Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

Instead, a woman’s voice penetrated the quiet office space. He looked at Claus, who was already up and out of the chair, walking toward the doorway.

Elijah couldn’t make out what the woman was saying. He motioned to Claus to stay quiet as they both stood in the doorway and listened. It was difficult to hear, given they were at the opposite end of the hallway. The woman mumbled again, and Elijah nodded his head in the direction of the reception area. Claus went first, and Elijah followed close behind. Since nobody should have been in the building this time of the night, both he and Claus had their hands on their firearms. As Elijah entered the waiting room, he almost faltered the same time his jaw hit the floor.

He recognized the ass that was bent over the reception desk. His cock hardened at the sight of her backside, pressing against the silky material.  Mia stood out like a million bucks. He wanted nothing more than to keep her bent over that desk and fuck her until she came screaming his name. She was literally testing his patience.

Getting his thoughts under control quickly, he cleared his throat. Mia jumped and shrieked. She turned, holding her hand over her heart.

“Elijah! Holy shit! You scared me.”

He saw he truly frightened her with how wide her eyes were and how fast she was breathing.

“I’m sorry. I was in my office when I heard the door and came out to see who it was.” She glanced over at Claus as he holstered his weapon. Mia knew Claus carried a weapon, so her seeing it hadn’t been a complete surprise.

“What brings you by? I thought you would still be at the gala.”

She dropped her hand and huffed dramatically. He fought back his laughter because she looked so flustered. It was cute.

“I ran into your cousin as I was leaving, and he insisted that I drop these off to you tonight. I didn’t see any lights on and thought you had left already, so I was writing you a note and going to leave everything on your desk. But since you are here, these are for you.”

She passed him the two envelopes, and he gritted his teeth to hide his anger. How in the hell could Marlon be so stupid and irresponsible to put something this important in the hands of an innocent?  Hell, all it would have taken was for the envelope to open, and his little operation would have been exposed. He’d be facing jail time for probably the rest of his life.

He handed the envelopes to Claus, who turned and walked back toward the office. Elijah knew he’d start finalizing the paperwork so they’d be ready when the truck arrived. They only had a small window of time to get the puppies loaded on the ship.

He turned back to Mia. “Thank you, and I’m sorry that my cousin dumped his responsibilities onto you. That was irresponsible of him.”

She waved him off. “It’s fine. It actually gave me a legitimate excuse to leave the gala.”

He frowned. “Didn’t you enjoy yourself?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean for my words to insinuate I had a bad time. I definitely enjoyed meeting everyone you introduced to me.  Plus, it allowed me to get all dressed up,” She said as she smiled.  “I’m just really tired.” She followed up, and now he wondered if he had been working her too hard.  The last thing he wanted was for her to be unhappy and ultimately drive her away. An idea hit him. She was planning on spending the Thanksgiving weekend with her brother—maybe offering her a few extra days of vacation would be beneficial. He wasn’t sure where her brother lived as she kept her personal life well-guarded. He did overhear her talking to Willow, the receptionist, and thought she mentioned her brother was in the military.  It would be easy to get details out of Willow, though with the information he uncovered today, Willow’s time at the clinic was limited.

Suddenly, the sound of a door banging behind him had him spinning around, and his eyes widened as one of the larger puppies jumped through the doorway leading up from the basement. The whining and grunts of puppies traveled up the stairs. Claus came running out of the office and scooped up the small white and gray puppy before heading to the basement and closing the door behind him. Elijah’s heart raced as he tried positioning his body to block Mia’s view, but it was too late.

“Elijah, was that a dog?” Mia asked, trying to look around him, but he reacted quickly, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her back in front of him. He played it off as he glanced over his shoulder, hoping the few seconds would give him enough time to make up a justified excuse. “That little rascal was one of the puppies of the client I met here tonight. I have the litter downstairs in the spare kennel. I want to run some additional tests on them tomorrow.”

She tilted her chin up at him and gave him a questionable look.  “You have them in the basement?  I thought you said there was nothing down there but storage. Why didn’t you use the kennel in the backroom?”

“They have symptoms of Parvo, and without knowing for sure, I didn’t want to put the other animals in the other kennel at risk.”

“Oh no.” She stated, and the look on her face told him she had bought the story. She relaxed a little, and he had to hide his smile because she hadn’t pulled away from him.

“I think we caught it in time. With a little TLC, they should be fine.”

She looked up at him and smiled, and he used the opportunity to pull her in closer. He heard her intake of breath as their chests met, and it aroused him. They were so close, and her light and sweet perfume drew him in. He couldn’t stop himself as