Talk Wicked to Me Sneak Peek

Ebooks / paperbacks ordered from Melissa’s bookstore will release early: October 25th, 2024.
Other retailers release date: October 30, 2024.
Audiobooks can be pre-ordered from Melissa’s bookstore. Release date TBD.

KINDLE | APPLE | NOOK | GPLAY | KOBO | PAPERBACK | AUDIOBOOK

“I CAN’T BELIEVE you’re leaving me.”

Baz clicked the icon on his computer screen, confirming the last of his travel plans for his long-awaited four-month assignment with Veterinarians without Borders, and looked up at Evie, one of his closest friends and his veterinary assistant. Her long brown hair spilled over her scrub-clad shoulders in messy, end-of-the-workday waves. Her arms were crossed, chin lifted in adorable indignance. “It’s not like I’m leaving you high and dry, Eves. You know I’ve got interviews lined up this week and next.” He was hiring another veterinarian to ease his workload and hold down the fort while he was away. “We’ll find the right person soon and get them on board before I go.”

“I’m not talking about work,” she huffed.

He knew exactly what she meant. They spent most of their free time together, and he was going to miss her, too, but he’d put off this trip long enough. He’d wanted to go right after vet school, but his family was still reeling from the death of his younger sister, and just when they’d found their footing, his younger brother, Gunner’s, best friend and military comrade, Sidney, had suffered career-ending injuries, and Gunner was a mess. He’d come to Baz proposing a business partnership. Gunner was leaving the military after his tour ended, and he’d needed help purchasing property in Harwich, the small Cape Cod town where they’d grown up, and opening Wicked Animal Rescue, which he’d wanted to do for Sidney. Baz agreed, fast-forwarding his own plans of opening a veterinary practice. He’d spent the next few years helping Gunner and Sidney with the rescue and getting his practice up and running. Once that was stable, he’d started planning the trip, but they’d suffered another loss and in the aftermath had nearly lost his older brother, Tank. That was two and a half years ago. His family was finally on solid ground, and as nervous as he was about leaving them, he was also excited to fulfill one of the most important promises he’d ever made by going on this trip.

Evie cleared her throat, looking at him expectantly.

“Eves, you’re always saying you can’t pick up guys when I’m around. I think you’ll be okay.” She had plenty of girlfriends to hang out with, and despite her bitching about the lack of available men in her life, there was never a shortage of them showing interest in her.

She rolled her eyes and hoisted herself up, sitting on his desk. “Of course I’ll be okay. When am I ever not okay? But I’ll miss your ugly face, and who’s going to get all snarly when guys bug me at the Salty Hog?” His parents owned the rustic restaurant and bar.

He sat back, meeting Evie’s amused and equally annoyed gaze. “Not that you need any help, but you know my brothers and cousins have all got your back, and they’re plenty snarly.” His brothers and their male cousins, were all Dark Knights motorcycle club members, like Baz. They’d known Evie forever, and they were as protective of her as they were of all their other close-knit friends.

“It’s not the same. Most of them are coupled off.”

“Then when we’re at the Hog tonight I’ll ask Zan to stick by your side while I’m gone.” Zander was one of his single cousins.

“Zander? Really?” she said flatly. “He’ll be too busy flirting with every woman in there.”

“He may be a player, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. If I ask him to stick by you, he’ll be as diligent as Tank.” He’d ask Zeke, one of Zander’s older brothers who was also single, but he didn’t go to the Hog as often as Zander did.

Her eyes widened. “Forget I said anything. I love Tank, but I need bait, not a bodyguard.” She pushed off the desk to her feet. “Let me know how today’s interview goes.”

She turned to leave, and he grabbed her wrist. “Whoa. Bait? You’re always saying you can’t pick up guys when I’m around.”

“Did I say bait? I meant…” She bit her lower lip, trapping a mischievous grin, her gaze flicking to the ceiling, the walls, the floor. Anywhere but at him.

“Spill it, Eves. Exactly how do you use me as bait?” he asked as Tori, the shared office administrator for the veterinary clinic and the animal rescue, which was on the same property, walked into the room.

Eyeing the two of them, the supremely organized, twentysomething blonde pushed her black wire-framed glasses to the bridge of her nose and looked expectantly at Evie. “This ought to be good.”

“Hey. What happened to the girl code?” Evie complained. “You’re supposed to have my back.”

“I’ve got your back when it counts,” Tori said. “But the entertainment factor on this one is way too high to let it go.”

Baz smirked. “Give it up, Eves.”

“Fine.” Evie planted a hand on her hip. “Guys pay more attention to me when I’m with you. It nudges their competitive nature or something. I don’t know why, but it works.”

He pushed to his feet. “Then why do you always bitch about me making it hard for you to meet guys?”

“So you’ll keep doing it, obviously.”

He could do little more than stare at her as he tried to puzzle that out.

“And there it is, folks,” Tori announced. “The confounded look of a Wicked man slowly morphing to gritted-teeth annoyance and the blooming grin of his one-upping bestie. I really wish you two would get together purely for the entertainment factor.”

“Ew,” Evie said at the same time Baz said, “Not happening.”

“Ew?” he asked, amused. There had been a time years ago when he’d been attracted to Evie in that way, but he’d known hooking up would screw up their friendship. In the years since, she’d become the person to whom he compared all other women, purposely setting the bar too high for him to be reeled in by anyone before he was ready.

“It would be like hooking up with my hot, annoying brother from another mother,” Evie explained.

“Not to mention Mr. Husband Material’s commitment issues,” Tori added.

Baz scoffed at what the women around town called him behind his back. Husband material. What did that even mean? That he was successful? Good-looking? A protective biker? So were plenty of other guys. He didn’t consider himself special by any means. “Just because I have things I want to accomplish before I settle down doesn’t mean I have commitment issues.” He averted his gaze with that bald-faced lie.

“We know,” Tori said. “Your beloved trip.”

“Which you totally deserve,” Evie said in his defense. “I’ve been telling you to take it for years. I’m just going to miss my bestie.” She put her arms around him. “And my bait.”

“I’ll miss you, too, Eves, but it’s only June, and I’m not leaving until September. I’m sure you can find a guy before then, if that’s what you want. Hell, we’ll be at the Hog tonight.” They were meeting Gunner and his now wife, Sid, and some of his cousins there.

She stepped back. “Good point. I’ll just have to up my game.”

“As fun as this convo is, I did come in here for a reason,” Tori said. “Dr. Quinton Anthony is here for his interview.”

“Isn’t he the guy you know from vet school?” Evie asked.

“Yeah. I’ve got high hopes that this’ll work out.”

“Tori, what’s he like?” Evie asked.

Tori’s brows lifted. “Refreshingly nice. Like a tall glass of champagne, and I didn’t see a…cork.”

Baz shook his head. “She asked what he was like, not if he was hot and single.” He gave Evie a disapproving look. “I haven’t seen him for a few years, but back then all the girls called him Shemar because he looked like Shemar Moore.”

“Yes! He totally does,” Tori confirmed. “Why didn’t I think of that? He’s a dead ringer for the guy.”

Evie hiked a thumb over her shoulder, walking backward toward the door. “I need to get something from the lobby.”

“Behave,” he said as the girls walked out, whispering like co-conspirators.

He cleared off his desk before going to greet his old friend, and found Quinton talking with Evie. He hadn’t changed much. He still had the same short hair and chiseled features, though his eyes were wiser, just as Baz imagined his own were. Life had not always been pretty.

“Hey, Baz,” Evie said lightly, eyes glittering with interest. “I was just giving Quinton the rundown on the practice. I’ll leave you two to chat. It was nice to meet you.”

“You as well,” Quinton said with a nod and a friendly smile.

Baz didn’t miss their lingering attention on each other. “Thanks, Evie.” He extended his hand to his old friend, who stood eye-to-eye with him at six-plus feet. “Good to see you, Quint.”

“You as well.” He shook Baz’s hand. “It’s been a while, but you look the same, with more ink.” He nodded at Baz’s tattoos. “You always said you wouldn’t cut your hair for a job.”

“And you always gave me shit for it.” He raked a hand through his longish dirty-blond hair. “Why don’t we go back to my office and talk.”

An hour later, when he walked Quinton out, Tori and Evie had their bags in hand, ready to leave for the day. The second he was out the door, Evie said, “So? Is he as awesome as his clients say he is?”

“How do you know what his clients say about him?”

“She googled him,” Tori offered.

“He’s got a great reputation,” Evie said. “He’s also a lot easier to talk to than the woman you interviewed earlier this week. Did you uncover any skeletons when you were talking with him?”

“No. He’s a solid candidate.”

“Do you want me to cancel next week’s interviews?” Tori asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” Evie asked. “Clients will love him, and you just said he’s a good candidate.”

“Because this is a major decision, and I want to see everyone we’ve lined up. That’ll give me time to check out his references and do some other—”

The front door flew open, and a dog barreled in, followed by a very pregnant woman. She was speaking a mile a minute as her dog, which had the markings of a heeler and the face and ears of a Staffy, barked and jumped up on him. “I’m sorry to barge in like this, but I was getting gas and totally forgot I put a chocolate chip cookie in the cup holder, and when I got back in the car, Ollie had it in his mouth. Ollie, shush.” She yanked the leash, but the dog jumped right back up on him. “I tried to get it away from him, but he ate half of it, and the other half broke off in my hand and all over the passenger seat. I tried to pick up the pieces before he ate them, but he’s a fast rascal, and I was stuck behind the steering wheel.” She looked at her stomach. “Obviously, right? Ollie, no.” She tugged the dog back down, speaking over his barking, “It was only one cookie, but I know chocolate isn’t good for dogs. Is there any chance you can check him out? I don’t know why he’s jumping up so much. He never does that. Well, he does, but—”

“It’s okay,” Baz said calmly, unable to quell what he was sure was a foolish grin caused by the adorable flustered woman before him. Her full cheeks were glowing, from pregnancy, exertion, or embarrassment, he couldn’t be sure. She had the most expressive chestnut eyes, which appeared happy and worried at once, and the longest lashes he’d ever seen. A tangle of golden-brown waves tumbled past the shoulders of her gray boatneck T-shirt, which was stretched tight over her baby bump, and shorts. She had a brown flannel shirt tied beneath her belly, a mustard-yellow stain between her breasts, what looked like breadcrumbs speckling her belly, and a sliver of lettuce stuck in the ends of her hair. “I’m Dr. Wicked. You did the right thing by bringing him here. Chocolate can be toxic to dogs, but they need to eat a certain amount per pound of body weight to get sick. He looks to be about forty pounds, and one cookie shouldn’t do him in—unless it was enormous and loaded with chocolate—but I’ll check him out.”

“Oh, thank God,” she said breathlessly, putting one hand to her heart. “It was small, and light on the chocolate.”

“That’s good. I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name,” he said.

“Emerson. Emerson Lockhart.”

“I can take Ollie into an exam room.” Evie put her bag down.

Tori reached for a clipboard on the desk. “Hi. I’m Tori. I’ll need to get some information before Dr. Wicked can examine Ollie.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got this,” Baz said, knowing they had plans to go shopping before meeting up with him. “You two can take off. I’ll meet you at the Salty Hog later.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying,” Evie said.

“It’s fine, Eves. I’ll see you tonight.”

As the girls walked out, he turned his attention back to Ollie and Ollie’s flustered owner, who was vacillating between desperately trying to calm her dog down and apologizing to it for leaving the cookie in the tray. Talk about refreshing. It was great to hear someone take responsibility for leaving something in a dog’s reach instead of admonishing the dog.

“May I?” He reached for the leash, and Ollie went paws-up on him.

“Yes. Sorry about him.” She handed Baz the leash.

“No worries. Sugar can make dogs hyper.” He looked at Ollie and said, “Off,” as he took a step back. The dog went down on all fours. “Good boy.”

As he petted Ollie, Emerson inhaled deeply and blew the breath out loudly, placing her hand on her enormous belly and knocking a few bread crumbs to the floor. He had no idea why he found that endearing, and he was well aware that he had no business checking out someone else’s woman, but fuck, there was something so beautifully real about her, he was having trouble looking away.

 

To continue reading, please buy TALK WICKED TO ME

Ebooks / paperbacks ordered from Melissa’s bookstore will release early: October 25th, 2024.
Other retailers release date: October 30, 2024.
Audiobooks can be pre-ordered from Melissa’s bookstore. Release date TBD.

KINDLE | APPLE | NOOK | GPLAY | KOBO | PAPERBACK | AUDIOBOOK

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