Must Love Wieners (40 page)

Authors: Casey Griffin

“Bad,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “I know. I don’t blame you.”

“And well, Holly…”

“Yes. Holly.” He laughed. Not in a ha-ha kind of way, but the kind of laugh that makes you think you might be able to laugh at it one day. Like maybe fifty years later. “I’ll give her this, though. She had her facts straight. It was her drawn conclusions that needed a bit of editing.” Any humor vanished from his expression; those dark green eyes grew darker by the second. “But with what information you had, and then what you heard in my office…”

She shook her head, laughing humorlessly herself. “Oh God. Your office. I shouldn’t have been there. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“During my interrogation,” he said, “the inspector played your recording for me. I listened to it, trying to imagine what you must have been thinking. And, well, it was bad. Piper, I don’t blame you for thinking that I had something to do with it.”

“But I should have talked to you first,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He took a shy step toward her, causing her heart to leap in her chest. “Besides, you thought I was trying to kill you at the time. Not exactly the best conditions to sit down and have a chat.” He stared down at his hands. “I’m sorry for not telling you about my plans for the center sooner.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Marilyn explained everything to me. How she asked you not to say anything.”

“I kept trying to contact her, to get her permission to tell you about the plans once things started to get out of hand, but I couldn’t reach her. It wasn’t the way I was used to doing business. And then we started dating, and it all got so complicated. You know me, I hate mixing—”

“Business with pleasure,” she finished for him. “I know. But you were right. That was your business and not mine. I had no right to know those things.”

“That’s where I was wrong.” He took another step. Another leap of her heart. “When I asked you to be my girlfriend, you asked me to be a partner instead. And I didn’t treat you like one. What I did wasn’t fifty-fifty. I shouldn’t have let anything, business or otherwise, come between us. Nothing is worth losing you over.”

His hand rose, as though he wanted to reach out and touch her cheek, but then he thought better of it and reached for his tie. Discovering the lack of tie and a lot of Hawaiian, he ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up.

“There are some things money can’t buy.”

She took a deep breath, her numb mind flipping through the events of that morning, trying to find a path, a tangent that had yet to be explored. Could it be that simple?

“So, that’s it?” she asked hesitantly. “Neither of us did anything wrong? It was all a big misunderstanding?”

Had it been such a small error, a little mix-up, that had torn Piper’s life apart, created such a huge hole in her chest? That’s when Piper realized just what Aiden truly meant to her. That his mere absence in her life, if only for a day, could obliterate it, could leave a hole in her chest big enough to swallow her.

But now she was frightened to reach out across that hole, to fill it again with their love. Such a tiny misunderstanding, but such a wide gulf.

Humans thought of themselves as more evolved, with their opposable thumbs and their fancy brains. When she’d watched Colin and Sophie frantically greet each other like two loved ones reunited, running off to play without another thought, Piper figured it was because they couldn’t comprehend the reality of it. But now she wondered if animals didn’t have it right. Animals listened to their instincts. Maybe it was the brains that always got in the way.

Aiden reached out first. He held out a hand, palm upturned, his expression hopeful, pleading. And like it was instinct, her hand moved automatically to meet him halfway. Fifty-fifty.

“Can I show you something?” he asked.

She nodded, and he led her across the toy room, to a door marked with a nameplate etched in swirling letters. She paused to read it on their way in and her mouth fell open. It said:
Dr. Piper Summers
.

Piper’s legs forgot how to move and Aiden had to steer her through the door. Once inside, she froze at the sight. It was a fully equipped veterinary clinic. No. Not just a clinic, she thought, scanning the pieces of diagnostic and surgical equipment, but a minihospital. It had everything a veterinarian could ask for. She could even perform emergency surgery if necessary.

“Aiden,” she breathed. “This is…” Her words tapered off.

“Do you like it?”

“Like it? Aiden.” Turning toward him, she flung her arms around his neck. “It’s perfect.”

“I may have been planning the new rescue center all along, but all this”—he waved a hand at the clinic—“I built this entirely for you.”

“For me?”

“It was an addition that I added on after we met. You’ll have everything you need to help the animals that come in now.”

He’d been planning this all along. Every time he kept his “business” to himself, tried to hide phone calls and meetings from her, every time she wondered about his advanced deadline—which was no doubt due to the fire—he’d been working on the center, the new home for her friends. And this gift to her.

Guilt took another nip at her, and she knew of only one way to pacify it. Rising on her toes, she leaned into Aiden’s embrace and pressed her lips against his, slowly, firmly, longingly.

He drew back just enough so that he could look into her eyes. “In case it wasn’t obvious by now,” he said. “I love you.”

The morpho butterflies were back, filling every last square inch of that gaping hole, banishing the angry Tasmanian devil. Ever since her father died, Piper never needed or wanted to rely on anyone, but before Aiden came along she never thought it could feel so good.

“I love you too.”

He pulled her in for another kiss, his face, once again, beautiful and worry-free. She reached up to his collar and one by one began to undo the buttons on his Hawaiian shirt.

“What do you say, Mr. Caldwell? Can we mix business with pleasure one last time?”

He pulled back, his expression scandalized. “Miss Summers. Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“Please, Mr. Caldwell,” she purred in his ear. “I’ve seen you eyeing me. I know you’ve wanted me since you hired me.” She removed her sweatshirt to give him a shot of cleavage and pressed up against him.

“This is highly inappropriate.” Keeping a straight face, he reached up and straightened his shirt, playing along. “What would Human Resources say?”

Reaching down, she worked his belt, then his button, his zipper. “No one has to know. It will be our little secret.”

“This is sexual harassment in the workplace,” he said, looking around like someone might see, but not exactly fighting her off. She reached her hand down his pants, searching.

“It’s only harassment if you don’t want it. Don’t you want it?” She found what she was looking for and grasped it.

It took him a moment to answer, and when he did it was a breathless moan. “Oh yes.”

“You’re not going to take me to HR, are you?”

Grunting, he gripped her by the hips and lifted her onto the stainless-steel metal exam table, spreading her legs open with his hips. “No. I have a better idea.”

She ran her hands across the back of his shorts that were halfway falling down, enjoying the feel and curve of his butt. She pushed his shorts down the rest of the way. “And what’s that?”

He grinned against her mouth. “You’re fired.”

Her groping hands froze with surprise and she laughed. “That’s okay,” she said. “I still have my telegram job. Come to think of it, I’ve got a few costumes packed up in the car. Maybe we could play cops and robbers.”

He hooked a thumb under the hem of her tank top and lifted it, exposing her bra. “I think I’ve had just about enough of cops.”

She leaned back on her elbows. He drew his mouth across her stomach, from her bra to her low-riding jeans. Her hips moved on their own, encouraging him to keep going. She sucked in a breath of air as he undid her pants.

“How about a sexy Swiss yodeler?”

His hand froze at the top of her jeans. “You yodel?”

“I’ve been known to yodel.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll make you yodel without the costume.” His hand slid into her pants and she gripped the edge of the metal table beneath her.

A soft moan escaped her lips. “Marilyn Monroe, then?”

Aiden hesitated for a second, then shook his head. “No.”

“Who do you want then?” she panted. “Tell me.”

He hopped onto the table, his half-naked body hovering over hers. Lowering himself, he kissed her deeply. “I want you. Just you.” He swept a stray hair off her cheek. “My Piper.”

And once he pulled the privacy curtain closed around the exam table, he got exactly what he wanted. From that day onwards.

Which volunteer at the Dachshund Rescue Center will get her own romance story? Find out in …

Beauty and the
Wiener

The second book in the Rescue Dog Romance series

To be unleashed Winter 2017

About the Author

A true geek at heart,
Casey Griffin
can often be found at comic conventions on her days off from her day job, driving 400-ton dump trucks in Northern Alberta, Canada. As a jack of all trades with a résumé boasting registered nurse, English teacher, and photographer, books are her true passion. Casey is a 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel finalist and is currently busy writing every moment she can. Visit her on the Web at
www.caseygriffin.com
. Or sign up for email updates
here
.