The receptionist led Piper down a hallway with walls that were top to bottom glass, including the door to each office that faced on to the corridor. She imagined the staff probably felt like the ladies did in their fish tank. However, each room was outfitted with blinds in case privacy was needed. The space was modern, the furniture included, reminding Piper of Aiden’s home.
She saw Aiden long before he saw her. His office sat at the end of the hall, the space larger than the others, with a view of Montgomery Street down below. He was on the phone, pacing back and forth behind his desk, stroking his tie. It stirred something deep in Piper’s belly. He looked so professional, so powerful, so in control. She wanted him to use some of that control on her.
The door was open, so orange girl tapped on the glass door to announce their presence. Aiden turned to see who it was, and his eyes fell on Piper. Her knees buckled.
“I’m sorry. I’ll have to call you back.” He hung up the phone. “Thank you, Veronica.”
The moment she left, Aiden crossed the room and closed the door. Piper couldn’t help but notice that he glanced out the glass wall to make sure no one saw before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Maybe he wasn’t just afraid of Holly seeing them together, or Tamara, but anyone. Or perhaps it was his “I don’t like mixing business with pleasure” motto.
“You made it.” He moved around to the other side of his desk.
“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?” she asked after the cool reception. “I mean, I could study at Starbucks or something.”
“No. You have your exam soon and there are plenty of spare offices you can use. If the boss catches you, though, just say you’re the new temp.” He winked.
It was obviously easy for him in that setting. To be the boss, to be in control. It was a comfortable role for him. He had his safety blankets like his tie to readjust, his desk to hide behind, papers to reshuffle. Piper found it quite annoying. Naughty thoughts forced their way into her mind, making her want to break the rules, to toss those papers aside and create some chaos.
“Oh, I’ve already got a cover story,” she said. “I can say I’m here for a singing telegram. I just finished a gig a few blocks from here. I haven’t had a chance to change.” She raised her backpack that contained her clothes and textbooks in explanation.
He stopped straightening the papers on his desk. “You’re still wearing your costume?” He gave a fleeting look over her shoulder, out to the hallway. Since his office was located at the end, it could be seen by anyone who stepped out of their door and looked that way.
His eyes drifted back to her. He cleared his throat. “Which one is it?”
She batted her eyelashes. “You’ll just have to use your imagination.”
He perched himself on the edge of his desk, eyes darting back and forth from her coat to the hall. The temptation lit his face. Temptation of experiencing pleasure while in his place of business.
“Surely”—he hesitated—“you can give me just a peek.”
She followed his gaze down the hall. Seeing no one coming their way, she reached for the belt on her raincoat. Slowly, she untied it, running the length of the belt ends through her fingers until they dropped to her sides. Gripping the collar, she slid her hands down, keeping it closed, teasing him.
His eyes remained fixed on hers, flirtatious until she spread open the coat, revealing the costume beneath. The short skirt was striped red and white, exposing nearly every inch of her smooth legs. White stars speckled her collared vest, in Old Glory Blue. It hugged her waist and pressed her breasts up so that they bulged out the top of her sparkling gold bra underneath.
He remained very still, contemplative, like he stood in an art gallery appreciating a masterwork.
Closing the coat again, she tied the belt around her.
He snapped out of wherever he’d gone—which was certainly not at work. “Hey. I wasn’t finished.”
“That was more than a peek. That was like a gawk,” she said, “or a stare.”
“No, no.” He slid off his desk. “It was barely a glance. A glimpse at best.”
“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you installed all these revealing windows.”
“I can take care of that.” Crossing the room, he brushed past her and hit a knob next to the light switch. There was the whirring sound of a motor as the blinds slid across the glass wall, completely obscuring the outside world. He locked the door and loosened his tie as he moved toward her.
Piper gasped. “But Mr. Caldwell,” she teased. “This is completely inappropriate for the workplace. What would Larry Williams say?”
“I don’t care what he would say,” Aiden growled, his voice low and thick. “I’m feeling rather … patriotic at the moment.” Bending down, he grazed his lips across hers.
“I can tell,” she muttered. “I can feel your flag flying at full mast.”
His eyebrow quirked up and his smirk was so delicious she wanted to bite his lip. “That’s only half-mast. You’ll know when it’s full.”
Her eyes widened, but she couldn’t think of a comeback as his lips drifted down her neck, tickling her skin. Moving her hands up his chest, she groped the hard muscles beneath his shirt. She peeled off his jacket and dropped it to the floor in a rumpled heap.
Her hips were squirming to press closer even as she said, “But you’re at work.” She wanted to hear him acknowledge the pleasure, to throw away the business side for a moment and give in to it. To give in to her.
He pulled her collar aside to kiss the curve of her neck. “You’re not trying to prevent me from expressing my love for my country, are you, Miss Summers?”
“No, sir,” she breathed. “It’s your constitutional right.”
He backed her up until her butt hit the desk and leaned her back. “It’s my duty.”
“You’re obligated, really.” She reclined across his desk, dragging him down by his tie until he laid his mouth against hers.
“I don’t think I’ll get much studying done here,” she said between kisses.
“No.” He moved his kisses down her plunging neckline. “But I might get a little done myself.”
“Oh, and what will you be studying?”
“Anatomy.” He tugged at the top golden button on her vest until it popped open beneath the pressure of her breasts. “Particularly yours.”
He slipped each button free until he could slide his palm across her bare stomach, exposing her golden bra. Pulling away, he took a moment to run his eyes over her body. When he bent to kiss her again, she reached out for his flagpole to discover it at full mast.
“Oh, glory,” she breathed.
At her touch, he moaned against her mouth. Pleasure had clearly won.
Aiden’s hand burned hot over her calf, her knee, and all the way up her leg. She squirmed on the desk. His fingers crept higher up the soft skin of her inner thigh. She gasped for air, unable to stand it. Her heart hammered, her head spun with anticipation, until she heard ringing in her ears. It wasn’t until Aiden grunted in frustration that she realized he heard it too.
Reaching over to the phone on his desk, he pressed a button. “Veronica, I’m busy at the moment. Hold all my calls.”
“Sorry, sir. Larry Williams would like to speak with you regarding the rezoning for–”
Aiden practically leapt over the desk to pick up the receiver. “Veronica, I have Miss Summers in the room. Please refrain from discussing business around other clients”—he hesitated—“err, people.… Yes. Fine. Tell him to wait for a minute and I can speak to him privately.”
The moment he hung up the phone, he began tightening his tie again. Back to business. So hot and heavy one moment, but then to be ushered unceremoniously out of his office the next was jarring, to say the least. Piper slid off the desk and pulled her raincoat back on.
“I’m sorry,” he said, picking up his jacket. “But this is important. We’re on a tight schedule with this project.”
�
��Of course, I understand.” Which was a lie. She didn’t, really. Aiden was the boss. He could have told Larry to come back. What was Aiden’s receptionist about to say that he didn’t want her to hear? Why was he being so secretive? It was taking his mixing business with pleasure thing a bit far.
“The bathroom is down the hall if you’d like to change,” he said. “Ask Veronica to show you to a spare office after. Stay for as long as you like. Maybe we could do a late dinner tonight?” he asked, a kind of pleading hopefulness in his face.
Piper softened a little. She’d felt his flagpole rise and knew that he was as sorry as she was. “Yeah, sounds good.”
There was a knock on the door. Piper fumbled to check that all her coat buttons were done up, hiding any evidence of the American flag beneath. Once she was all sorted, she gave Aiden a nod and he opened the door.
The Chief Operations Officer stepped into the office. She was finally able to put a name to the face—or smell. Old Spice.
“Come on in, Larry,” Aiden said.
Piper gathered her backpack and swung it over her shoulder, eager to leave, but when the businessman noticed her he did a double take.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were already in the middle of a meeting,” he said. But the way he said meeting made Piper blush.
She formed the most innocent expression she could, like she and his boss hadn’t just gotten to third base on his desk.
“Larry, you remember Miss Summers.”
“How could I forget? Did you come to entertain us again with another little song?”
“No.” She bristled but then reminded herself what she had on beneath her coat. “Aiden has offered to let me use a spare office to study.”
“She’s studying to be a veterinarian,” Aiden explained.
Old Spice planted his briefcase on Aiden’s desk. “Oh, that’s right. You volunteer at that dog shelter, don’t you? I heard about the vandalism. How very unfortunate.”
He spoke to her like she was a ten-year-old with a ruined science fair project. She felt her chin rise in response. “We’ll be fine.”
“Piper went on the news to raise donations to help improve security on the building.”
“Is that right? That was you?” He seemed to think for a second. “Yes, I think I might have seen that segment. How very … industrious of you. Well.” He unlatched his briefcase, signaling it was time to move on to grown-up things now. “I hope it all works out for you.”
He began laying out documents and blueprints on Aiden’s desk, and she smirked as she imagined Old Spice reviewing important documents where her star-spangled butt had been only a few seconds before. If he knew, it would probably have knocked his argyle socks off.
Noticing the documents, Aiden reached over and slammed the briefcase shut, like this wasn’t an investment company but the NSA, highly top secret. He reached over and gathered the loose pages, flipping them facedown.
“I’ll show Miss Summers out before we begin.” He gave Larry a pointed look before turning back to Piper.
“Piper, I’ll speak to you later.” He held the door open for her. Laying a hand on her lower back, he practically shoved her out of the room. He smiled at her, but it was strained. “And help yourself to coffee and snacks. Veronica will show you around.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Piper turned back to the reception room and the door shut firmly behind her. She flinched at the sound. At least it wasn’t a handshake. But somehow, it felt worse.
What the hell was going on? She was tired of being in the dark. She wanted answers, but the kind of answers she needed she wasn’t going to get from Caldwell and Son Investments.
Abandoning her plans to study, she headed back to the elevator and drove to the police station.
21
Hound Horror
Piper pulled into the rescue center’s parking lot and killed her headlights—or, rather, her one headlight, since the other had burned out months before. Colin reclined in her purse like it was a chaise longue, so she had to dislodge him before fishing out her phone. There was a message from Aiden.
Hey. Long day at the office. Just wrapping up now. I came to see if you were still around, but Veronica said you’d left already. Are we still on for a late dinner?
She hesitated, her fingers hovering over the reply button. It was late. The clock on the dash said it was almost nine. She’d stopped by the police station to get an update from Officer Tucker in person. When she pestered him about the attempted hit-and-run, he said he was looking into Barney Miller and Laura from SFAAC. He also said that Aiden’s PA, Tamara, had a solid alibi. Apparently, she was tied up at work in a meeting. Aiden still didn’t know that Piper had listed Tamara as a possible suspect.
One week. The message rang through her head. She’d reminded Officer Tucker that their time was up. He said the police would increase the patrol units to the area throughout the night. In other words, she was on her own again. She’d thought she’d been joking about spending the night sleeping at the center, but tonight that was exactly what she was prepared to do. Anything to keep her charges safe.
She’d wanted to get to the center a little earlier, but Lindsey from Sam’s office had texted her that afternoon with two last-minute telegram bookings. Well, three, but one of them had been Barney Miller.
Supposedly he’d sprained his ankle and couldn’t go on his vacation, which of course meant he needed a “Get well soon” telegram. She wondered if it was possible to sprain an ankle during a car chase in a dark alley. Obviously she turned that gig down.
As she hesitated with her phone in her hand, Colin grumbled from the passenger seat. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She could swear there was a disapproving tilt to his head.
“What?” she asked. “I can’t see Aiden tonight. I have to study.”
But Colin’s judgmental stare indicated that he wasn’t convinced.
She sighed and flopped back in her seat. “You’re a real ball-breaker,” she told him.
If she was honest with herself, and Colin, she was still dwelling on her dinner date with Aiden. Dwelling on what Holly had said.
Sure, Piper had seen him every day that week for their usual dog walk, out in public, in broad daylight. But each time she saw him, it only reinforced her sneaking suspicion that Aiden didn’t want to make their relationship public. Even when old Larry Williams showed up at Aiden’s office that afternoon, he couldn’t wait to get rid of her.
There was no handholding, no kissing, no touching of any kind. That is, until they were alone. Then the touching began.
And boy, was there touching.
At the thought, Piper’s mind drifted back to their little office rendezvous. Even hours later, the memory had her fidgeting in her seat.
“No. No. No.” Piper banged on her steering wheel, trying to shake off the memory and startling Colin in the process. “I have to study,” she told her doxie. “And if I’m not here, then who’s going to make sure nothing happens to the center tonight? All that will have to wait. Aiden will have to wait.”
She hit the reply button on her phone.
Sorry, she typed. I can’t. I’m studying at the center tonight.
With difficulty, she forced her finger to hit send.
Besides, she’d just finished her telegram gigs. It wasn’t like she’d dressed for dinner. In her peaked police cap, black booty shorts, and skintight spandex top, she was dressed for an undercover police sting op at a brothel.
Grabbing her textbook-laden backpack, she turned to Colin. “Shall we go say hello to the guests?”
Piper locked the VW Bug and made her way around to the front of the building, calf-high boots crunching on the gravel. She used her phone to light the path. The days were getting longer, but the sky was thick with clouds that evening, obliterating the day’s last light. Already she could smell the rain coming. A drop or two fell on her bare shoulder as she climbed the front cement steps.
Reaching into her fake
gun holster, she fished the center’s keys out and unlocked the door. She swung it open and stepped into the reception room. She couldn’t see a thing. The only light came from the glowing red exit sign above her and the fish tank buzzing on the far back counter.
The familiar scents and sounds welcomed her inside. The guests were already going nuts in the back, barking and howling like maniacs. She wondered if they’d ever get used to her coming and going at strange hours. Once they saw it was just her and Colin, they’d settle down.
Piper dropped her backpack on the floor and held the door open to let Colin slip inside. He’d barely taken two steps past her before he froze to the linoleum. His long ears were perked, well, as high as the floppy things could go. She grinned. Her tough little guard dog, making sure the coast was clear.
But she couldn’t hear anything but the dogs in the back. Not even out on the street. The traffic dwindled at this time of night, everyone having gone home for the day to eat or party in Mission. And that’s when Piper realized it had been perfectly quiet since she stepped inside, no creak of the door, no cars out on the street. She’d made no sound coming in but for the key turning in the lock. Marilyn’s bell had been torn down during the break-in.
Her breath caught in her chest. So if they weren’t barking at her, she wondered, what were the dogs barking at?
A muffled noise came from the kitchen, a soft splashing like someone washing their hands in the sink. Colin heard it too, because he started growling next to her. It was a menacing sound, low and deep in his barrel chest, too quiet to be heard over the barking in the back. Although she couldn’t see him clearly, his black fur blending into the darkness around them, she knew his hackles were bristling, because hers certainly were.
Maybe Marilyn had come home early from her trip. Or maybe it was Zoe or Addison. But neither of their cars were in the parking lot. And besides, she was the only one with a key—and absolutely no life on a Friday night.
Hand still gripping the doorknob, Piper froze with indecision. She was torn between running for help and heading in to investigate. She knew she should back out, go call the police, like any sane person would do. Although, she reasoned, if someone was there, at night, in the dark, it couldn’t mean anything good. It could mean their criminal was back and the dogs were in danger.
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