Vet's Desire by Angela Verdenius Read Free Book Online

silence.
Everything smelled clean, a hint of lemon in the air. His
housekeeper had been and gone, and everything was in its place. He
could even smell the remnants of his cooked meal.
    Going into the
kitchen, he picked up the notebook that he and Janet, his
housekeeper, used to leave each other messages, and read it.
    ‘ Dinner is
in the ‘fridge, just put it in the oven and heat at 180 for half an
hour. Dessert is trifle, and it’s in the ‘fridge as well.
Janet.’
    Straight and to
the point. Dropping his wallet and car keys onto the counter, he
stretched and yawned while making his way upstairs to his bedroom.
Kicking off his sneakers, he yanked off his socks and walked into
the big, marble bathroom. The twin shower heads were a bit of a
waste of time, as far as he was concerned. He only ever used one.
The shower was made for two people but he’d never brought any woman
home with him. His home was his personal oasis and no one was going
to crash it. It was the one place he could relax and forget about
the outside world for awhile.
    After a brisk
shower, he dried himself and debated what he was going to do for
the evening. The options were to go out and see if he could get
lucky with a hot chick, or stay indoors, eat the dinner his
housekeeper had cooked for him, and watch TV.
    Towel low on
his hips, he regarded his reflection in the mirror. He knew he was
good looking without being obnoxious about it. It wasn’t just his
money that attracted women, though it certainly helped. He suddenly
found himself wondering what Cindy thought as she’d looked at him.
There had certainly been interest in her eyes, appreciation even,
and he wondered if she’d felt even a smidgen of interest that
bordered on sexual attraction.
    Then he laughed
at himself. Women like Cindy didn’t go for men like him, not when
they knew how callous he could be with the so-called fairer sex. He
steered clear of the good girls, and even though Cindy was brazen,
she was a good-type girl. There hadn’t been a hint of scandal
attached to her name, and if there had of been, he’d have been one
of the first to hear of it. Her family was rich, she was rich, and
scandal always had a way of reaching far and wide when it involved
the rich.
    Nope, Cindy was
a good girl and out of his reach. If he’d wanted to reach for her,
which he didn’t. Good God, no. Not Cindy. Not luscious, full-blown,
curvaceous Cindy.
    Maybe he needed
to go out and get laid.
    The thought of
finding a woman in a nightclub, no matter how exotic or upper class
it was, was suddenly unappealing.
    Okay, a night
in with the giggle-box was the go. Pulling on a pair of boxers, he
strode barefoot down the stairs and put his dinner in the oven.
Yum, home-made lasagne.
    Going through
the dining room and into the luxurious lounge, he threw himself
down into his comfortable armchair and tilted it up, resting his
heels on the footrest that rose up as he leaned back. Grabbing the
TV remote that lay on the little table beside his chair, he flicked
it on. The news flashed across the screen and he watched it with
lazy interest.
    In the quiet of
the house, the grandfather clock in the foyer bonged the hour.
Everything was quiet apart from the low drone of the TV. Leaning
back in the armchair, Tim wondered why he didn’t do this more
often.
    Maybe it was
time to bring home a dog, one of the strays brought in to be
euthanised at the vet clinic. Yeah, a dog would be company. Or a
cat, God knew there were a lot of them coming in over the summer
period, homeless, un-sterilized and abandoned.
    Eventually the
oven chime rang out and he got out of his chair and padded back
into the kitchen. The delicious smell of lasagne filled the big
room as he took it out of the oven and set it on the wooden block
on the bench.
    He had just cut
into it when the phone rang. Choosing to ignore it, he carefully
ladled the big chunk of lasagne onto a plate and listened as the
answering machine kicked in. The voice he heard