Paws off the Boss - Casey Griffin (best books under 200 pages .TXT) 📗

No, she told herself. Doughnuts were bad for her. And so was Aiden. Wiping her palms on her shorts, she opened her car door so she could get in and drive to the nearest McDonald’s. Maybe she could fill out an application for burger construction artist or something. But Colin didn’t care what she thought. The second the door cracked open, he slipped out between her legs.

“Colin, no.”

She reached out to grab him by the collar, but his stubby legs moved in a blur as he scampered off in a direct line for Sophie. Racing over to the bench, Colin tackled his girlfriend. The two of them rolled across the grass in a writhing ball of torsos and ears. Aiden lunged toward them, probably thinking they were fighting. He must have recognized Colin because he stopped and scanned the parking lot. He spotted Piper standing frozen by her VW and waved.

She was trapped.

“I’m going to kill you, Colin,” she promised under her breath.

Piper waved back before grabbing Colin’s leash and ball. At the last minute, she remembered her cell phone. She was on call for the veterinary hospital if any emergencies came in that day, so she had to stick close to the phone.

She didn’t mind, since the hours were better than her previous clinical placement. She only had to work the occasional weekend shift. The reduced hours allowed her to take more telegram gigs, even when she was on call. However, one time she’d had to deliver a litter of kittens dressed as a sexy gladiator. Now she carried a spare change of clothes with her at all times. Her car was a closet on wheels.

Heading across the parking lot to meet Aiden, she almost wished she’d worn something nicer, not a cotton tank and an old pair of sneakers. But she wasn’t interviewing for a position at Caldwell and Son Investments, just as the son’s dog walker. And she definitely looked the part. Plain old dog walker Piper.

Aiden stood up when she got closer. “Hi. I’m glad you could make it.”

“Sorry we’re late.”

He gave her a brisk handshake. “That’s okay. Traffic?”

Again with the handshake, she thought. “No. I’m infected with perpetual late-itis. The doctor says it’s terminal.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Aiden said in mock seriousness. “Terrible diagnosis. My cousin had that.”

She clipped Colin’s leash on. “What happened to him?”

“He said he’d meet me for lunch one day. I’m still waiting.” He shook his head, his expression grim. “I don’t like to talk about it much.”

She laughed. “Come on. The dog park’s this way. We can let them off their leashes there.”

“Sure. Lead the way.” He grabbed his jacket and folded it over an arm. “Come on, Sophie.”

She stared at him from where she lounged on the mowed grass. He jiggled her leash, but she stayed put, resisting his tugs. Piper whistled through her teeth and called her.

Sophie heaved a sigh, as if to say, Oh, very well, and jumped to her feet, deigning to join them.

Aiden laughed. “I guess she still doesn’t know who’s boss.”

“If you wanted to be boss, you chose the wrong breed. You’ll have to settle for administrative assistant.”

“Or mailroom boy.”

He followed her to the main trail where they could walk side by side. The dogs stopped often to sniff out the unfamiliar territory. The park was busy, so they had to weave in and out of other people. It gave Piper an excuse to watch the trail and keep her eyes averted from the temptation next to her. To forget about his glimmery eyes, his adorable ruffled hair, and that one little dimple—not two, just one—and how could she have missed that before?

Not realizing she’d been staring at him, Piper tripped over a hump in the pavement and stumbled a few feet. After that, she kept her eyes straight ahead, reminding herself that this was an interview, not a date. Definitely, almost certainly, probably not. Right?

“So,” Aiden eventually said. “I wanted to spend a little time together today to make sure—”

“That I’m not a weirdo?” she offered.

He chuckled and ran a hand through his scruffy hair. “I wasn’t going to put it quite that way. But yes. Before I hand over the keys to my home, it would be comforting to know you have a good head on your shoulders.”

“Only if I have access to my daily dose of chocolate.”

“Duly noted.”

They reached a large area where wood chips littered the ground. Piper stopped to set Colin free, and Aiden did the same for Sophie. The off-leash area spanned about an acre in size and was surrounded by leafy green trees and plenty of benches where many of the owners enjoyed the shade.

Piper dug into her pocket and pulled out a gnarled tennis ball. “I thought our meeting could be both work and play.”

She tossed it to Aiden, and he caught it. “Oh, good. But, just so you know, I’m not usually one to mix business with pleasure.”

Piper knew he meant it as a joke, but the words struck her as familiar. He’d said the same thing the day before in her taxi. She recalled the straight-faced businessman at the office, the formal handshakes, and now he was wearing a suit in a park—with a pocket square, she couldn’t help but notice.

Back when she’d helped her mother move to live near Ethan, they’d all gone to dinner together. He’d flashed his exclusive credit card, turning it in plain sight ten minutes before the bill came. Several times throughout the evening, he jingled his BMW keys with the big blue-and-white key chain in his hands when the car was nowhere near. And while they were in the middle of dinner, he answered a call on his Bluetooth—still tucked in his ear—and spoke loud enough so everyone could hear about his oh-so-important legal cases because he was such a big-time lawyer.

They were what he considered the badges of his new status, the things he thought made him better than where he came from—a farm in Oregon. It was a persona he wore, a mask of permanent fakeness, of empty gestures, leaving nothing but a hollow personality beneath it. Gone was the little boy Piper grew up with.

She appraised Aiden with a lingering look. “You know what they say, ‘All work and no play …’”

“Hmm, nope. Don’t think I ever heard that one,” he teased. “What do they say will happen?”

“Oh, something about kidney stones or blindness.”

“Well, in that case.” He whistled. “Sophie.”

Both dogs perked up. Aiden threw the ball in the air and caught it again, mesmerizing them. Hypnotized, they watched his arm draw back. The moment he released it, both Sophie and Colin took off like they were hot on the trail of a badger, their natural quarry.

Piper laughed, watching Colin fight Sophie for the toy like it was to the death. “Colin doesn’t understand the words ‘not your ball.’ Every ball is Colin’s ball. On the plus side, I’ve made lots of friends at dog parks because of it.”

“And Colin some enemies?” Aiden asked as the dogs returned.

“No way.” She ruffled Colin’s fur. “Look at this face. How can you hate this face?”

As she said this, Sophie tackled Colin. They went rolling like two sausages on the ground. Sophie came back with wood chips stuck in her long red fur.

Aiden bent down to pick some of them out. “Well, these two seem to be the best of friends.”

“Yeah, they love each other. They grew up together. After I adopted Colin, he continued to come back to the center with me to visit her.”

“But you only adopted Colin?”

Piper averted her eyes to hide the regret. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t take both home with me. I shouldn’t have a dog at all. My landlord would kill me if he knew.”

She tossed the ball across the lot. The dogs raced for it, wood chips flying in their wake. Finding the shadiest bench, Piper took a seat and curled her legs up next to her. Aiden had to hitch his pant legs up a little to sit but tried to look casual, slinging an arm across the back of the bench.

Piper studied him out of the corner of her eye. If Aiden wore the same mask as her brother, he wore it flawlessly, without having to flash his badges around. Piper wondered if it was a mask at all.

But what did it matter? She had come there for one reason—a job interview. Aiden was just her potential boss. However, when she recalled the final notices in her mailbox that morning, she knew it wasn’t just a job. It was her best shot at staying afloat.

She eyed her tank top and shorts, wondering once again if she shouldn’t have worn something different, maybe a collared shirt, or at least something that didn’t show her bra straps. After all, dog walking wasn’t to be taken lightly in San Francisco. It was a cutthroat job market. Not to mention the turf wars between dog walkers over territory. It was dog-eat-dog—no pun intended.

Piper grew tense as desperation sank in. But Aiden offered me the job in the first place, she reasoned, so surely, I have nothing to worry about. Then again, if it were that easy, why would he need to interview her? Straightening up on the bench, she crossed her legs. That was professional, right?

She cleared her throat. “What else can I tell you about myself?”

“Tell me about your hobbies, your goals.” He said it straight-faced, like he was reading off a list of interview questions. “Your friend at the center said you’re training to be a veterinarian. Tell me more about that.”

“I’m in