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

he lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers. As he started to kiss her deeper, she tightened up and immediately pulled away from him.

“Mia…” He started to say, but she shook her head and took another step back, closer to the door.

“Why did you do that?”

He closed the distance between them and clutched her chin. “I’m not going to lie; I’ve wanted to do that since I first laid eyes on you.”

“You shouldn’t have. I mean, we can’t. It’s unprofessional.”

“Not if we both want it.”

As much as he would have liked to stand there and convince her that what they could have between them would not be unprofessional, he was pushing it on time by her being around. The sooner he got her out of the building, the less chance he had getting busted.

“Mia, just think about it. You have a long weekend coming up. Try to relax, and we will talk when you get back.”

He took her hand and led her to the door. As he pushed the door open, he brought her hand up to his lips and smiled at her wide-eyed and shocked expression. The woman was too smart not to realize they could be a power couple together. She would be foolish to turn him down.

“Let’s get you home so you can get a good night's sleep, and I will see you tomorrow.” He gave her a little nudge. As she walked toward the waiting car, she glanced his way one last time before getting in, and he waved. She didn’t wave back before she closed the door. He watched as the car pulled out of the parking lot and down the street. Once it was out of sight, he took a deep breath. That had been too close. But, on the plus side, he discovered Mia was just as sweet on the inside as she was outside. She tasted so good that there was no way in hell he was going to let her slip away.

“Sorry about that, boss,” Claus said, walking up to stand beside Elijah.

“No worries, I think we’re okay. We just need to come up with part two to the story by tomorrow morning, because I can assure you that Mia will check on those puppies as soon as she walks through those doors,” Elijah said as they walked back inside.

“I’ll call our contact across town and make arrangements to make it look like we transferred the litter over there.”

“That would be a good idea. There is another potential problem I need you to deal with.”

“What’s that?” Claus asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Willow.”

“I mentioned it to Demitri the other night. She’s been poking her nose in places she shouldn’t. I received a notification that someone tried to access a password-protected file I keep on my desktop. When I checked the log, it showed Willow’s credentials were signed on to my computer in my office.”

“What would you like for me to do?”

Elijah pondered the question for a moment. She’d been an employee for a couple of months now, but his gut warned him that something was off with her.  He always trusted his gut. He shook his head.

“I don’t trust her,” He admitted. “There is something about her that strikes me odd. Have Oscar and Jules take care of her.”

“Done.”

Elijah hated to think any of his employees weren’t loyal, but something didn’t sit right with Willow, and he wasn’t willing to chance it.  She needed to go away.

◆◆◆

The next day, Mia was dragging ass. It had been after midnight by the time the car dropped her off at her apartment. She thought about going straight to bed but nixed that idea when she took down her hair and felt all the goop her stylist used to make her hair stay in place for the evening.  After washing and rinsing not once but three times to get all the product out, it had been well past one in the morning when she slipped into bed. Once she was settled under the covers, her mind wouldn’t shut off.

Elijah had crossed a line that had Mia questioning her future at the clinic. He had made it clear what his intentions were, and she wasn’t on board with them. She had a lot to contemplate. She loved her job, but if Elijah didn’t respect her wishes, she’d be forced to leave.  Normally she’d call her brother when she needed to bounce things off of him, but she wasn’t so sure he was the best person to debate with on this one. He’d tell her to quit tomorrow. She rolled over and sighed. The long weekend couldn’t come quick enough. She just needed to get through one more day, and then she could breathe a little easier. She smiled, knowing Stitch could probably ease some of the worries floating around inside of her head. The thought of him on her mind, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When Mia arrived at the clinic, she went straight to the kennels to check on the Blue Goblins. As she entered the back room, she frowned when she saw most of the cages were empty, including the large bottom one where the French Bulldogs were.

Willow walked in, and Mia stood up.

“Do you know what happened to the Blue Frenchies that were here?” Mia asked her.

Willow nibbled her lip nervously. “Dr. Walters had them transferred to the rescue organization first thing this morning.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

Willow looked around, again seeming nervous. Her behavior was off, and Mia wondered what was going on with her.

“Willow, is everything alright?”

“I don’t want to talk about it here. Are you free tonight after work to meet me for a drink?”

“Sure. I just need to finish packing, and I really want to get in a run. Would eight o’clock work?”

“Yes, that works.”

Willow then handed Mia an envelope.

“What’s this?”

“Don’t open it here. Bring it with you tonight.”

“Ok,” Mia said but wanted to question her further on why she was acting so secretive. She