Dr. Hot Stuff - Tawna Fenske Page 0,28
out for herself.
My gaze drifts to another framed image. It’s Iz and her parents again, a candid shot this time. Everyone’s in formal attire with a cluster of people around, a well-coiffed crowd with no one looking at the camera. Izzy’s focused on a butler in a starched suit holding canapés on a silver tray. Her father—or rather, the Duke—looks on with a hint of disdain, while Izzy’s mother laughs at something an older woman is saying.
As I scan the crowd around them, my gaze snags on one man. He's near the back of the group, his body half out of the frame.
But the glint of light on his bald head has me squinting closer.
Wait. That’s not—
“Ready?” Izzy’s voice snaps my attention off the photo, and I’m yanked from my thoughts by the sight of her in snug black denim. She’s got her hiking boots on again, and a fitted red wraparound sweater that hugs her curves the way I wish I could do.
“Wow.” I somehow peel my tongue off the floor. “I’ve never seen you in red. That’s your color.”
“You think?” She beams and does a charming little pirouette that ends with a curtsy. “I asked Lily to take me shopping. I wanted some things that were a bit more…daring.”
I nod and try to find words besides “sexy” or “bombshell.” She seriously looks stunning in this sweater. “Lily has good taste,” I manage. “Not that there’s anything wrong with how you dress normally.”
She smiles and stoops down to pet Kevin. “I’ve been reading about pigs. Did you know they have dichromatic vision?”
“I didn’t.” Please stop me from morphing into medical geek mode. “So they’ve got only two pigment cones, which must mean they see some colors—probably red, blue, and green?”
“Exactly.” She scratches behind Kevin’s ears. “So I figure if I expand my wardrobe a little, he’ll have an easier time seeing me.”
If I wasn’t already half in love with her, she’d have sealed the deal with this charming shred of insight. “I love that you’re dressing to help your pig.”
She stands and gives a small shrug. “Lily coached me on dressing for myself and not a man, but I figure it’s okay to accommodate Kevin just a little.”
“Absolutely.” God, she’s gorgeous. I need to get us out of here before I drop to my knees and beg to kiss her again. “Ready to walk?”
“Let me just grab my coat.” She starts to move past me, then stops. “Oh. Were you looking at the pictures?”
I glance back at the frames, pretty sure there’s something I meant to ask her. Before I can conjure it up, she’s grabbing my arm and towing me toward the door. “Maybe we should get going before that storm moves in?”
She’s right, I nearly forgot there’s a snowstorm expected this afternoon. I watch her shrug into a gray wool coat she belts at the waist. She bends down and adjusts Kevin’s sweater, and I have to look away so I don’t check out her ass. It’s round and perfect and showcased in dark denim, which I’m definitely not noticing because I’m looking at the refrigerator or the sofa or anyplace besides Izzy’s perfect backside.
“May I hold the leash for the walk?” she asks.
“What? Oh, yes. Of course.” I hand it over, and Iz wraps the nylon webbing around her wrist.
She grabs a pair of leather gloves, but shoves them in her pocket instead of putting them on. Like an idiot, I have a flash of hope she’s thinking we might hold hands. I leave my own gloves in my pocket just in case.
“Let’s go, piggy boy.” She laughs as Kevin snorts beside her, taking his sweet time ambling along the walkway toward the path. Unlike a dog, he’s in no hurry to get anywhere.
“I read about this,” she says as he stops to smell a juniper shrub. “Did you know pigs’ sense of smell is roughly two-thousand times as good as a human’s?”
“That must be why they use them for truffle hunting.” I watch as Kevin swipes his snout over a wad of gum on the path. “He might need to refine his taste just a little.”
Izzy laughs and tugs the leash. “We’ll work on that. Also, I learned pigs have an average gestation of three months, three weeks, and three days. Oh! And pigs’ heart valves are commonly used in human patients who need replacement valves.”
“That part I did know.” I glance at Kevin and lower my voice. “Igpay issectionday is part of the curriculum