Puppy Love in Thunder Canyon

She sat up and read the display. Caller unknown. Her fingers tightened around her phone. One deep breath and she pressed the answer button. “Hello?”

“Annabel? It’s Thomas.”

“Oh.” She paused. “Hi there.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be a no-show tonight.”

She released the air from her lungs, while the ache in her stomach that she’d insisted was due to lack of food eased. “Did you get lost?”

“I never left the hospital.” His voice was low and a bit husky. “I was called into an emergency surgery this afternoon and didn’t have time to try to get ahold of you. I didn’t expect it to take this long, but there were complications.”

Stuck at work. She’d never even considered that. “Was the surgery a success?”

“Yes, it was.” He sounded surprised. “Thanks for asking.”

“Are you still at the hospital?”

“Sitting in the men’s locker room. I called as soon as I got out of the shower.”

Trying not to picture Thomas standing in front of a locker dripping wet and wearing nothing but a towel was as impossible as stopping Smiley from hogging the bed at night.

So she didn’t even try.

“You must be exhausted,” she said. “I can hear it in your voice.”

“I am, but it’s a good fatigue, sort of like a runner’s high after completing a marathon. I feel like I could run ten miles.” He sighed. “Not really, but that’s the only comparison I can think of.”

An idea popped into Annabel’s head, so crazy it just might work. “So, I’m guessing you didn’t have a chance to eat dinner either?”

“I’ll probably grab a burger at a drive-thru on my way home—wait, did you say ‘either’?”

“How about meeting me at The Hitching Post? Say in about twenty minutes?”

“The what?”

“The Hitching Post. It’s on Main Street in Old Town. You know the place, right?”

Silence filled the air. Annabel crossed her fingers. On both hands.

“Ah, yeah … I mean, yes,” Thomas finally said. “I know where it is.”

Annabel jumped up and began rifling through her closet. “Great! I’ll see you there!”

Thomas slowed his silver BMW to a full stop at the curb, surprised to find an empty parking space so close to The Hitching Post on a Friday night.

He’d never been here before, but he’d heard his coworkers rave about the local hangout. Once owned by a lady with a questionable past, the place was now a restaurant and bar, a modern-day saloon right in the middle of Thunder Canyon’s Old Town, an area that proudly retained its Western heritage.

A section of town Thomas rarely spent time in. Then again, he rarely spent time anywhere other than his condo or the hospital.

Stepping out of his car, he thumbed the button to lock the doors and set the alarm, then headed for the sidewalk.

He hated to admit it, but his plan had been to take Annabel someplace outside of Thunder Canyon where the walls didn’t have ears and the gossip didn’t travel at the speed of light.

Things at the hospital were finally quieting down, but to be seen together here tonight … Who knew what kind of rumors would fly?

Asking her out in the first place had been crazy enough. Agreeing to meet her here? That he blamed squarely on the fact she’d surprised him by not being angry at being stood up.

And the fact he wanted to see her again as soon as possible.

He started for the front door then realized the place was completely dark.

Geez, how late was it?

He glanced at his watch and then noticed the sign stuck in the front window. Closed for Renovation. What the heck was going on—

“Hey there!”

He turned and found Annabel standing on the corner, cradling two large paper bags in her arms. She was dressed casually in jeans and a distressed leather jacket, her hair in loose golden waves.

Thomas again felt that familiar zing at the sight of her. “Hey, yourself. Looks like this place is shut down.”

“Oh, I knew it was closed. At least temporarily. My uncle Frank and my cousin Matt have been overseeing the renovation for Jason Traub and his new wife, Joss, who are the new owners. I only named it as a meeting place.”

Meeting place for what? He must be more tired that he thought. “What’s with the paper sacks?”

“Dinner!” Annabel beamed. “A care package chock-full of ribs, chicken and steak fries from DJ’s Rib Shack. Come on, I’ve got the perfect place for us to eat.”

He joined her, not knowing what smelled better, the food or that sexy floral scent he’d noticed the first time they met.

“Here, let me take those,” he offered.

Annabel handed over one of her parcels. The heat from the cooked food warmed his hands. They headed up the street and Thomas was curious as to where they were going. His first thought had been her place, but she’d given him an address that was on the southeast side of town.

At the end of the next block she crossed the street and walked toward a large two-story stone building.

“The Thunder Canyon Library?” He read the sign as they walked past the front steps. “We’re eating here?”

“My second favorite place in town.”

“Pardon my ignorance, but isn’t it closed, too?”

“Don’t worry. I have a key.” Annabel smiled and led him around the corner to a tall wooden fence. He followed her directions to open the gate. “Latch that behind us, okay?”

Thomas did as she asked and they entered a shadowed courtyard. Thanks to a full moon, he could see a grassy area to one side with trees and benches and a wooden jungle gym on the other. Straight ahead was a wall of glass doors covered with blinds.

“This is the back way into the children’s section. Don’t worry, a security light should come on—” A bright spotlight shined down on them, illuminating the area. “And there it is. Come on, this way.”

Annabel punched a code into a hidden keypad and pushed open the closest door. She held the blinds to one side and Thomas followed her, watching as she then did the same thing with another keypad on an inside wall. “The outside light will go off in a few minutes.”

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to be here?”

“What’s the matter, doc?” She turned, that same saucy smile on her face. “Haven’t you ever broken a few rules?”

Yeah, an unwritten one about dating a coworker’s ex-wife.

Not good, especially when he found out the lady hadn’t yet told her husband she’d filed for divorce. The fact that the man had been a senior surgeon while Thomas was fresh out of his residency only added to the mess.

“It’s not something I make a habit of.”

“Well, you’re not doing it now, either. This is my domain, remember? I’m allowed to be here anytime I want and I often work after hours.” Annabel hit a light switch, bathing the large room in a soft glow. “Ah, almost like candlelight. No need to go with all the lights just for dinner.”

It wasn’t the intimate setting like a private corner booth at Antonio’s, but Thomas had to admit it was close.

“This used to be a storage area before I took it over three years ago,” Annabel continued. “I had the place completely gutted and rebuilt from the ground up, including the wall of glass to the outside area. Now the kids have a place to come where they don’t have to be quiet like upstairs. Well, not as quiet.”

Thomas looked around, taking in the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, the scattered tables and chairs, most sized for patrons under four feet tall, as well as several large pillows, comfy armchairs and knit rugs covered hardwood floors.

Posters of children’s authors and book covers decorated the walls. A curved wooden desk that must be original to the building stood against one wall, and above it hung a framed headshot of a grinning golden retriever that had to be Annabel’s dog, with a placard that read Honorary Mascot.

“Come on, grab a piece of floor.”

He turned to find Annabel kneeling at a child-size table, removing a couple of water bottles from the paper bag. She paused to peel off her jacket, revealing a faded Johnny Cash 1967 concert T-shirt that hugged her curves in all the right places.

Thomas had to swallow the lump in his throat before he asked, “You plan on eating right here?”

“Of course.” She pushed aside a couple of miniature chairs and grabbed two large character-decorated pillows. “Here, you can have Dr. Seuss, in honor of your profession. I’ll take Winnie-the-Pooh.”

Shaking his head, he joined her on the carpet, their hips bumping as they worked to empty the bags of their dinner. Thomas edged away, determined to keep this night light and easy. “So, how did you become a librarian?”

“Freshman-year biology.”

That got his attention. “Excuse me?”

Annabel opened one of the containers and the spicy tang of barbecue filled the air. “As a kid I was always the one bringing home stray cats or injured birds. I even stole a horse from a rancher who was using inhumane training techniques on the poor animal. My family thought I’d grow up to be a veterinarian or maybe even a doctor. But when I got to high school and was told I had to dissect a defenseless little frog …” Her voice trailed off as she shuddered. “I just couldn’t do it.”

Thomas grinned. “You do know the frog was already dead, right?”

“Yes, I knew that, but I still didn’t understand why we couldn’t learn what we needed without killing … cutting—anyway, I organized a protest which pretty much ended my science career. So I got my bachelor’s degree in English from San Jose State University, stayed on to get my master’s in Library Sciences and here I am.”

He was surprised to hear she’d gone to school out of state. “You went to college in California?”

“With the size of my family a full scholarship made it an easy decision.” Annabel filled two plates with ribs, chicken and fries. “I loved it. The bay area is so beautiful.”

“And yet you came back here afterward?”

“Of course, Thunder Canyon is my home.” She pushed a plate in his direction. “This smells heavenly! Let’s eat!”

It was a far cry from the refined dinner he’d originally envisioned, but the food was terrific. They ate picnic style with Thomas trying his best to work with the plastic silverware and keep his meal out of his lap.

“You know, messy is the only way to go.” Annabel took a barbecued chicken leg in her fingers and attacked it with a large bite. “Mmm, so good.”

Thomas smiled. Her lack of pretense impressed him. Most of the women he’d dated seemed to refrain from eating altogether. Annabel approached her meal the same way she approached the rest of her life—with gusto.

Messy gusto.

“And you do know the caveman method to dining will always result in more sauce on your face and hands than in your mouth, right?” Thomas asked, then smiled even wider at the exaggerated indignation on her face. “You’ve got a large dollop on your cheek.”

His breath caught the moment her tongue snaked out, trying to capture the evidence. It should look comical, but Thomas was captivated. “Ah, other side.”

She repeated the motion, but still missed.

“Here, let me help …”

He leaned closer, brushing at the side of her mouth with his thumb the same moment Annabel tried again, and was stunned when the quick lick against his skin sent shock waves through his body.

Her blue eyes widened and he couldn’t stop himself from dragging the moist digit over her full bottom lip.

Three dates in the past two years, longer than that since he’d even wanted to feel a woman’s mouth beneath his, but right here, right now, there was nothing Thomas wanted more in the world than to kiss Annabel.

And damn the consequences.

Chapter Four

For the second time in two days, Dr. Thomas North had left her utterly speechless. Breathless, too. Heck, the only way Annabel knew she was alive was the hot flush burning across her skin and the way her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

Then again, her heart had been rocking and rolling to its own crazy beat from the moment he’d agreed to her spontaneous dinner invitation earlier tonight.

Less than an hour ago, she’d skidded to a stop in her favorite black ballet flats as he’d eased out of his shiny sports car, looking relaxed despite hours spent in surgery, and especially yummy.

His white dress shirt and khaki pants were still fresh and polished. The only concession to his long day were the shirtsleeves folded halfway to his elbows. Even the loafers on his feet gleamed in the streetlights.

She’d used the few moments it’d taken him to notice The Hitching Post was closed to reassure herself that her idea of a take-out meal at her home away from home was a good idea.

Especially after he’d joined her and she’d seen the deep lines of fatigue bracketing his eyes.

Now, however, those icy blue eyes were bright and alive, the exhaustion replaced with longing as they stayed locked on her mouth. The heavenly back and forth friction of his thumb against her bottom lip had her wondering just how amazing it would be to kiss this man.

Should she or shouldn’t she?

Despite her flirty and confident attitude, Annabel had no idea how Thomas would react if she threw caution to the wind, closed the short distance between them and pressed her mouth to his.

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