Persuading Spring: A Sexy New Zealand Romance (The Four Seasons Book 4) by Serenity Woods Page B

Joe fondled the dog’s head and gave an “Aw,” as she managed to lick his
hand. “She’s a sweetie.”
    “She really is.” The dog’s large brown eyes
looked pleadingly into Aaron’s. “It’s all right, sweetheart. It will get
better, I promise. You’ll soon be running around again, right as rain, only
next time you have to swear you won’t go out onto the main road.”
    The dog stared into his eyes with complete
and utter trust. For some reason, it made him think of the way Bridget had
looked at him.
    “You shouldn’t have picked her up,” Joe
said. “Now you’ll never be able to put her down.”
    “I don’t care. I’ll hold her all night if I
have to.”
    Joe rolled his eyes as he headed back to
his room. “You’re far too soft. You turn to marshmallow every time you see a
creature in need.”
    That made him think about Bridget again.
“Yeah, I know.” He sighed.
    It was Friday, and there had been no sign
of her all week. Throughout Monday and Tuesday, he’d waited for her to call to
say she was at Kerikeri airport and to ask him to pick her up, but she hadn’t.
He’d then spent Wednesday and Thursday cursing himself. Had he really thought
she would come? No doubt as soon as she was on her own she’d breathed a sigh of
relief that she’d escaped from the madman in one piece and thrown his number in
the trash.
    He was surprised at how sad that made him
feel.
    Mandy shivered in his arms, and he rocked
her gently as he walked through the surgery, kissing her nose again while he
hummed.
    “Oh Aaron, you’re going to make me swoon,”
said old Mrs. Lyttle where she sat waiting, her cocker spaniel sitting with his
head on her knee.
    He laughed and glanced over to where
someone stood in the doorway, then stopped dead, his eyes widening at the sight
of Bridget standing there.
    She wore jeans and a pale blue sweater
beneath a darker blue jacket. Her face was flushed, and her bright blonde hair
was a little wild and windswept, so he suspected she’d just caught the ferry
across and had stood out on the deck for part of the journey. She looked young
and beautiful, hesitant but hopeful as she waited for his reaction.
    A smile spread across his face, and he
walked up to her. “Hey.”
    “Hello.” She shoved her hands in the
pockets of her jeans and hunched her shoulders. “It’s me.”
    “So I see.” He was so thrilled he couldn’t
think what to say, so for a long moment they just studied each other, smiling.
Was it his imagination, or had the sun just come out?
    Eventually, she dropped her gaze to the dog
in his arms. “Who’s this?”
    “This is Mandy.” He wondered if she’d think
he was foolish. Nita would have rolled her eyes and mocked him for treating a
dog like a baby. “She was knocked down by a car yesterday. She broke her leg,
and she’s a bit scared after her op. I’m just… um… reassuring her.”
    “Aw.” She stroked the dog’s head, and Aaron
had a flare of jealousy at the way she fondled Mandy’s ear. “Poor sweetheart.
Will she be okay?”
    “She’ll be fine. She’s young, and the break
wasn’t too bad.” He kissed the dog’s nose again. “Some of my patients need a
personal touch, that’s all.”
    “Yes, we do,” Bridget whispered with a
smile.
    He met her gaze again, loving her blue
eyes, the color of the evening sky. “I’m glad you came.”
    She gave a little shrug. “I’ve spent a few
days travelling around the Northland, battling with myself. I wasn’t going to
come—I thought it would be stupid to be so impulsive when I hardly know you,
but I…” She dropped her gaze back to the dog and stroked her nose. “I wanted to
see you again. Is that crazy?”
    “If it is, then I’m crazy too.”
    Her face filled with relief, as if she’d
worried she might turn up and he’d be disappointed to see her. Did she have no
idea what effect she’d had on him?
    She looked over her shoulder as a woman
walked into the surgery with a cat in a box. “I