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

class="subsq">Aiden’s credit card appeared in his hand before the server returned. When Piper reached for her purse, he gave her a withering look.

“At least let me pay for our first official date. Please?” he added when she continued to fish out her wallet.

It wasn’t like she could afford it, anyway, so she gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. But I’ll get the gelato.”

“Sounds fair.”

Probably not, she thought.

The moment the server handed Aiden his card, he was out of his seat. He turned his back to the restaurant, or to Holly, Piper supposed, and dipped his head closer to the server.

“Do you have a private way out?” he asked her in a hushed tone.

“Certainly,” she said without missing a beat. “It’s right through there.” She pointed to a hall at the rear of the restaurant.

Piper wondered if this was a common request. She’d seen more than one celeb-type person with their furry friends in tow that night. The type of clientele that would come to a swanky place like The Dog and Bone might want to keep a low profile and avoid paparazzi. However, in this case, the paparazzo happened to be dining there.

Aiden and Piper clipped leashes on Colin and Sophie and headed past the relaxation area. Food-stuffed puppies lounged on oversized pillows, some twitching while they napped, as if dreaming of chasing rabbits.

Ducking through the quiet hall, Aiden held the back door open for her. The cool night air rushed over her, but before she stepped out, Piper stopped.

“Oh. I forgot my purse.” She handed over Colin’s leash. “I’ll be right out.”

She returned to their table and found her purse dangling from the arm of her chair. Grabbing it, she turned to head back. Then she heard her name.

“Piper?”

She froze, cringing as she recognized Holly’s voice. So much for sneaking out. Rolling her eyes, she turned around and waved.

Holly Hart sprang from her chair and sashayed across the room, sneezing repeatedly as she passed the Bowwow Bar.

“Piper. So good to see you.” She gave the air near Piper’s cheeks a couple of kisses like they were best friends meeting in Paris.

“Holly, I’m surprised to see you here with your dog allergies.”

She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. “It’s a marketing ploy. My ratings jumped after that segment about your dog rescue center. It seems the way to this community’s heart is through their mutts. I’ve gotta keep up appearances, you know?”

“Right. Yeah.” Piper tried to keep a straight face. “That’s why I do it.”

“So.” Holly smiled coyly, like they were just two girls gossiping. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes darted around the room, undoubtedly searching for Aiden.

It was obvious Piper could never afford to eat at a place like The Dog and Bone. Anyone could see that. But Aiden wanted to avoid Holly, so she didn’t want to give him away. She pretended not to notice Holly’s surprise, as though she rubbed elbows with the rich and famous every day. That her shoes were Jimmy Choos and not from the clearance rack at Target.

“Just thought I’d pop in for a bite to eat.”

“Only you?” Holly asked. “All alone? Not with one of your four-legged friends?”

“Colin’s outside,” she hedged.

“All by himself?”

She wasn’t going to lie, but, frankly, it was none of Holly’s business. “No.”

When it was clear she wouldn’t spill the beans, Holly gave up the pretense. “Don’t worry. I won’t get you into trouble. I’m off the clock now anyway.” She blew a seductive kiss to the man back at her table, who was still wearing his sunglasses inside, at night.

“I don’t know what Aiden’s so worried about,” Holly continued. “It’s not like his love life is the stuff of Channel Five News or anything. I’m a hard-hitting journalist now. I don’t work for The San Francisco Gate anymore.”

“You used to work for The Gate?” Piper asked.

“It’s where I got my start. While I worked there, Aiden Caldwell was a bit of an obsession of mine.”

Now that Piper could understand.

“He was one of the city’s most eligible bachelors. Still is. And boy, did that guy have taste.” She shook her head wistfully.

Piper wasn’t stupid. She knew Holly was trying to get information out of her. She gnawed at her lip before plowing on anyway—she couldn’t walk away after a statement like that.

“Taste? You mean in women?”

Holly widened her eyes. “We’re talking the bluebloods of the financial kingdom, daughters of the most successful Fortune Five Hundreds. The upper-crusters. Ivy League, part-time model types. Made me grateful for my mega-zoom lenses.” She winked. “You know what I’m saying?”

“Right,” Piper said, but she didn’t want to think too hard about what that meant.

“He made my job real easy, you know? He was always showing off his new trophies, making a real spectacle of it. But things got kind of quiet after his dad passed away.” She shrugged and patted Piper on the shoulder. “Well, looks like he’s back in the game.”

The game?

“The bad boy of the Financial District is back.”

Piper knew she should deny it or say something vague. Her silence was practically an admission that Aiden was hiding somewhere. But suddenly, she didn’t feel like covering for him anymore. She wondered why she was supposed to, why she had to slink out the back into a dark alley to avoid being seen.

If what Holly said was true, then it wasn’t like he worried about keeping his private life secret. He never did before. But then again, he’d been dating models and socialites, graduates from the country’s top universities, not a singing telegram girl. Not exactly a headliner for The Gate.

Or maybe it was. Only, when she imagined it, it wasn’t her and Aiden caught in a glamorous, well-lit red-carpet shot. It was one of those poorly timed photos, where a transition between facial expressions could be interpreted as a drug addiction or a mental breakdown.

Piper’s headline would read “Tycoon Aiden Caldwell: Who Let the Dogs Out?”

Maybe it wasn’t about keeping his private life under wraps, but Piper herself.

Deep in thought, Piper said goodbye to Holly and slipped out the back door. When Aiden saw her, his face lit up like the flash from a camera. Distracted as she was, she couldn’t help but smile back.

It’s all in my head, she told herself. A ploy constructed by Holly to stir things up. Besides, she had nothing to be ashamed of. She was as good as any Ivy-Leaguing, elbow-rubbing, champagne-drinking, hoity-toity model. No, better. She had street cred.

As they walked down the narrow alley, part of her wanted to confront Aiden about it, to blurt it out and be done with it. Then he reached out and took her hand in his. It felt so warm and wonderful. Suddenly, like a giant Araucana, she was too afraid to ask him about it. Because what if there really was some truth to her fears?

Don’t be ridiculous, she chastised herself. If there was, then he wasn’t the guy for her, and she didn’t want to waste her time anyway.

Pulling away, Piper turned to face Aiden. She opened her mouth to confront him about his odd behavior. However, as though Colin could sense her annoyance, he growled next to her, loud and steady like a gas lawn mower.

“Colin, what’s wrong, boy?”

He ignored her. Hackles raised, he stared at the end of the long alley as if he suspected it of foul play. Piper followed his glower and noticed a dark car parked at the end. Thanks to the dim lighting in the alley, it could have been any color.

The headlights were off, the engine idling. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Right? They might have been waiting for someone. Anyone …

Maybe even her and Aiden.

The headlights flicked on, and Piper’s skin began to crawl.

“Let’s go around the other way,” she suggested.

Colin resisted her tugs on his leash, like he was playing a game of chicken with the car and he was confident he could win. Her money was on the big metal thing, so she bent down to pick him up, smoothing his hackles down.

“Come on, Colin.”

The dark car flicked on its high beams. Harsh lights filled her vision. She grunted, shielding her searing retinas against the light. She couldn’t see a thing. An engine revved, high-pitched and whiny.

“Piper.” There was an urgency to Aiden’s voice, matching her own building unease.

He tried the door to the restaurant, but it had locked behind them. Scooping up Sophie, he grabbed Piper’s hand and pulled her down the alley, away from the car.

The engine revved again. Tires skidded on loose gravel until they found purchase on pavement. The rubber chirped, and the car sped toward them.

Blinking light spots from her vision, Piper stumbled as Aiden tugged her along. She was more grateful than ever for the Lycra dress, which allowed her to move freely. They were running, sprinting, gasping for air. She wanted to cry out for help, but she couldn’t catch her breath.

Their pursuer sped closer, headlights glaring up the alley. On either side, one building tied into the next, not even an inch between them. No escape. Their path narrowed up ahead where a Buick had parked next to a dumpster.

As Aiden and Piper approached the bottleneck, she noticed an alcove to a back entrance. It was harder to hit two separate targets; they had to split up.