She sucked in her lips and pressed them tightly together for a moment, then sighed. “I wanted to apologize for snapping at you earlier. Your assumption isn’t unusual. Most people I meet are surprised that I was in the military. I definitely shouldn’t have responded so rudely.” Her face contorted with a grimace. “I’m usually a decent person, Joseph. I have no idea why I’ve been so prickly lately.”
Already shaking his head, he said, “Samantha, I’m the one that needs to apologize. I stuck my foot in my mouth… big time. It seems to be a habit around you.”
Her head tilted to the side and she held his gaze. “A habit just around me?”
“Yeah, it seems to occur mostly around you.”
Her brow furrowed as her top teeth landed on her bottom lip, thoughts working behind her dark eyes. “Why me?”
He shrugged and looked down at his beer, the room growing hotter as the conversation made him nervous.
She sucked in her lips again, then placed her hand on his arm. “You were really good with that older veteran… the one in the wheelchair. Some people aren’t so comfortable with the elderly.”
He tried to ignore the feel of her touch on his arm burning like a hot brand. “It’s nothing.” He didn’t want praise for being a decent human being. He held her gaze longer, hoping she would keep talking to him and that he’d manage to have a conversation that didn’t involve pissing her off.
Just as he opened his mouth again, she jumped and pulled her vibrating phone out of her pocket. Answering, she said, “Dr. Collins.” She dropped her chin to her chest, her eyes closed slowly, and a sigh escaped her lips as she listened. “Okay, I’ll be out.” She disconnected, and he could swear there was regret in her eyes when she turned her gaze back to him and said, “I’ve got to go. Call out to the clinic. A client’s dog tried to jump over their barbed wire fence. Unsuccessfully, I might add.”
She slid from the barstool but halted as his hand jerked out toward her, landing lightly on her arm. “You shouldn’t go out by yourself so late at night.”
A soft smile slipped over her face as she shook her head. “I’m the only vet… veterinarian. I’m pretty sure there are no such things as set hours. Anyway, I’ll be fine.”
She smiled at him, and he felt a deep longing to see her lips curve upward more often. Especially if it was directed toward him. Her face appeared even younger. And more beautiful. Little crinkles emanated from her eyes and a few tiny freckles were more noticeable as her cheeks lifted slightly with her smile. Christ, I want to see that smile more often.
She turned and started toward the door when his attention was snagged by two young women stepping into his line of vision. One was wearing a plastic tiara with a sash that proclaimed Almost Hitched while the other’s sash proclaimed Best Maid of Honor.
Giggling stupidly, the one who seemed the most trashed tossed her hair over her shoulder. “The guy over at the bar said you do tattoos. I want to get my fiancé’s name tattooed right over my heart.”
The girl next to her leaned in and offered a drunken wink which resembled more of a rapid blink to get something out of her eyes. “She means she wants it right on her boob. I told her while she’s at it she should get a nipple piercing, too.”
Another girl stumbled over, blurting, “I told her to get a clit piercing, but now that I see you… damn, I’ll strip and you can pierce any part of me you want to!”
One of them shifted to the side, and he saw Samantha standing behind them, her eyes not giving away any of her thoughts. She simply lifted one eyebrow slightly, turned, and headed out of the pub.
Growling, he opened his mouth to shut them down when Brogan stomped over to their end of the bar and glared at the three women. “You’re cut off. Go back to your hotel and sleep it off, ladies.”
All three dropped their sloppy smiles and walked out grumbling. Ginny followed, murmuring, “I’ll make sure they get there without getting into a vehicle.”
Jason walked over, and Joseph looked at him, shaking his head. “I probably just cost your shop some money, but I was going to turn their asses down.”
“Don’t worry about it, man. We don’t work on people who are inebriated, and I seriously doubt they’d want to go under the needle when sober.” Jason looked to the side and smiled, lifting his arm as Rose walked directly to him, wrapping her arm around his waist.
After smiling at her husband, she turned and smiled at Joseph. “I saw you talking to Sam.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She’s sweet.”
He turned back to his beer. “Uh-huh.” She laughed, and he couldn’t help but glance to the side, seeing both her wide smile and Jason’s grin.
She patted his shoulder and said, “Okay, okay, I get it. You don’t want to talk about Sam.”
“Uh-huh.”
Rose giggled and leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss the underside of Jason’s jaw. “I’m going to go say goodbye to the girls and then we can head home, sweetie.”
Rose waddled away after Jason kissed her lightly as his hand rubbed her pregnant belly. Then, he turned back to Joseph. “Seriously, man, what’s up with you and Sam?”
“If I wasn’t gonna talk to Rose about it, why do you think I’d talk to you?”
Jason didn’t reply but just held his gaze. Sighing, Joseph shook his head slightly. “It just seems that every time I’m around her, I say stupid shit. It’s like being fourteen years old all over again.”
“Seriously?”
“The first time I met her, I thought she was about eighteen… twenty tops. And since everybody kept talking about Sam Collins the veterinarian, I was looking around for a man, insulting her when she lets me know she’s the veterinarian. Then, tonight, I insulted her again. I was surprised to see her walk into the AL meeting. It never dawned on me she’d been in the military. She said she was there because she was a vet, I thought she was confused about veteran and veterinarian. Turns out I’m the one that looked like an idiot.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” Jason laughed, snorting. “You are as bad as a fourteen-year-old.”
“Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
Jason clapped him on the back and shook his head as Rose started walking toward them again. “I don’t know her well, but she seems pretty laid-back. How about just talking to her sometime? Tell her you’re sorry for sticking your foot in your mouth and then start over.”
“Is that the best advice you got?”
Rose slid back under Jason’s arm again, and he squeezed her shoulder. “Rose will tell you that we didn’t get along at first. In fact, she couldn’t stand me.” She rolled her eyes, and he continued, “But I persisted, and look where we are now.”
Jason and Rose walked out of the pub, and Joseph finished his beer. Jesus… what the hell am I doing here? Tossing money onto the bar, he walked out into the cool evening. A thought of moving on flashed through his mind but didn’t settle inside.
Sighing, he scrubbed his hand over his face and thought about Samantha out in the night working on an injured dog. For a moment, the idea of driving to her clinic to see if she was there and needed any help passed through his mind. After overhearing those stupid women talk about tattoos and piercings, I’m probably the last person she wants to see. Sighing once again, he walked down the street toward his apartment over the shop. Alone.