by Jaime Lewis
Elijah couldn’t make out what the woman was saying. He motioned to Claus to stay quiet as they both stood in the doorway and listened. It was difficult to hear, given they were at the opposite end of the hallway. The woman mumbled again, and Elijah nodded his head in the direction of the reception area. Claus went first, and Elijah followed close behind. Since nobody should have been in the building this time of the night, both he and Claus had their hands on their firearms. As Elijah entered the waiting room, he almost faltered the same time his jaw hit the floor.
He recognized the ass that was bent over the reception desk. His cock hardened at the sight of her backside, pressing against the silky material. Mia stood out like a million bucks. He wanted nothing more than to keep her bent over that desk and fuck her until she came screaming his name. She was literally testing his patience.
Getting his thoughts under control quickly, he cleared his throat. Mia jumped and shrieked. She turned, holding her hand over her heart.
“Elijah! Holy shit! You scared me.”
He saw he truly frightened her with how wide her eyes were and how fast she was breathing.
“I’m sorry. I was in my office when I heard the door and came out to see who it was.” She glanced over at Claus as he holstered his weapon. Mia knew Claus carried a weapon, so her seeing it hadn’t been a complete surprise.
“What brings you by? I thought you would still be at the gala.”
She dropped her hand and huffed dramatically. He fought back his laughter because she looked so flustered. It was cute.
“I ran into your cousin as I was leaving, and he insisted that I drop these off to you tonight. I didn’t see any lights on and thought you had left already, so I was writing you a note and going to leave everything on your desk. But since you are here, these are for you.”
She passed him the two envelopes, and he gritted his teeth to hide his anger. How in the hell could Marlon be so stupid and irresponsible to put something this important in the hands of an innocent? Hell, all it would have taken was for the envelope to open, and his little operation would have been exposed. He’d be facing jail time for probably the rest of his life.
He handed the envelopes to Claus, who turned and walked back toward the office. Elijah knew he’d start finalizing the paperwork so they’d be ready when the truck arrived. They only had a small window of time to get the puppies loaded on the ship.
He turned back to Mia. “Thank you, and I’m sorry that my cousin dumped his responsibilities onto you. That was irresponsible of him.”
She waved him off. “It’s fine. It actually gave me a legitimate excuse to leave the gala.”
He frowned. “Didn’t you enjoy yourself?”
“Oh, I didn’t mean for my words to insinuate I had a bad time. I definitely enjoyed meeting everyone you introduced to me. Plus, it allowed me to get all dressed up,” She said as she smiled. “I’m just really tired.” She followed up, and now he wondered if he had been working her too hard. The last thing he wanted was for her to be unhappy and ultimately drive her away. An idea hit him. She was planning on spending the Thanksgiving weekend with her brother—maybe offering her a few extra days of vacation would be beneficial. He wasn’t sure where her brother lived as she kept her personal life well-guarded. He did overhear her talking to Willow, the receptionist, and thought she mentioned her brother was in the military. It would be easy to get details out of Willow, though with the information he uncovered today, Willow’s time at the clinic was limited.
Suddenly, the sound of a door banging behind him had him spinning around, and his eyes widened as one of the larger puppies jumped through the doorway leading up from the basement. The whining and grunts of puppies traveled up the stairs. Claus came running out of the office and scooped up the small white and gray puppy before heading to the basement and closing the door behind him. Elijah’s heart raced as he tried positioning his body to block Mia’s view, but it was too late.
“Elijah, was that a dog?” Mia asked, trying to look around him, but he reacted quickly, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her back in front of him. He played it off as he glanced over his shoulder, hoping the few seconds would give him enough time to make up a justified excuse. “That little rascal was one of the puppies of the client I met here tonight. I have the litter downstairs in the spare kennel. I want to run some additional tests on them tomorrow.”
She tilted her chin up at him and gave him a questionable look. “You have them in the basement? I thought you said there was nothing down there but storage. Why didn’t you use the kennel in the backroom?”
“They have symptoms of Parvo, and without knowing for sure, I didn’t want to put the other animals in the other kennel at risk.”
“Oh no.” She stated, and the look on her face told him she had bought the story. She relaxed a little, and he had to hide his smile because she hadn’t pulled away from him.
“I think we caught it in time. With a little TLC, they should be fine.”
She looked up at him and smiled, and he used the opportunity to pull her in closer. He heard her intake of breath as their chests met, and it aroused him. They were so close, and her light and sweet perfume drew him in. He couldn’t stop himself as 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 hoped everything was okay.
She walked into the breakroom and smiled when she saw her friend and co-worker Danny sitting at the small table eating his usual cheese and mayonnaise sandwich with a bag of sour cream and onion chips. How a person could eat the same exact food for lunch every day was a wonder to her, not to mention boring.
Danny was her only “real” friend in the city. The two had met when she was interning at Dr. Vineberg’s practice. She and Danny had hit it off immediately. Their personalities were similar, although he was a little more outgoing than her. He was quite the character. He reminded her of a surfer dude with bleach blonde hair. He attracted women everywhere he went, but unfortunately, Danny wasn’t interested in what they had to offer. He was more interested in his male counterparts. It always made her laugh when women would hit on Danny, and then he’d tell them that he was a fruit loop in the middle of cheerios.
Danny was also the only person besides her family who she had allowed in her apartment. He would apartment-sit for her when she traveled out of town, and sometimes he would crash there. She didn’t mind. He was a neat freak, so she never had to worry about him messing up the place, plus he was a master in the kitchen. So, when he did spend the night, she could count on a gourmet meal for breakfast.
She plopped down in the chair.
“Hey, sweet cheeks.” He said, smiling before taking a drink of water.
She unzipped her lunch bag and pulled out leftover baked chicken and mashed potatoes from two nights ago.
“So, how was Dr. Walters today? Has he asked you to come to his office for an important meeting?” Danny asked using air quotes. He smirked, knowing it annoyed her that people were beginning to think she and Dr. Walters saw each other outside of the office. Thank goodness nobody had seen him kiss her last night, although she did confide in Danny.
“Sorry to disappoint, Danny Boy, but I haven’t really seen Dr. Walters, much less spoken to him today.” And, what a relief if was. After his blatant show of possession last night, she had been a little worried about how he would act at the office in front of the other staff. He had told her last night they would talk when she returned from Thanksgiving, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t try today, so she had hoped to avoid him at all costs.
Danny shocked her by placing his hand over hers. “Hey, you know I’m just messing with you, right? I know there’s nothing between you two.” She must have given him an odd look because he quickly followed up with, “The look on your face gave you away.”
That didn’t surprise her. She definitely didn’t have a face for poker. She’d be broke before the game even began. Her mom and sisters always used to tease her that her face gave away her emotions.
She shook her head and smiled at Danny before stabbing a piece of chicken with her fork and shoving it in her mouth. Once she swallowed, she noticed he was still staring at her.
“What?”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Nothing. Nothing at all, but you do seem a little uptight today. Maybe a little late-night action could release some of that pent-up stress.”
She couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the way Danny gyrated his hips in the chair while making inappropriate sounds. But that was why she loved him. He could turn the shittiest day into a glorious one just with his personality.
She cocked an eyebrow. “I take it you’re heading to Knots tonight?” Knots was an okay club not too far from her apartment. They played good music, and most of the patrons seemed normal. She had learned quickly that her idea of normal wasn’t normal in New York City.
Danny played with his soda can. “I’m leaning towards it. Jasper said he would meet me there.” He waggled his eyebrows, making her laugh again. Jasper was Danny’s on-again, off-again boy toy. “So, do you want to meet me there? Oh, you can wear that new sparkle and shine dress you bought last week. You totally rocked it in the dressing room,” He made a face then said, “Scratch that. Don’t wear it because then all the men will flock to you, and I’ll be left to slim pickings.”
“I can’t tonight.”
“Hot date?” He asked. She never told Danny about Stitch. So he had no idea that she wasn’t in the market for a guy.
She shook her head. “No, I need to finish packing, and I promised Willow I’d meet her for a drink.”
Danny put his sandwich down and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “Speaking of Willow, have you talked to her today?”
“I did this morning. That was when she asked if I could meet her tonight for a drink. She mentioned she wanted to talk with me about something.”
“Did she seem off to you?”
“By off, do you mean acting nervous like something or someone was going to jump out and scare her?”
“Yeah. Weird, huh?”
Mia shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll find more out tonight when I meet up with her.” Mia didn’t tell him about the envelope that Willow gave her. It definitely piqued her interest.
“Well, if you change your mind about Knots, I’ll be there all night.”
“We’
ll see.” She replied and finished up her lunch so she could get back to work. She planned on leaving the office on time.
◆◆◆
Mia breathed heavily as she slowed her pace to a recovery jog. It was chilly out, but a good run always felt refreshing and was exactly what she needed after the last few days. She had a lot of stress she’d been carrying around, and the cardio workout helped to defuse some of it.
She came to a bench along the pathway and stopped to stretch her legs out. She needed to get back into her running regiment, but with the amount of hours she spent at the clinic, she’d be lucky if she got two days of exercise in. During her run, she decided to use the upcoming break from the office to ponder her future at the clinic. Sure, the money was good, but she now felt awkward around Dr. Walters, which wasn’t how she wanted to feel every day. The rest of the day at work, everyone had stayed super busy, so Elijah hadn’t had much spare time to talk to her. She hoped he realized that she meant it when she said he shouldn’t have kissed her and that it couldn’t happen again.
Claus had come into the office and stayed the afternoon, which was unusual. He seemed very focused on Willow the entire time, which was odd. Mia then wondered if that was why Willow wanted to talk to her. Maybe there was something between the two of them. Now that would be interesting, considering they each came from a different end of the spectrum. Willow was a sweet, kind, and shy person, whereas Claus was hard and very abrupt.
Her phone chimed, and she rolled her eyes as she pulled it from her armband. Terek had called her three times earlier in the day and sent her two text messages. She wasn’t in the mood nor the right mindset to deal with him. She’d wait to call him back until after the holiday.
She swiped the screen, expecting to see another message from Terek but smiled when she saw the text was from Alex.