THE NEXT DAY went well for Melissa, if she discounted her out-of-control front desk and the fact that she was beginning to doubt she could do it all.

The amount of business she did every day meant that soon, very soon, she could run in the black and maybe actually make a living for herself.

It also meant she’d need help. The thought of hiring another person and learning to trust that person was enough to make her keep putting it off.

So by the end of the day, with her desk looking like a cyclone had hit and the front room looking like…well, like animals had lived in it all day, she stood there pleasantly exhausted and wondered how long it would take to straighten up before she could go home.

She hadn’t yet locked up when the front door opened. She turned with her welcoming doctor face on, and promptly burst out laughing.

Jason stood there, tall and lean and heart-stoppingly gorgeous, holding a leash attached to a potbellied pig. “Hi,” he said with a mischievous smile. “Got time for one more patient?”

“You are kidding me.”

“Nope.” He scratched his jaw. “Miss Piggy here needs her shots.”

“You have a pig?”

“Well…” Suddenly his smile was gone. “I’m doing a friend a favor.”

“Uh-huh.” She bent and scratched between the pig’s ears, who grunted in pleasure. “Hello, Miss Piggy,” she said softly. “Let’s get you all fixed up.” She straightened to her full height, which was to Jason’s shoulder, and he reached out, stroking her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with such tenderness, she froze.

She liked his touch. She even…craved it. Not sure how that had happened, or why she’d let it, she smiled at him a little shakily and turned to move them into a patient room.

“Wait.” He held her there. “Hold up a second, I just want to look at you.” Slowly he shook his head, his gaze filled with heat, affection and a tenderness that made her throat burn. “Mel—”

“No, wait.” His closeness suddenly scared her, not physically, never physically, but she instinctively knew this wasn’t just a passing fancy, for either of them. “Are we doing this? Because I’ve got to—”

“Yes.” He pulled her a little closer, bringing his mouth down. “We’re doing this—”

She slapped a hand to his chest to hold him off. “I meant inoculating Miss Piggy. We have to do it now because I’ve got things to do—”

“Right. You’re a busy woman on the go.” He followed her to the patient room and left when she was done, just a few minutes later, without any more touches or teasing.

Feeling a little empty, and as if maybe she’d just been really stupid, she locked the front door after him, then set her forehead to it.

For the first time in her life, she had no idea what to do.

So she did what she did best—she buried herself in work.

THE NEXT DAY she got to the clinic her usual half hour early so she could try to wrestle the receptionist desk into order. She dreaded the task but had to face it.

She’d received another pink envelope, and a phone call in the same tone, in which Rose had said she wasn’t going to give up, not until Melissa gave in.

Melissa had honestly figured her mother would have lost interest by now. Or at the very least, have gotten frustrated and annoyed.

As she turned on the lights and music, and then inhaled her first whiff of Lysol, the phones started. Before she could blink, she had two dogs, a cat and a family of rabbits waiting to be seen, and the paperwork was overflowing on her desk again.

Feeling unaccustomedly harried, she took in the front room, wincing a little at the mess.

From behind her came a set of heels clicking on the floor. Rose stood there wearing a sunshine-yellow sundress with matching accessories—purse, earrings, and sandals. Her hands were clasped together in what might have been a show of nerves. “I’m hoping you need my help this morning.” Rose’s eyes took in the mess of the office but didn’t say a word.

It’s never too late to need help.

Jason had told her that, something Mel had thought about all night long.

All you have to do is ask.

Why did that have to be so hard? Because she was out of practice. No, that wasn’t it. Truth was, she’d never been in practice. When she’d been two, if she’d wanted something high on a shelf, she’d crawled to get it herself. When she’d been four and needed her shoes tied, she’d carefully slipped in and out of the already knotted shoes. When she’d been eight and walking home alone, dodging the occasional taunt or harassment of an older kid, she’d walked faster. And when she’d needed help with her homework, she’d simply studied harder.

Asking for help wasn’t in her realm of experience, and the thought of doing it now stuck in her throat.

Behind her, the phone started ringing. A puppy whined. The sound softened her. She was here for the animals.

Rose was still standing there, eyes hopeful.

Okay, fine. “Obviously, I haven’t hired a receptionist.”

Rose nodded. “So are you…asking?”

“I’m not ready to make a permanent decision.”

“I see.”

The phone kept ringing, joined now by Mel’s second line. Perspiration broke out on her brow. “But…I do need a temp, at least for today.”

Rose kept her face carefully neutral. “Could you spell it out for me? I don’t want to assume anything here.”

“I’m asking you, for—” she drew in a deep breath “—help. I need your help.”

The smile Rose sent her was shimmery with emotion. Before Melissa could draw another breath, she found herself engulfed in Rose’s arms, squeezed close and hard.

“Thank you,” Rose whispered fiercely.

Mel pried free from her tight grip. “Sure.”

“Sorry,” Rose said, looking anything but. “I like to hug.”

“I don’t. The phone is ringing. That falls in your category. Can you really do this?”

“Yep. Get the phones, handle the paperwork, and no hugging.” Rose moved toward the desk. “That last one is going to be the hardest, though.”

Melissa ignored that and surveyed her patients. She couldn’t handle her mother right now, didn’t know how to handle her mother right now, so she wouldn’t.

But she had a feeling Rose wouldn’t let that go for long.

THAT NIGHT Mel left the clinic earlier than usual. This, she had to admit, was because Rose had been worth her weight in gold.

Standing on the steps looking toward her car, she blinked like an owl. The sun was still up. The day still had hours in it.

And suddenly she didn’t want to go home alone.

Jason hadn’t come today with an animal for her to fix up, and she knew that was her own doing. She thought she’d feel relief, but instead she’d been on edge all day, constantly checking the waiting room, wishing he’d show up.

Either he’d finally run out of animals, or she’d chased him off for good.

She’d chased him off for good. Damn it.

She drove to the grocery store and picked the items carefully. She even bought a basket to put them all in, and because she was nervous, she spent a few moments arranging everything in it before she drove to Jason’s house.

She’d gotten his address off all the forms he’d filled out over the past week and a half, and even her anxious wondering what he’d think of her showing up out of the blue didn’t stop her.

His large property was lined by oak trees. She turned into the driveway and eyed the largest oak tree at the end of it, knowing that was the one that Jason had hit. She shivered thinking about it and all he’d been through.

She passed half a mile of wild grass over unused fields before she saw the old, restored farmhouse, surrounded and shaded by more gnarly old oak trees swaying in the evening wind.

Getting out of her car with the basket over her arm was easy. Walking up his steps with the intention of making the first move on a man for the first time in her life was not.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how she looked at it—she didn’t have far to go. He sat on the wooden swing on his porch, with his laptop resting in his lap.

“Hey,” she said softly.

Clearly lost in concentration, he looked up distractedly, but then he blinked, as if waking from a dream.

She felt silly standing there holding the basket, and stupid for interrupting him when he was obviously deep in work mode. “I’m sorry, I’ll just—”

“No, don’t go.” He closed his computer and set it aside. “I was just thinking of you.”

“With such a serious expression on your face?” Her pulse doubled when he stood up. Tripled when he came toward her.

“Was I looking serious?” he asked. “I don’t usually do serious.”

But he had, and she wondered why. Then all the wondering flew out of her brain when he put his hands on the small of her back, then glided them over her spine, up and down, down and up, in a hypnotizing motion that had her wanting to stretch and purr like a kitten.

Now the only thing on her mind was his kiss, his easy ways, and she felt the urge to toss her arms around his neck and let him take her.

And why not let him? It was why she’d come. “Jason…”

He looked down at her mouth, his eyes heating. “Yeah?”

“I came here to…” She bit her lip, laughed a little at herself. “To tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your company.”

He let out a long breath, looking suddenly serious again. “Mel, wait. There’s something you should know—”

“I can’t wait. I want you, Jason,” she blurted out. “There.” She offered him a shaky smile. “There.”

He put his fingers over her mouth, his jaw bunching tight. “Don’t. God, Mel, don’t.”

Confusion, also some humiliation, burned in her gut. “I thought you’d be glad.”

He groaned, a low, raw sound, then with an oath that blistered her ears, he kissed her, long and wet and deep. Then he gently pushed her away. “You’ve got to go.”

His voice was rough, his breathing ragged and confused. She stared at him. “I don’t understand.”

“I know. Go. Please, just go. Don’t waste your time on me.”