Dare Me (Rock Gods #2) (8 page)

10

              "There there Dandy. This will all be over in a few minutes."

             
Jessica held the miniature pincher gently as she withdrew blood. She pressed firmly as she withdrew the needle, handing the sample off to the waiting vet tech.

             
"We'll see what the blood work shows, but judging from his lack of appetite and weight loss, I think we might want to start him on a diabetes diet right away."

             
Dandy's mom nodded. The poor woman looked worried sick. She was one of the people who truly treated their pets as children. Jess smiled encouragingly and handed her some free samples.

             
"Here, take a few cans to try until we sort this out. We already got urine and blood. We should know in just a few days. Try not to worry."

             
Jessica smiled as the woman collected her dog and was shown out of the examination room.

             
"Jess! Oh my GOD- he's here!"

             
Cathy was whispering so loud the whole hospital could hear her.

             
"What are you talking about Cathy?"

             
"Kendall freaking Jackson."

             
Her stomach dropped out of her body and hit the floor.

             
"What? What is he doing here?"

             
"He's here to see you. He - uh - has an appointment. Crazy, right?"

             
Oh god. He was here to see her. He must be.

             
"I'll be right out."

             
"Take your time. We are all enjoying looking at him- he's gorgeous!"

             
Jessica washed her hands and patted her face with cool water. She checked her hair and makeup. Not that she was wearing much, other than the faintest hint of lip gloss. It was all gone anyway. She dabbed a bit on and patted down her pony tail.

             
She sighed. She was definitely not looking sexy. She looked like she was at work. Which she was. Maybe he was just there in a professional capacity.

             
Yeah right.

             
She walked into the lobby. There he was, standing there with a leash loosely clasped in his hands. A scruffy looking mongrel sat at his feet.

             
Kendall Jackson had a dog.

             
She took a deep breath and walked forward.

             
"Hi."

             
He smiled at her and her bones turned to jello.

             
"Hi."

             
"If you'd come this way please."

             
He followed her into the examination room. Then he just stared at her, not saying a word. She pulled on a fresh set of rubber gloves.

             
"I thought you were in New York."

             
"I was. I have to go back tomorrow actually."

             
She frowned. Did he come back for her? She knelt down in front of the dog, trying to buy time to sort out how she was feeling.

             
"And who do we have here?"

             
"She doesn't have a name yet actually. I just got her from the pound."

             
She stared at him. Had he adopted a stray just to- what? Get to see her? That was insane.

             
"They were about to euthanize her. I couldn't let them do that."

             
"So you were just hanging around the pound when this eleventh hour rescue went down?"

             
He opened his mouth and shut it. Then he gave her
the look
. She tried to resist it but she couldn't.

             
The look that said I came here to see you. I did it for you.

             
The look that said I want you.

             
"You know why I was there Jess."

             
"I do?"

             
"Alright. I'll spell it out for you. I met this girl I really liked. I thought she liked me too. But for some crazy reason she ran out on me without leaving her phone number."

             
"So you adopted a stray dog. Makes perfect sense."

             
"It does?"

             
"Yes."

             
She smiled at him. How was she supposed to resist?

              "Good. Because for a minute I though I was going crazy."

             
She laughed. She couldn't help it. He was adorable.

             
"Let's see how this unnamed little lady is doing."

             
She called for a vet tech and they lifted the elderly dog up onto the table for the examination. As soon as it was on the table, it slobbed it's tongue up the side of Jess's face.

             
"Hey now, I just met you!"

**********

             
Kendall watched as Jessica examined the dog. He felt so many conflicting things at the moment, it was making his head spin.

             
First of all, he was impressed. He hadn't really been able to picture the adorable little sex kitten from Vegas as a real doctor. But damn if she wasn't. She was good too- he could tell she knew what she was doing.

             
Not only was she putting the dog at ease, but she was putting him at ease too.

             
She moved quickly, not lingering too long over anything that might make the dog nervous.

             
So yeah, he was impressed.

             
But more than anything, he wanted to kiss her.

             
"Okay, so your unnamed friend here is about seven years old. Slightly malnourished but in other wise good health for an senior. We will know more when we get the test results back."

             
She was tapping away on the computer.

             
"We really need a name for the animal though."

             
She turned and gave him a funny look. He realized he was grinning goofily at her.

             
"What?"

             
"Pizza. Come have pizza with me. Or pancakes. Veggie burgers. Whavever you want."

             
She sighed deeply.

             
"Kendall…"

             
"Come on, you can name the dog if you want. Just come out with me tonight. Now. As soon as possible."

             
She chewed her lip for a minute. He just waited. Finally she rolled her eyes at him.

             
"Okay, fine. I get off in a half hour."

             
"Great. I'll be outside… um, loitering."

             
She looked a little bit alarmed at his enthusiasm. If she had any idea what he'd gone through to get her to this point, she would probably run. He had to make sure that didn't happen.

             
"Pepperoni."

             
"What?"

             
"Let's call her Pepperoni for now. Make people think about where their meat comes from."

             
"Great. I love it. Come on Pepper, let's go for a walk."

**********

             
What the hell was she doing?

             
Jessica was sitting in Kendall's car again. Only this time it was an SUV and not a sports car. He had two cars apparently.

             
Of course he did.

             
He was a celebrity. All celebrities had two cars.

             
They pulled to the curb in front of Mulberry Street Pizza. Jessica stared out the window, trying not to panic.

             
She felt Pepperoni's cold wet snout pressed up against her ear and giggled. She sobered immediately.

             
"We can't leave her in the car."

             
"It's okay. I'll just get us something to go. We can eat it at my place."

             
He looked at her with his big green eyes.

             
"That's okay, right?"

             
She nodded and watched as he jumped out of the car. He was extremely eager to get her back to his place.

             
She didn't have a hard time imagining why.

             
This time she knew already she wasn't going to be able to resist him.

             
He'd flown all the way back here after tracking her down. He'd gotten a
dog
for Christ's sake. That was hard to ignore. Besides the fact that she'd missed him horribly since she left Las Vegas.

             
She groaned. She was already attached.

             
How did that happen so fast?

             
She was petting Pepper when he leaned back into the car.

             
"What do you think? Is she going to eat this on the way home?"

             
She shook her head.

             
"Put it all the way in the back. I'll keep an eye on her."

             
"Oh good idea."

             
He put the pizza in the hatch and climbed back in. She stopped him before he pulled into traffic.

             
"You aren't going to just take her back to the pound are you?"

             
He turned to stare at her incredulously.

             
"No. Jesus, Jess what kind of person do you think I am?"

             
"I don't- I mean - I didn't-"

             
He ran his hands through his hair distractedly. He did that a lot when he didn't know what to say.

             
"I don't know what kind of person you think I am Jess. But that's not the kind of thing I would do."              "Okay. I'm sorry."

             
He stared at her thoughtfully.

             
"You have a hard time trusting people don't you?"

             
She just stared at her hands. Jeez, she'd put her foot in her mouth again already. They'd been on a date for less than a half an hour. A date. This was definitely a date. He reached out and took her hand, making her look up at him.

             
"We're going to have to work on that. Okay?"

             
She took a deep breath and smiled at him.

             
"Okay. I'll try."

             
She was surprised to realize how much she meant it.

**********

             
Pizza.

             
He'd managed to get her to agree to pizza. Sure it was a disposable food. But it was something. And now they were on the way back to his place.

             
Oh crap, he needed dog food!

             
At the next light he pulled out his phone and typed into the Fresh Direct app. He ordered beer and dog food. And eggs. In case she stayed the night.

             
Jesus Christ, he was hoping she would spend the night.