Just for Today...

Just as gorgeous as she remembered.

Only instead of his winning smile and twinkling eyes, today his brow was creased and his mouth tight. His hair was flat and mussed—no product in it to style it into the spikes he’d worn on Saturday.

But his harried appearance and worried expression didn’t stop her stomach from ending up somewhere near her throat.

“What are you doing here?” she blurted, shock getting the better of her. One-night-stand-Sean was supposed to be long gone by now. Moved on to a new city and a new conquest. That was the thought that had been sustaining her each time she relived how badly she’d handled things on Saturday night. At least I never have to see him again.

“Jess, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. Suzie chewed a pack of headache pills.”

Beside him, Hailey and Rob’s golden retriever woofed happily at Jess. The dog’s tail banged against the window as she tried to stuff herself inside the door, past the man blocking the way. She had to be the only dog in the world that actually wanted to go to the vet.

Jess stepped back and opened the door wider, ignoring the leap in her pulse. “Well, then, you’d better come in.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“HOW MANY PILLS did she swallow, do you know?” Jess led the way back into the surgery. If she focused on Suzie, she could forget the cold, sick mortification that was seeping into every inch of her body, making her shiver. Couldn’t she?

For her part, Suzie trotted along happily, comfortable in familiar surroundings.

“I don’t know for sure.” His voice was strained, such a difference from the charming, unshakably confident man from the wedding. “I brought the pack with me. There were only two missing when she got at it, otherwise it was full.”

Sean fished in his canvas jacket pocket and pulled out a well-chewed cardboard box and two blister packs.

Jess grimaced.

“Is it bad? It’s bad, isn’t it? Oh, God.”

“It’s not great, but let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.” It was easy to slip into her well-rehearsed pet-owner-reassuring tone. Thank goodness she’d had years of practice. “Okay, let’s take a look.”

“You want me to lift Suzie up on the table?”

“No, let’s take a look at the pack first, see if we can work out how many she might have ingested.” Jess refilled a bowl of water that had been cleaned and put away and set it down for the dog. “Here you go, Suzie. Have a big drink.”

Sean spread out the damaged pack and a crumpled paper towel on the stainless-steel table in the center of the room.

“These are what I managed to get out of her mouth.” He gestured to the paper towel and Jess leaned closer to see a couple of chewed capsules inside.

“Good,” she said. Not everyone was brave enough to reach into a dog’s mouth and pull out whatever it was chewing—even with a dog as placid as Suzie. She had to give him credit for that. “Okay, let’s see what the damage is.”

Together they carefully took apart the soggy packaging, counting the pierced blister pack, piecing together the chewed remains in the paper towel. By the time they’d finished their stock taking, it appeared the still-cheerful dog—now happily sniffing her way around the surgery—had likely only swallowed two full pills.

“You’re lucky,” Jess said with a genuine sigh of relief. “In a dog Suzie’s size, two isn’t likely to cause any serious effects. They should clear her system overnight.”

“Thank God,” Sean said. He blew out a breath and leaned heavily on the table before letting out a nasty expletive. “Stupid dog. What kind of animal thinks a green-and-white cardboard box is edible?”

Jess didn’t pay much attention to his anger—it was a pretty common response. “Most dogs will test out just about anything as food. And some medical capsules have a slightly sweet coating to help people swallow them, so I don’t know—maybe they tasted good to her. Suzie isn’t the first dog to give them a try, unfortunately.” Jess found Suzie thoroughly sniffing out a corner of the surgery. She crouched down to the dog’s level and checked her vitals, although Suzie was more interested in licking Jess’s face.

“Okay, okay,” Jess said with a laugh, backing away. “Thanks for the tongue-bath, Suzie. I think she’s going to be fine.” She wiped her face with the back of her hand.

“Now what?” asked Sean.

“You just need to observe her closely for the next few hours.” Jess scratched Suzie behind the ears. “Keep an eye on her, and if she begins to show any signs of sluggishness, starts vomiting or seems wobbly on her legs, you’ll need to take her straight to the twenty-four-hour animal hospital in Caulfield. That’s the closest to Hailey and Rob’s place.”

“Oh.”

Something about the tone of his voice made her glance up. As she did, a memory from Saturday night washed over her—the naked bunch of muscle in Sean’s arm as he’d leaned over her, body poised to kiss her intimately. The scarlet heat of a blush started somewhere near her toes, but reached her hairline in mere seconds.

Thankfully he seemed too busy fiddling with getting his phone out of his pocket to notice.

“I don’t suppose,” he said, frowning at whatever his phone was telling him, “you could keep her here for observation?”

“What, do you have a date?”

Jess would have given anything to take the words back, to collect them from the air and stop them from ever being said. But no, they were out there, for better or worse.

“What?” He looked confused for a moment, but then that confident, slightly smug expression was back, complete with the almost smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth and had to make any mortal woman weak at the knees. “A date? Now, why would you ask that?”

Jess stood and moved to the other side of the table, putting distance between them as she fought to regain her composure. She didn’t want Suzie to be sick, but if the dog could fake a fainting spell right now, she’d be everlastingly grateful.

“I just meant, you must have plans. If you can’t look after Suzie.” Lame, lame, lame.

“I have things to do,” he said.

She knew he was being deliberately vague, just to taunt her. Frustration at his carefree nonchalance finally won out over her embarrassment. “Well, things will have to wait,” she said sharply. “I don’t have the facilities to keep animals here overnight.”

The smile was gone. Sean looked once again strained and unhappy. “I should have known this wouldn’t work,” he muttered.

“What wouldn’t work?”

“Me, dog-sitting.”

“Huh?” Sean dog-sitting? In fact, what was he even doing here? Wasn’t he supposed to be in Sydney by now? “Why are you dog-sitting? Why isn’t Hailey’s cousin looking after Suzie while she house-sits?”

“Ah, you missed the last-minute change of plans. The cousin dropped out. I’m the house sitter.”

“You’re looking after Hailey and Rob’s house? For six weeks?” Her voice rose and she heard the shrill note. What had happened to fly-by-night Sean, here and gone again before she knew it?

“I know.” His shoulders fell, and Jess would have sworn he looked somehow defeated. “I should have known it was a bad idea. I already had to get a plumber in to fix the dishwasher this morning.”

If Hailey and Rob had been stupid enough to leave him in charge of their home and their dog, they probably deserved to come home to a ruined house, women’s underwear scattered everywhere and a sick pet. But as much as the thought was satisfying, she also knew she couldn’t let it happen—she loved Suzie too much for a start.

“Well, then, you’re just going to have to put on your big-boy pants and adapt to the responsibility.” Jess put her hands on her hips, preparing herself for a lecture. “If Rob and Hailey trusted you to—”

“God, not you, too!” Sean threw his hands in the air. “Do you think I didn’t get enough of that shit at the wedding?”

Jess didn’t want to feel sorry for him. Between that sexy smile and those puppy-dog eyes, she was pretty sure Sean never had to try very hard to achieve anything in life. People must just cave to his wishes all the time. But right now? Right now he looked stressed and slightly panicked, like a cornered dog in an unfamiliar environment.

“Look, Sean,” she tried again, with a more conciliatory tone this time. “It’s not a big deal. All you have to do is stay home tonight and keep a close eye on Suzie for the next four hours or so. If she hasn’t shown any symptoms by then, you can rest easy.” She nearly said “go to bed easy” but stopped herself just in time. She didn’t want to put bed and Sean in the same sentence, even in her head.