“That’s sweet, but I don’t think you’ll have trouble finding a job,” he says smiling. I’m glad he’s so confident. I’ve been so busy with Meg and packing I never got a chance to research how many veterinarian clinics there are in the area.
I’m excited to go upstairs when we pull up outside the tattoo parlour. As usual, Carter comes around to open my door. I love how sweet he is. After helping me out, he pulls me into his arms, planting a soft kiss on my lips.
“I need you to close your eyes,” he says.
“What, now? Shouldn’t I wait until we get upstairs?”
“Just close them. I need to show you something down here first.” What is he up to? He has that smug look on his face that has me instantly suspicious. Fine. I’ll go along with it. I close my eyes as he reaches for my arm and places his other hand on the small of my back, guiding me onto the sidewalk. “No peeking.” Peeking at what? I presume he wants to show me something inside the tattoo parlour, but he leads me in the opposite direction. Suddenly he stops walking. Moving around behind me, he tilts my head back so my face is looking up. What in the hell is he up to? “Open your eyes,” he whispers.
I do as he asks. When I see what he wants to show me, I gasp. “Oh. My. God. Carter, you didn’t,” I say turning to face him.
“I did,” he replies. “I was right when I said you wouldn’t have any trouble finding a job.” Throwing myself into his arms I bury my face in his chest and start to cry; tears of shock, tears of happiness, tears for Lassie. “Don’t you like it?”
“I friggin’ love it.” I stand back to look up at him. I smile widely through my tears. “I’m just overwhelmed.” He kisses my forehead before turning me in his arms so I’m facing the shopfront again. There’s a sign in the window that says ‘opening soon’. His hands wrap around my waist as his chin rests on my shoulder. I can’t believe he would do this for me. Again, I look up at the large sign that’s spread across the whole front of the building. ‘Lassie’s Veterinarian Clinic’. It even has a picture of him on the side.
“Do you want to take a look inside?” he asks. Do I ever.
“Please. I’d love to.” He laces his fingers through mine as we walk towards the door.
“Here you go,” he says passing the keys to me. “It’s yours, so you should do the honours.” After I take the keys from him, I slink my arms around his neck and pull his face down towards mine.
“What did I ever do to deserve someone so wonderful?” I ask, brushing my lips against his. He chuckles at my question.
“You annoyed the crap out of me until I fell in love with you.”
“I did not,” I screech, pinching his arm.
“Ouch,” he says laughing, rubbing his bicep. “Your fingers are lethal.”
“I’m sorry,” I reply, planting a soft kiss where I’d pinched him.
“My dick hurts too, will you kiss that better?” I narrow my eyes at him when he grabs hold of his crotch, and we both laugh.
“Nice try.”
“Well you’ve gotta give me ten points for trying,” he says putting his hand on the small of my back and leading me inside. I’ll gladly kiss his dick after the tour, but I’m not telling him that.
You can smell the fresh paint when we enter. The walls are painted in a soft lemon. The floor tiles are white. There’s a long white reception counter on one side, and a row of white chairs along the floor to ceiling window at the front of the reception area. A green indoor palm tree sits in one corner in a tall white ceramic pot. It looks so clean, so fresh. I love it.
My eyes dart everywhere while Carter moves to disable the alarm. “The code is two thousand and ten,” he says coming to stand beside me again. “Just like my shop. It was a very important year.”
“It was?” My mind starts to race. What was so important in two thousand and ten?
“It was the year my life changed for the better. It was the year I met you,” he says leaning down to kiss the top of my head. Awww. He says the sweetest things sometimes.
Grabbing hold of my trembling hand, he leads me through to the back. There are two large examination rooms. They’re both identical. It makes me think of the pissy little room I had when I worked for Mark. This place shits all over his. Both rooms are complete with stainless steel examination tables in the centre of the room, and white custom-made benchtops running the whole length of the far wall. It has drawers and cupboards for storing supplies and equipment in.
“I know the walls are bare, but I wanted you to be able to add your own touch. I’ve just set you up with the basics.”
“It’s perfect,” I say squeezing his hand. I’m still in shock that he has done this for me, but I’m beaming as he shows me around. We move further down the corridor until we come to a larger room. It’s completely decked out for surgery, with two large stainless steel operating tables in the centre of the room. I’m flabbergasted. Lost for words. This would’ve cost him a fortune to set up. How he managed to do this in a little over a week amazes me. “I love you,” I tell him, sliding my hand around his waist and resting my head on his arm.
Eventually leaving his side I walk around the room, skimming my hands over everything. I can’t wait to get this place up and running. Adjacent to the room is a door that leads to the recovery area. There are cages stacked three high, lining both walls. This will be not only for the animals that have to stay after surgery, but any sick animals that need to be here for observation or treatment overnight. Living upstairs is going to make keeping an eye on them so much easier.
“Oh, Carter,” I say, throwing my arms around him when the tour is complete. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, babe. I’m glad I could do this for you. I probably should confess. I did have an ulterior motive.”
“You did?” I ask.
“Yes. This was my way of guaranteeing you’d stay up here with me,” he says smiling sheepishly.
“Well I hate to tell you, but you wasted your money because I would’ve stayed regardless. You’re stuck with me Mr. Reynolds.”
“Damn,” he says, and we both laugh. “I’ve organised a rep to come meet with you on Wednesday so you can stock up on the supplies you’re gonna need before you open.”
“You’re amazing,” I reply placing my lips on his.
“I know.”
“And extremely modest,” I add, kissing him again.
“That too,” he chuckles.
“And all mine.”
“You better believe it, baby,” he says.
Next we head upstairs so I can see the renovations he’s made to the apartment. “Wow,” is all I say when we first enter. I can’t believe how much bigger it looks. They’ve knocked down the majority of the wall that divided both buildings, opening the space right up.
“We have three bedrooms now. Our room has moved. I’ve even added an en-suite so our guest can use the main bathroom. Come, let me show you.” I can hear the excitement in his voice as he pulls me along. It’s infectious. I’m still on a high from downstairs. Of course he leads us straight to our new room.
“Wow,” I say when we walk in. The bedroom is now in what was the building next door. Carter has installed floor to ceiling windows in this part as well. Our new bedroom now has the same view of the ocean, like the lounge room does. It’s breathtaking. I’m not sure what is going to be better, waking up to Carter’s handsome face everyday, or the ocean.
As pretty as the ocean view is, I think Carter would have to win that one.
“As you can see I bought us a new bedroom suite. I put the old one in the spare room. Your drawers are over there,” he says pointing to the ones on the left. “Come look at the walk-in-robe I had built for you.” I’m smiling as he drags me across the room. I look back over my shoulder at my new room, trying to take it all in.