Game on by Cheryl Douglas Read Free Book Online

to
look him in the eye. “What are you talkin’ about, Bri?”
    “I just want a kind, decent guy who loves
me.” She sighed. “That shouldn’t be so hard to find, yet every guy I meet feels
like the wrong one.”
    Ryan wanted to tell her there was a very
good reason for that, because the right guy was sitting in front of her,
praying for her to notice him, but it was too soon to make that kind of
declaration. She’d never said or done anything to indicate to him the
attraction was mutual. Except for that one kiss they’d shared years ago. He
knew it wasn’t the alcohol causing him to hallucinate that night. She gave as
good as she got, in spite of her claim that the beer was to blame.
    “Honey, you just have to follow your heart,
trust your instincts…” He grinned when she smiled at him. “That sounded like a
dumb-ass cliché, didn’t it?”
    She threw her head back and laughed.
“That’s why I love you, Ry.” She reached over to hug him. “No matter how bad I
feel, you always make me feel better.”
    He closed his eyes as he inhaled her scent.
He’d bought her that perfume for her birthday last year. Another reminder that
the years were slipping away and they were no closer to the kind of
relationship he wanted them to have. If anything, they were growing further
apart with a new obstacle in their path. “I love you too, Bri.” He only prayed
that one day she would realize that he loved her the way she needed to be loved:
with his whole heart.
     
    ***
     
    Ryan walked into Erika’s veterinary clinic
the next morning, hoping she wouldn’t turn a pit bull on him for sticking his
nose where it didn’t belong. He’d always had a good relationship with his
brother’s girlfriend, but he knew questioning her about their break-up so soon was
crossing the line.
    “Can I help you?”
    Ryan gave the attractive man in a white lab
coat and scrubs a once-over. He was probably the other man his brother
had been referring to last night. “I’m lookin’ for Erika Carlton.”
    He raked a hand through his cropped blond
hair and leaned on the filing cabinet as he stared Ryan down. “Are you a friend
of hers?”
    “Yeah.” Ryan wanted to ask why he thought it
was any of his business, but he didn’t feel up to picking a fight before he’d had
his first cup of coffee.
    A pretty brunette Ryan recognized from the
last time he’d visited the clinic with his brother came out of one of the exam
rooms. She smiled when she saw him. “Hey, I remember you. You’re Evan’s
brother, right?”
    “That’s right, and you’re…” He snapped his
fingers and pretended he had a clue who she was.
    “Tamara.”
    He grinned. “That’s right. How could I
forget?”
    “Are you here to see Dr. Carlton?”
    “If she’s not too busy.”
    “She is,” the guy in the lab coat said,
giving the receptionist a meaningful look. “She’s tending to that terrier with
the obstruction.”
    “But I was just in there-”
    “Ryan, what are you doing here?” Erika
stood in the doorway that separated the veterinary clinic from the doggie
daycare and grooming facility. “If Evan asked you to come-”
    “He doesn’t even know I’m here. I was
hopin’ we could talk for a minute.” Ryan’s heart went out to her. Her green
eyes were swollen as though she’d been crying all night, and she looked
exhausted, despite the fact it wasn’t even nine a.m.
    “Sure,” she said, sighing. “But I only have
a few minutes.” She glanced at the watch Evan had given her for her last
birthday. It was a diamond Rolex she’d insisted was too expensive and impractical
for her line of work.
    If Ryan didn’t miss his guess, she’d been
hoping for a smaller box containing one big diamond and a promise of forever
that never came.
    “I have an appointment soon.”
    “No problem,” he said, following her down
the hall. “This won’t take long.”
    Once inside the small, cluttered office,
she pointed to a coffee maker on top of the filing