A Love to Remember Read online

  Jo continued to lean against the door dressed in sneakers and scrubs. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that your mother’s here. Man, we’re lucky because she dropped off three dozen boxes of gourmet cookies. All the girls are going nuts down there.”

  Trey froze like a cornered dog. Rosalind Blackfox, affectionately called Rose by everyone but her kids, didn’t just stop by out of the blue. “What’s she doing here?”

  Jo’s grin broadened. “She said something about shots for Christmas, but the last I saw she was in deep conversation with Sasha Clayton.”

  The thought of his mother talking to the object of his 2:00 a.m. fantasies made Trey fly out the door and down the hallway. Less than three minutes later when the elevator doors opened, the sight of Sasha laughing with his mother took his breath away. Trey wasn’t sure if it was fear or some unknown affliction.

  “Good morning, ladies—” he bent down and quickly patted Christmas and then stooped lower to pat Darwin on the head “—and gentleman.”

  “Trey Sinclair Blackfox, is that any way to greet your mother?”

  “Hi, Mom.” He leaned down and made sure that he stopped before squishing the little dog in her lap. It had taken months for Christmas to warm up to anyone other than his mother and father. Now was not the time to make enemies with his mother’s fifth child.

  “Much better. Trey, you must meet this nice young woman I just met. Sasha Clayton, this is my son Trey.” His mother’s eyes narrowed.

  Sasha cleared her throat and managed to hide a smile at the panicked look on Trey’s face. “We met the other day.”

  “I had no idea Rose was your mother.” Sasha’s mouth opened in a small O and Trey’s eyes fastened on her lips. He’d seen plenty of movies where the director slowed the camera frames to emphasize the moment, but he’d never experienced slow motion in reality. Yet, now it seemed that time had slowed to a crawl. Sasha’s tongue moved enticingly around her generous bottom lip.

  She looked between them both. Trey could see the way her brain struggled to find similarities. Only if she compared the eyes would she find a match. The family had a long-standing joke that Marius, his oldest brother, might act like their grandfather, but Trey was the old man’s spitting image.

  “Don’t worry,” his mother said as her smile blossomed and her eyes twinkled with amusement. “He looks like his grandfather, so he’ll be keeping his hair.”

  “Mom, what are you doing here?”

  “Christmas needs his shots.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the place back home I recommended? Caroline Jackson is the best vet in town.”

  “I wanted to check up on you.”

  “You drove an hour and a half to check up on me?” Trey asked with a grin.

  His mother reached up and ran her fingertips through her hair. “Well I need to stop by the salon, and to do a little shopping. Your grandfather’s birthday is in a few weeks. I need to pick up his watch from the jewelers.”

  In a hurry to separate his mother from Sasha, Trey nodded nervously. “If you can wait for about a half hour, I’ll take good care of Christmas, right after I see to Darwin here.”

  His mother’s smile increased. “Oh, yes. And since there will be little chance of you joining me for lunch, I’m very luck that Sasha has agreed to come with me.”

  “Huh?” Trey croaked. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to keep his personal life separate from his family. He’d never introduced his mom to any of his girlfriends. “But what about us spending time together? We can go to this great bistro down the street.”

  His mother stood up and patted him on the shoulder. “We’ll talk at dinner tonight. Now please call Jo so that I can make sure that Christmas is okay and you can see to little Darwin here. Make sure you’re extra nice. I think that the little puppy needs some extra TLC.”

  Trey started to argue but the gleam in his mother’s eye slapped him back to elementary school, and anything he was about to say froze in his throat. Rosalind Blackfox had raised three boys and tamed their dad. He’d learned early when he should give in. Trey’s shoulders fell. “If it’s okay I’ll have Dr. Russell administer the shots.”

  “That lovely older gentleman you interned with?”

  Trey nodded. “That’s him.”

  “Good, good.” She turned her attention to Sasha. “Don’t worry, he’ll give Christmas yummy treats, and I can find out what you’ve been up to for the past few months.”

  Trey shook his head. Ben Russell was one of the best surgeons in the Southeast with an incredible affinity with animals. A proverbial man of few words, Ben measured out words as if they were money from his wallet.

  “Ready to go back to the examination room?”

  “Lead on.” Sasha smiled. As they walked down the corridor, Sasha’s heels clicked on the floor. She looked at Trey sideways. “I like your mother.”

  “Don’t let her fool you. She’s an amateur detective. Just open the door a crack and she’ll get your life story.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at the chagrin that crept into his voice. “I don’t think so. This time I have a feeling that all she’ll want to talk about is you.”

  “Don’t believe a word because there’s not a lot to know. I’m thirty-three years old, single, never married, two brothers, one sister, Georgia native and I’m a vet.”

  “That’s it?”

  “In a nutshell. What you see it what you get.”

  “Same here.”

  “Smart, pretty and loves animals. Can’t beat that,” he said.

  A flush spread through Sasha. Despite her worldly travels, she’d never learned how to accept a compliment. Especially when she didn’t feel as though she actually deserved it. “Why did you become a veterinarian and not a doctor?”

  His face took in a thoughtful expression. “Not for the money or the prestige. I almost became a doctor, but my older brother got to med school before I did. So I switched to something better. I chose veterinary medicine because I love and enjoy working with animals. What about you?”

  She caught her lower lip with her teeth. He asked the right questions at the right time and he was sincere. Then there was his scent. Sometimes she wished that she wasn’t so sensitive, but he smelled good, like the earth, with an underlying masculine scent that was very sensual. “Sasha?”

  Trey was watching her face. Sasha forced herself to make eye contact. “Yes?”

  “So is it a secret?”

  She shook her head not so much in denial, but in confusion since she’d forgotten his question. “No.”

  “Then what exactly prompted you to become a wildlife researcher?”

  She blinked. “I couldn’t image doing anything else but following in my parents’ footsteps.”

  His brow wrinkled. “What do your parents do, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “Wildlife biologists.”

  Trey snapped his fingers, then stopped in the doorway of an examination room. “Now that you mention it, I remember Camden talked about your parents. He and your father were best friends and won acclaim for their research.”

  “You’ve got a good memory.”

  “I’ve got a lot of good things. So you enjoy your afternoon with my mother and try not to worry. You’ll be leaving this guy in good hands.”

  Sasha leaned down and rubbed Darwin’s head. His tail wagged a little, then stilled. She looked back up at Trey. “Thanks.”

  Six hours later Trey was once again in the examination room with Sasha. Only, this time it was going to kill him. Everything about her from the thick, below-the-ears hair with salon silkiness; the nails; glowing skin and enticing perfume. Not even bothering to look over from the computer monitor displaying the patient’s vital statistics, Trey began the practiced speech he’d given over a thousand times since he’d opened the veterinary practice. “This morning I examined Darwin and don’t worry he didn’t…” His voice trailed off as his eyes trailed over a pair of perfectly shaped calves to a black skirt, then drif
ted over curved breasts pushing out from under her blouse. She had a slender unadorned throat. His gaze stopped on her luscious lips.

  “Trey?” she asked.

  He shook his head a little and coughed to hide the fact that he’d completely lost his train of thought while his second head came to attention. “Apologies,” he managed to get out after his coughing eased. Pulling himself together, he managed to look her in the eyes and instantly regretted it. Jo had been right on the money. This woman had it going on. “Allergies,” he lied.

  “Are you allergic to dogs?” she asked.

  “Dust. I’d be in for a world of hurt if I were allergic to these guys.” He laughed while taking a step closer to Sasha and the canine on the examination table. Against the sterile smell of the room, her scent almost knocked him down. She smelled feminine, sexy and sweet.

  “You were saying that he didn’t…”

  “Feel any discomfort,” Trey finished. Between one heartbeat and the next, he sent up a small prayer of gratitude that he wore a doctor’s coat. Nothing short of elastic baggy sweatpants could have hidden his erection. He swallowed the urge to let lose a swear word or two. He hadn’t had anything happen like this since he’d “accidentally” walked in on his sister’s slumber party.

  “So he’s going to be okay?”

  “Darwin’s going to be fine.” Trey’s eyes moved from Sasha’s face and settled on the hand absentmindedly stroking the Jack Russell’s head. Focus, he told himself. He’d been in the examination room with hypochondriac owners who brought their dogs in every three weeks, socialite ex-wives on the prowl for husband number two, crying screaming kids and even an resentful husband who had tried to bribe him to kill his wife’s toy Maltese. In each instance, he’d reacted with a calm professional demeanor. Yet, Sasha Clayton had him almost jumping out his skin with the urge to run his hands over her body and kiss her neck.

  “Jackson says that he’s lost weight.”

  “He just misses his owner. I’m going to take additional tests on Darwin but it looks like a very simple case of canine depression. This breed is known for the deep attachment they have toward their owners and their families.”

  “What can be done?”

  “There’s medication. A kind of canine Prozac or the more natural way would be to spend more time with him. He’ll never forget his original owner but, perhaps you can pull him out this funk. In the meantime, I’d like to keep him overnight.”

  She paled. “Why?”

  “Calm down,” he soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It looks like Darwin might be a little dehydrated. An intern will be here to check on him periodically through the night.”

  For a moment, Trey wanted to take back his request when he caught the sparkle of unshed tears in Sasha’s eyes.

  “Whatever you feel is best,” she said, looking away.

  Trey lightly brushed her chin with his fingertips to bring her eyes back to his. “I promise to take good care of him.”

  “I know.” She sniffed and then wiped her eyes.

  Under normal circumstances, Trey would have grabbed the dog and hit the door. He couldn’t stand to see a woman cry. He could handle the kids, but not the parents. This time, however, he stepped close to Sasha, reached out and pulled her into his arms. He was not only surprised at how well she fit but also that her body shook.

  “Come on. Let it out.”

  “I shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t be here. How could he leave without saying goodbye? Why didn’t he tell me? I should have known. I should have been here for him,” she babbled.

  “Maybe it’s a male thing. We always think we’re invincible. It’s going to be okay.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, pulling back. “Now I’ve gotten makeup on your jacket.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ve had a lot worse on this thing. Thank goodness for bleach, huh?”

  She let out a small chuckle and the sound went straight to his heart.

  “Dr. Blackfox.”

  “Trey,” he corrected.

  “Thank you.”

  “Save that for tomorrow if we’ve got this boy eating premium dog food and barking up a storm.”

  “Okay.”

  Sasha walked alongside Trey to the waiting room and turned toward him as they stood next to the reception station. Thinking about leaving reminded her that she should call the house. “Can I use your phone? I need to call Jackson and have him pick me up.”

  “No, you can’t,” he said, and then took off his white doctor’s coat revealing dark heather slacks and a turtleneck.

  It took a few seconds for his response to settle into Sasha’s brain. “Why not?”

  “My mother made me swear that I would drive you home.”

  “Don’t you have work to do?”

  He waved his hand around the empty reception area. “You were the last appointment.”

  “What about your mother?”

  “We’re having dinner tonight. I bet she and Christmas are halfway to the pet store.”

  “I don’t want to inconvenience you. I mean we just met the other day.”

  “It’s not only my pleasure, but also my job.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “About a year ago, your godfather walked in here, dropped off a quarter of a million dollar check, vowed to continue his support of the shelter and then adopted a cat. Now that you’ve taken over his estate, Sasha, you are my clinic’s primary benefactress and if driving you home can return your generosity, then so be it.”

  “I’m not the one that deserves your thanks, Trey. It’s not my doing.”

  A corner of Trey’s mouth turned up. “True. But I can’t show my appreciation to someone who’s not here and your godfather did make a personal request that I look out for you.”

  Sasha raised her hands in mock defeat and he saw a tiny smile. “Okay, I give up.”

  “Good. You take a seat and I’ll grab my keys, tell the staff I’m leaving and we’ll be on our way.”

  Trey pivoted and strode down the hallway. Sasha looked at his back and butt. Unwrinkled wool slacks covered his legs and cupped the two defined cheeks. She quickly looked away before he turned the corner and caught her staring. Good Lord. She put a hand to her forehead and rubbed her brow. She’d been infatuated numerous times in her life, but she could tell this crush was shaping up to be a really bad one.

  Driving alone in a car with Sasha wasn’t going to be as easy as Trey thought. The SUV was huge. And the silent space, the scent of Sasha’s perfume mixed with the new car smell, the vehicle seem all the more intimate.

  When she’d asked him about the dashboard features, he’d tried to answer her questions and failed miserably. Somewhere in the oversize glove compartment he had a two-CD box set of instructions on how to operate all the luxury features that he’d added like the heated seats, surround sound, the navigational system and in-roof DVD player.

  She stared at the dashboard, “It’s a very nice car. Your practice must be doing well.”

  “I do okay.” He shrugged. Complete lie. The clinic was barely in the black. Without supplement donations from private donors and infusions of cash from Trey’s trust fund, it would have been out of business. Trey didn’t even take a salary from the clinic.

  “Turn right, then left. It’s the house in the cul-de-sac.”

  For the first time since he’d pulled out of the parking lot, Trey paid attention to the residential area. The Vinings district of Atlanta was famous for its exclusive mix of nouveau riche and old money. As he pulled into the driveway of the house, Sasha pointed toward his wrinkled brow at the sight of the two-story mansion. He’d grown up around money and he had a good idea about how much things cost. The woman sitting in the passenger seat didn’t seem like the type of woman who lived in a million-dollar mansion.

  Trey stopped the car in the in front of the entrance-way and killed the engine. “This is your place?”

  “No,” she replied shaking her head. “The place is
my godfather’s. I pay rent on a small co-op in Brooklyn.”

  He took off his seatbelt. “I didn’t peg you for the big-city type.”

  She shook her head and smiled. “I’m not. I hate cities. I only keep the place because it’s near the airport and I need an address for my passport.”

  “Why not your parents’ place?”

  She chuckled before taking off her seat belt. “I don’t think that would be possible since they moved to Cuba a few years ago.”

  “Oh.”

  She unbuckled her seat belt and paused before opening the door. “Would you like come inside and say hello to your other patients?”

  “I’d love to. I haven’t seen Zaza since Camden brought her in to get her teeth cleaned.”

  Sasha stared at him. “You clean a pet’s teeth?”

  “There’s nothing like a little cavity prevention.”

  “I’ve been out of the country way too long.” She laughed.

  Trey stood behind her as she pulled out a key and unlocked the door. As soon as her foot touched the hardwood floors, ceiling lights illuminated the empty foyer. “Jackson?” Sasha called out. Second passed and there was no response. “That’s strange. Who turned on the lights?”

  Trey scanned the area and his eyes fell on a small infrared light. “I think it’s automatic.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m just curious, but who is Jackson?”

  “Tall, older, British gentleman who worked for my godfather.”

  “Does he wear driving gloves and a tweed hat?”

  “That’s him.” She smiled. “I guess he’s not here.”

  “This is a nice house.”

  Sasha shook her head and resumed walking toward the wing of the mansion that housed the greenroom. It took her a few wrong turns, but she eventually led them into the glassed-in area that housed Uncle Camden’s iguana and tree frogs. With the last rays of sunlight beaming through the windowed ceiling, the area took on a tropical ambiance. “It’s too big. You could fit a Polynesian village in here and still have room.”