the bridge of his
nose, he sighed. “Tomorrow. I’ll come tomorrow.”

“Tonight.”

“Surely-”

“Don’t make me
beg.”

“You never beg.
That’d be beneath you.” When there was silence on the other end, he
sighed again. “Okay, fine. I’ll come. Half an hour.” Hanging up, he
handed the phone to Rick. “Thanks.”

“Everything
okay?” Maddy queried.

“Fine.” He
forced the frown from his brow.

“Your mother?”
Mike asked.

Tim shrugged.
“Hounding me for awhile. Guess I better go and see what she wants
that’s so urgent.”

Cherry looked
troubled. “If its urgent, shouldn’t you go now?”

“Knowing
Mother, anything urgent will be only to do with her.” Tim picked up
his glass of Coke and took a sip. “Trust me, it can wait another
half hour.”

It wasn’t long
after that the group broke up, the couples going their own ways
with plans to meet up again for another evening out.

Cindy watched
as Tim fastened his seatbelt. “Off to the evil witch’s castle?”

“Afraid so.” He
glanced at her. “Unless you prefer to drop me off home and I can
get my car.”

“Nah. What
would be the fun in that?” She started the engine.

He smiled at
the words, though the thought of meeting his mother didn’t make him
happy.

“What do you
think she wants?” Cindy pulled the car out into the traffic.

“Not a clue.”
Tim sighed and leaned his elbow on the window sill, resting his
chin on his hand as he gazed out at the street lights flashing
past.

“If you don’t
want to go, I can just turn the car around.”

That did
produce a bit of amusement. “And have you facing the wrath of the
evil witch?”

She shrugged.
“No skin off my nose. I’m not related to her.”

“You would be
if you stayed with me.”

“Still no skin
off my nose.” She smiled. “It’s a name, not a blood relation.”

He laughed but
grew serious as the silence fell between them again. The road
hummed beneath the tyres and he lost himself in thought, wondering
what his mother could possibly want, for she never summoned him by
choice.

By the time
Cindy pulled to a halt in front of the mansion, Tim was really
curious. He got out, only to look back into the car. “You
coming?”

She nodded at
the four cars parked nearby. “This might be a family affair.”

“There’s no
other family. And you’re not waiting out here like some chauffer.”
A sudden thought struck him. “Um…did you want to go home? I can get
a taxi.”

“What? And
leave you here?” She got out of the car and looked at him across
the roof. “We’re in this together.”

“Really?”
Warmth washed through him again.

“Sure. But I’ll
be waiting in the hallway.” She closed the car door and set the
alarm. “I’ll be your heroine, waiting in the background to save you
if needed.”

“My heroine.”
He grinned as she rounded the car and came up beside him.

“Just remember
that.” She winked as he slid his arm around her waist.

Climbing the
steps, he felt for the first time as though he wasn’t alone while
entering the evil den. Cindy walked beside him, quiet and
confident, patient and unquestioning.

They stopped in
the hallway.

“I’ll wait
here.” She gestured to one of the regal chairs.

“What about the
kitchen? You can have a coffee or tea while you’re waiting.”

“Nah, I’m
good.” She touched her belly. “Though I have drunk a lot of Diet
Coke. Where’s the nearest bathroom?”

“Sure you’re
not just nervous at the thought of the evil witch being close by?”
He nudged her with his elbow.

“Could be, but
I’ll never admit it.” She nudged him back.

Feeling better
already, he pointed her in the direction of a nearby corridor.
“Straight down to the end and turn left. First door on the
right.”

“Good man.”
Reaching up suddenly, she slid her hand around his neck and urged
him down. Brushing a kiss across his lips, she murmured, “If you
need help slaying the dragon, just yell. I’ll be right here.”

Oh yeah, Cindy
had a way of making him feel so much better about things he didn’t
want to face.

He kissed her
back, resisting the urge to tighten his hold and take her out of
the house and back to her place, a place he’d always felt at home
in, where he could relax and laugh.