Summer Love_ A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology - Piper Rayne Page 0,84

was free, I sprang to life, pulling on my discarded underwear and clothes, my words coming out in a jumble.

“I’m so sorry … I didn’t mean for things to go that far … Stupid, Becs … I’m supposed to be acting like an adult now. I’ve got the job, the apartment, the car … I’m trying to be less impulsive and more serious about the decisions I make.”

Once I was dressed I paused and looked around, my hands thrown up as I tried to figure out what I was even looking for.

“Please, don’t apologize,” Mason said as I spun around like an idiot. “I’d hate to think you regret what just happened … I don’t.”

I felt tears prick my eyes as I sighed and glanced at him.

The look on his face made me feel terrible, but not as terrible as the fact that I hadn’t seemed to have grown at all.

I was still doing the same crap I’d always done, which is why I was twenty-eight and had never had a serious relationship. Why would a guy need to put in time and effort to get to know me when I rolled around beneath them at the first sign of interest?

“Can we just go back?” I asked, not wanting to break down in front of him. “I need to get to work.”

“Of course,” he said softly, making me feel even worse.

Chapter Seven

The ride back was awkward, and I knew it was my fault.

I felt bad for freaking out on Mason back by the pond, but the level of disappointment I was feeling in myself was all too real.

It wasn’t really even because of him. He’d been absolutely lovely and our time together magical, but the fact that I allowed it to happen, that I so easily fell back into old habits, had me mentally kicking myself the whole way back.

He’d barely even put the Gator in park before I was hopping out of the passenger side and speed walking to the barn.

When I saw Dr. Garcia’s car parked back next to mine, I felt my face heat with embarrassment, and I began mentally berating myself some more.

Oh. My. God. Becs! Your first day on the job and you slept with one of your patients. Well, not your patients … Gross! ... but one of the clients who hire you to take care of the patients. Talk about crossing a line. You’ll be lucky if Doc doesn’t send you away and never let you do anything other than deworming’s and nail trimming.

“Becs … Rebecca,” Mason called from behind me, but I just looked over my shoulder, shook my head, and kept marching inside.

“There you are,” Dr. Garcia said as she looked up from her examination of Charming, who’d been moved to the calving box for privacy and much-needed seclusion. “How was lunch?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked at her with suspicion.

Had she been a part of this whole setup?

“Um, it was good. Mrs. McClintock is an amazing and generous cook,” I replied lamely as I joined her. “How’s Charming?”

She glanced over my shoulder before bringing her gaze back to me.

“She’s doing great. We should be calving in no time.”

“I need to go check on something, but I’ll be back,” I heard Mason say from the entrance to the barn.

Dr. Garcia nodded and then looked curiously at me.

“What happened?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, hoping to deflect this conversation. “Mason took me out and showed me around the farm, we had a nice lunch, and now we are back and ready to work.”

“Did things not go well?” she prodded.

“How do you mean?” I asked, really not wanting to talk to my boss about what happened with Mason.

The doc patted Charming absently as she chewed on her lower lip.

“Look, I know it was probably not professional of me … I shouldn’t have gotten involved … but when Mason expressed a romantic interest in you and asked me to give him some time to get to know you, I thought it was terribly sweet.” She gave me a worried look and added, “I know it wasn’t my place, but you’re both such great people, and when he told me about his plans for a picnic, well, I’m afraid the woman in me outweighed the doctor. I thought about how nice it would be to have a man like Mason going to such lengths to get to know me. I hope you aren’t mad.”

Dang it, when she laid it all