Hope Flames

Chapter 6

LUKE FIGURED A baseball game was as safe and unromantic a date as he could plan. Tons of people, beer and a hot dog, and lots of screaming kids.

Plus, it was Take Your Dog to the Ballpark Day. You had to love Double-A ball. Though Luke would much prefer to have a major league baseball team in Hope, there were certain advantages to having a minor league team in the city. The promotions were one of those advantages.

The game started at three, and Emma worked at the clinic until noon, so he came to pick her and Daisy up at two. He brought his truck and swung by her condo, taking Boomer with him to her front door.

She opened the door, and damn if he hadn’t expected her to be low-key and kind of unattractive. After all—baseball game, right?

Yeah. She had on tight jeans and tennis shoes, along with a white T-shirt. How hot could that be?

Pretty damn hot, apparently. She’d scooped her hair up in a ponytail, and she looked freshly showered, smelled like strawberries, and his dick twitched. He’d thought a lot about that impromptu kiss he’d given her the other night. He wasn’t sure why he’d done it. Impulse, maybe, because she’d been so stuck on the “let’s just be friends” thing, while at the same time grabbing on to him and leaning in to him. He figured he’d test the waters and see what kind of reaction he’d get.

He’d gotten a reaction, all right. An uncomfortable one he’d had to live with in his patrol car for hours.

Emma hadn’t exactly pushed him away when he’d kissed her. She’d melted just a little into him, making him want a lot more than a short kiss.

And now she had to look smoking hot.

Shit.

“Hey, sorry I’m running a little late. We had an emergency surgery this morning, and it took a little longer for me to get through appointments.”

All this was said as she hurried back into her apartment to grab her bag and keys while Daisy sat dutifully staring up at him, wagging her tail at Boomer.

Pushing thoughts of kissing Emma—and more—aside, he nodded. “No problem. We have plenty of time.”

“Great.” She took a deep breath as she closed the door behind her. “Hey, Boomer. Daisy’s really excited about the game today, are you?”

Luke couldn’t help but smile at the attention she showed Boomer. “Boomer likes game day, too.”

The dogs piled into the backseat of the truck, and they headed out.

“Where’s Annie?”

“In her crate, and not too happy about it, either. But she’s not ready for the ballpark.”

“How’s training going?”

“She’s very smart, and oh-so-affectionate. And she ate one of my flip-flops yesterday,” she added with a grimace. “She’s teething.”

He laughed. “Sounds like a normal puppy to me. Any takers on the adoption front?”

“Not really. We had a couple people show some interest, but then they never followed up. Everyone wants small dogs, and pit bulls are a tough sell because people think they’re fighting or attack dogs, when they absolutely aren’t, unless someone trains them that way. They’re actually very sweet animals. I finally took the notice down.”

“Which means you’re keeping her.”

“I guess so. If I deliver her to a shelter, she won’t last there. And she’s already part of my family. Daisy loves her, and honestly, how could I give her away?”

“You keep that up, you’re going to need to move out of that house and buy a ranch soon.”

She sighed. “Tell me about it. I’ve always been a sucker for animals, especially the ones no one wanted. I vowed once I became a vet I’d own several.”

He made the turn onto the highway. “Then you’re definitely going to need that ranch.”

“Yeah, that’s right at the top of my list. As soon as I pay off all my student loans and the debt from buying the clinic.”

“Well, anytime you want to take the dogs out to a place where they can roam free for the day, you let me know.”

“Okay, sure.” She went quiet for a few minutes before turning to face him. “Why? Do you have a ranch?”

He kept his gaze on the road ahead of him. “As a matter of fact, yeah, I do.”

He felt her eyes on him.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I own a ranch with my brothers, though my older brother Logan runs it.”

“No shit.”

His lips curved, and he took a quick glance at her. “No shit. And I wasn’t kidding about running the dogs out there. You can bring Daisy and Annie out there sometime.”

“I’d love to see it. It’s my dream to own some land at some point.”

“I’ll take you out there. Logan lives by himself, so I try to get out there as much as I can so he doesn’t become a recluse.”

“Surely he doesn’t run the ranch by himself.”

“No, we have hands to help.”

“But you don’t live there anymore.”

“Ranching wasn’t my thing. I wanted to go into law enforcement, and Logan had ranching in his blood.”

“I see.”

“You two would be a good fit, seeing as how you want to live on the land someday. I should fix the two of you up.”

She gave him a curious look. “That’s . . . nice of you, but I’m not interested in a fix-up with anyone at the moment.”

Good, since he really didn’t want to see his brother going out with a woman he had a thing for. He had no idea why he’d suggested it, and had wanted to take it back as soon as he’d said it.

Not that he was interested in a relationship with Emma.

But he sure as hell didn’t want Logan having one with her, either.

Christ, he was a mess.

Shoving stupid thoughts about women and relationships into the back of his mind, he pulled into the ballpark parking lot and retrieved Boomer from the backseat.

Dogs would have to be leashed, even though Boomer would likely be the best-trained dog in the ballpark today. With the leash lax in his hand, he and Emma walked side by side, the dogs on the outside of them, much to Boomer and Daisy’s chagrin. He could tell Boomer wanted to walk next to Daisy, but his dog did what he was instructed to do, and that was walk on his left side, just like he always did when they were out on patrol.

He picked up the tickets he’d reserved, then they walked inside.

It was a perfect day, forecast in the eighties. Awesome weather for a ball game. There were a lot of animals in attendance, some of them freaked out by the other dogs. Boomer and Daisy did great, though, just like he suspected. They found their seats above the first-base line and settled in.

“Would you like a beer or a hot dog?” he asked.

Emma shook her head. “Not yet. I’m just excited to be here.”

“Have you ever been to a major league game?’

“No. You?”

“Yeah. I traveled to Dallas and caught some of their games, and to St. Louis, too.”

“How exciting. I can only imagine the difference in the stadiums.”

“It’s a huge difference. Bigger stadium and just a different feel. Kind of epic.”

“I’ll have to make it a point to get out to the ‘big city’ sometime and catch a game.”

“Yeah. You should.”

He was about to suggest they take a road trip and catch one of the games this summer, then caught himself.

What was he thinking? He wasn’t going to continue this relationship with Emma beyond today. He was taking her out to show her a good time. One-time thing, and then he was done. Where women were concerned, there were no repeat performances. Because when there were repeat performances, one thing led to another, and before you knew it, you were in a relationship.

And after a relationship came marriage, and he knew what happened then.

Kiss of death to anything fun.

They settled in to watch the game while the dogs barked and wriggled and kept their eyes on the other dogs nearby. Lots of people had brought dogs, so it was fun to see them in the stands.

“I love this,” Emma said, her sunglasses shading her eyes as she surveyed the stands. “I should have brought my business cards with me. I could walk row by row and hand them out.”

He arched a brow. “Really?”

She laughed. “No. I’m exhausted. It’s been a killer week, and all I want to do is sit back and watch the game. But it’s something my mother would think I should do to drum up business for the clinic.”

“She wants you to do more advertising?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Do you need more business?”

“I can always use more, especially since I’m just starting out. But I’m not as aggressive as she’d like me to be. I think word of mouth spreads, and if you’re good at your job, the business will come your way.”

“I can see that, especially in your line of work.”

“She did have a good suggestion, though. She wants me to sponsor an adoption day at the clinic. I’d work with the local shelter and offer discount services to anyone who adopts an animal.”

He shifted to face her. “That’s a brilliant idea. Are you gonna do it?”

“Yes, I think I am. I’ve already been in contact with the shelter, and they’re interested.”

“I could come by and bring Boomer. He’s always a hit with the kids.”

“You’d do that?”

“Sure. I assume you’ll do it on a Saturday?”

“Yes. Jane Kline said she and Will—your friend Will? They’re thinking about adopting a dog. That might be a good time for them to look at some animals.”

He leaned back. “Yeah, Will loves dogs. And I know Jane’s kids, Ryan and Tabitha, have wanted a dog for a while now.”

“I guess I’ll make it happen.”

“You should, Emma. I think it would be great for your business. Your mom’s pretty smart.”

“She is. But if you ever meet her, don’t tell her I said that or she’ll come up with a hundred different marketing and advertising plans for the clinic.”

He laughed. “Duly noted.”

They settled in once the game started. Surprisingly, Emma knew her baseball, and she wasn’t afraid to show her pleasure—or her displeasure—as the game progressed.

“Masters has a rocket arm at third base,” she said, hunkered down in her seat, her feet propped up on the back of the empty seat in front of her. “He’s fired off some killers to first. But they need a new second baseman. Twice now, their shortstop Alioto has scrambled for the balls that hit second, and you don’t need your shortstop trying to cover both his position and second base. It’s clear that he’s trying to cover for how slow Trainor is.”

He looked over at her, studying her as she grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in her mouth, then followed it up with two very large swallows of beer.

“Is that right?”

She pulled her gaze away from the game and looked at him. “Well, yeah. Can’t you tell? Trainor’s either hiding an injury or needs to lose some weight. And judging from the paunch in his belly, I’d say he needs to lay off the cheese-burgers.”

Luke snorted. “Maybe you should have a talk with his conditioning coach.”

“Somebody needs to, or he’s going to find himself booted down to Single-A ball.”

“I had no idea you knew so much about baseball.”

She shot him a grin. “I love sports. I played softball all through school. I’d have played it in college if I’d had the time. I was good enough to get a sports scholarship.”

“But that’s not what you wanted to do.”

“No. I had big plans to become a vet.” She stared out over the field.

“And now you’ve got your own practice.”

“Yes. Finally.” She shoved another handful of popcorn into her mouth. He wished he could see her eyes behind her sunglasses, because he could tell her thoughts had drifted.

“So you ended up changing colleges? You went to school in South Carolina?”

She focused on the game for a few minutes before she answered. “I had a hiccup in my school-and-career plan for a while. Kind of derailed me for a few years, so when I decided to apply to vet schools I couldn’t get back into school here in Oklahoma. That’s how I ended up in South Carolina.”

She turned her head to look at him. “How did you know about South Carolina?”

“It’s on your ‘About Dr. Emma’ page on the clinic’s website.”

“Oh.” Her lips quirked. “You’ve been to the clinic’s website?”

“Yeah. Have to know who’s treating my dog, you know.”

She laughed. “Of course. How very thorough of you. Did you run a background check on me, too?”

“Nah.” He grabbed a handful of popcorn and resumed watching the game. “Not yet, anyway.”

She looked at him, and he again wished she wasn’t wearing her sunglasses, because there was definitely something going on. She wasn’t smiling.

“I’m kidding, Emma.”

She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. “I knew that.”

Okay, so the idea of a background check freaked her out. What did she have to hide?

Not that he did background checks on women he dated. He never investigated girlfriends—which Emma wasn’t, and would never be, despite her sun-kissed cheeks and the way she yelled at the players and how much Boomer looked up at her with adoration.

Or how much he wanted to kiss her again.

As she watched the game, she absently petted Boomer’s head. It was an unconscious act, but Boomer ate it up and leaned into her hand.

“He likes you,” Luke said.

Her gaze drifted to his and she smiled, the kind of smile that punched a guy in the gut. She grabbed a handful of Boomer’s fur and ruffled it. “I like him, too.”

“You’re so natural with animals.”

She shifted. “You seem surprised by that.”

“No. Well, yeah. My ex hated animals, and especially Boomer.”

“Your ex-girlfriend?”

“Ex-wife.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“For me or for Boomer?”

She laughed. “Both of you. Who wouldn’t love this dog? He’s perfect.” She leaned down and pressed her forehead against Boomer’s. Her affection was so natural, and when Daisy came over and the dogs started to play, she stood.

“They’re restless and they’ve both been so good for so long. How about a walk?”

“Sounds like a great idea.”

They got their hands stamped by one of the attendants at the gate and took the dogs across the street to the park.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been divorced?”

“Almost four years.”

“Wow. A long time ago.”

“Yeah. We were both too young to get married, but we met my first year in college, and it kind of stuck. We got married my junior year, and she moved out to the ranch to live with me.”

“And that didn’t work out?”

He let out a short laugh. “Uh, no. Rebecca was country club and lattes for breakfast every morning, and going shopping with her friends, and getting manicures and pedicures. Being stuck on a dusty ranch with a bunch of stinky cows and a husband who wanted to be a cop wasn’t as romantic as it had sounded. She hated the ranch, hated the cattle and the horses, and she especially hated the dogs, especially Boomer.”

Emma stopped and stared at him. “Wow. Really?”

“I’m not exaggerating, Emma. The woman I fell in love with and married totally disappeared once she stepped foot on the ranch. Rebecca was sweet and fun and full of life and laughter, but she really goddamn hated that ranch and the life associated with it.”

“But you didn’t end up living on the ranch, either. So why not move off the ranch?”

They resumed their walk through the park. “She knew that was the eventual plan, but patience wasn’t one of her virtues. Besides, Boomer would have still come with us, and she made it clear she wanted a no-animal household. Then I brought up having kids, and she balked.”

“She didn’t want kids, either?”

“No, though that’s not what she told me when we were dating. She wanted travel and expensive cars and a big house. Not kids and definitely not animals.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. You’re kidding me, right?”

“I wish I was. There were just too many obstacles to overcome, so eventually she hightailed it back to Tulsa, and we got a divorce. It was a clean break. All she wanted was out of the marriage, and by that point I was more than happy to have her go.”

Emma laid her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Luke. It must have been miserable for you.”

“It wasn’t the happiest time of my life, that’s for sure. But I learned a lot from the experience, and next time—if there is a next time—I’ll know better.”

“Surely you want to get married again.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Someday. I don’t know.”

Her lips quirked. “A little skittish about that first go-round of happily-ever-after?”

She read him well. “That’s an understatement.”

“That’s what you meant that night when you said that’s not how you usually do it.”

He stopped. “Huh?”

“When you were offering to take me out. You don’t ‘date.’”

She used air quotes around the word date.

“Oh, right. No, I don’t. Not often.”

She paused and pulled the leash around her hand. Daisy sat dutifully at her feet as Emma crossed her arms. “Well, after what you’ve been through, I can’t say I blame you. Women must scare the hell out of you.”

And that was a little too close to Emma having him figured out in one afternoon.

He wasn’t sure he liked that.