The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [272]
“Yes.”
He lifted one hand to her cheek and used his thumb to stroke her cheekbone. “How many hours do you usually work in a day?”
“However many I need to.”
Her matter-of-fact answer hit him like a slap. He looked up at the ceiling, wanting to roar with frustration. Since meeting her, he’d been indulging visions of wild lechery while she was barely able to stay on her feet. He felt like a complete and total bastard, an unfeeling—
“What is it you do, Jordan? You said you have appointments?
It wasn’t easy to tamp down his anger at the thought of her working herself into the ground, especially at that sorry place. But her exhaustion was a palpable force, wearing her down, wearing him down, and he couldn’t bring himself to add to it. He reminded himself that she needed his strength, not his temper. Not his lust.
“I’m a vet.” He moved to sit beside her on the glider and as she turned toward him, he took her hand. The unusual day had brought them a closeness that might normally have taken a week or more to achieve. He’d seen her vulnerability, and her strength. But they’d had little time to actually get to know one another. He’d rectify as much of that as he could right now.
“I’ve always loved animals and they’ve always loved me. I feel gifted, because they respond to me.”
“It’s your voice,” she said, and she smiled.
Jordan shrugged. All his life he’d heard about his mystical voice, but so far, Georgia had seemed quite capable of resisting him. “Why don’t you have any pets? The yard is plenty big enough and the kids would love it.”
“So would I. But pets cost money. They need food and shots and…not only would it cost too much, but I don’t have much spare time left. The kids are too young to be solely responsible for a pet, and my mother does enough as it is.”
Jordan decided to think on that. As isolated as she was in the big house, a dog would be ideal. He said, “I have a clinic not that far from here. That’s why it’ll be easy for me to help you out with the children. They like me, Georgia, so that shouldn’t be a problem. And if you still have any doubts about my character, well, ask around town tomorrow. Anyone can tell you that I’m good baby-sitting material.”
She looked down at their clasped hands, then tugged gently until he freed her. Scooting over a little to put some space between them, she again pulled her foot into her lap and began rubbing. In a ridiculously prim voice considering they were sitting alone in the darkness and he’d had his tongue in her mouth only moments before, she said, “I don’t want to impose on you.”
“I’m offering, and besides—” he tipped her face toward him “—what other options do you have?”
Her eyes closed and she sighed. “Options? I don’t have many, do I? I’ve often wondered what my life would be like with more options.”
Jordan growled out a sigh. She was the most exasperating woman he’d ever met. “I’m trying to give you some options, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Jordan ignored her order. “I want you to be able to visit your mother and work without having to worry about Lisa or Adam.”
Her eyes slanted his way, heavy with fatigue. “You don’t approve of me.”
Fighting the urge to shake her, Jordan frowned. “Wrong. I don’t approve of where you work. They’re two entirely different things.”
She laughed at that, and focused on flexing the arch of her left foot with intense concentration.
Jordan caught her wrists. “What are you doing?”
“My feet hurt.” Her tone was abrupt, as if that particular question had annoyed her more than anything else. “Try staying on your feet all damn day—in high heels no less—and your feet’ll hurt, too.”
He flexed his jaw. He told himself to just leave. He even cursed himself privately in the silence of his own mind. But it didn’t make one whit of difference. He was already so far off track, he had no idea where he was going, but was just as intent on getting there.
“Lay down.”
She reared back as if he’d struck her. “What?”
Jordan caught her hips and pulled her toward him so that she landed flat on her back on the