by Jamie Knight
Fake Pet
Copyright © 2019; All rights reserved.
Jamie Knight –
Your Dirty Little Secret Romance Author
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Table of Contents
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Chapter One
Eileen
Chapter 2
Ray
Chapter 3
Ray
Chapter Four
Ray
Chapter Five
Ray
Chapter Six
Eileen
Chapter Seven
Ray
Chapter Eight
Eileen
Chapter Nine
Eileen
Chapter Ten
Eileen
Chapter Eleven
Ray
Chapter Twelve
Eileen
Chapter Thirteen
Eileen
Chapter Fourteen
Eileen
Chapter Fifteen
Ray
Chapter Sixteen
Eileen
Chapter Seventeen
Eileen
Chapter Eighteen
Ray
Chapter Nineteen
Eileen
Chapter Twenty
Ray
Chapter Twenty-One
Ray
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eileen
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ray
Chapter Twenty-Four
Eileen
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ray
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ray
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ray
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ray
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Eileen
Epilogue
Eileen
Sneak Peek of Office Pet
Sneak Peak of My Father’s Best Friend’s Secret Baby
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Chapter One
Eileen
It was my third date this month that made me decide to adopt a dog. I had tried, for years, to find the love of my life, my soulmate, my husband, but every single relationship I had ended quickly or never even got off the ground. Most of the time I found myself having trouble even finding dates.
After getting ghosted—by one of my bosses no less—a few months ago, I decided to try a matching website on the internet. There were plenty of pictures of nice men to look at and I tried not to dwell on the heights they listed in their profiles but ignoring them was hard. I chatted with possible candidates and went on dates—lots of dates. Each one was a bigger failure than the last.
This date was the final straw. It wasn’t that the man suggested something lewd, in fact, he barely said two sentences to me. He just looked me up and down and said: “So, you’re really that tall!” Then, leaning closer, he whispered: “I bet your legs are super long.”
And that was it. That was all I could stand of men.
I got those kinds of comments all the time. It was hard to be a six-foot-tall woman. Dating was especially miserable; the available men were almost always shorter than I was and the comments I got, well, they were just unnecessary.
After the date was over, I called Reese, one of my best friends, and told her of my decision to adopt a dog. She was thrilled.
Reese had just recently married Kane McKenzie, who was our head boss and CEO at McKenzie Technologies where we both worked in accounting. Although, Reese didn’t work in accounting with me anymore, we still talked as much as possible. She was now the head of McKenzie’s philanthropy department and did a lot of fundraising. Her particular interests centered on helping fund animal shelters. A cause that was near and dear to her heart.
She offered to meet me immediately, whisked me away in her private limo—Reese had moved up in the world—and took me to a local shelter.
And That’s how I got Mr. Pugsly.
I was delighted with my new companion as Reese and I made our way upstairs in my semi-posh apartment building, which had white walls and real wooden floors, and I unlocked my front door. The two of them followed me inside. My new dog started sniffing at the living room furniture and I enjoyed the way his toenails tapped on the polished floors.
Reese and I went to the kitchen part of my well-lit, open floor-plan apartment to make some coffee. I smiled at Reese, but she frowned back at me. Her blonde eyebrows pulled towards each other and she touched the diamond pendant on her neck. It was a gesture that indicated she was nervous.
Mr. Pugsly wasn’t exactly Reese’s first choice for a pet. The black pug lived up to his name; he was ugly, with one missing front leg, an awkward face, and a torn ear. The little fella had a rough life before he ended up at the animal shelter and it showed.
I thought he was adorable.
With a bark that sounded more like a croak, he jumped up onto my tan leather sofa and made himself at home. Routing around in my throw pillows, the pup made himself a nest and settled in to observe Reese and me staring at him. He eyed us with caution.
Reese frowned at the pug again. “You really have a good heart, Eileen,” she said. “I don’t think any one else was going to take him. He probably would have been put down in a few days.”
I shrugged and looked down at my friend—Reese was only five-foot-eight, a respectable height for a woman.
“He and I can be oddities together,” I told her.
Reese frowned and took a quick sip of the cup of coffee I gave her. Her eyes never left the pug.
“Your dates this month went that bad?” she asked. Her tone indicated that she couldn’t believe it.
“Oh yeah. The guy before this one was barely five-two; I could have carried him out the door.”
“Ugh.”
“He had the balls to say that I was the perfect height for him because my tits were at his eye level.”
Reese snorted a laugh. She choked a bit on her drink, and I had to hand her a napkin. As my friend wiped her face, I strolled into the living room and sat with my new dog. Pugsly huffed a bit but calmed under my hand as I scratched his forehead. The poor thing’s face was a bit off, one side of his jowls hung a bit longer than the other.
Reese took a seat in the club chair next to us and balanced her coffee cup delicately on her knee.
“Eileen?” she hesitantly asked. “I’m not sure if you want to talk about this, but what happened with Ray? You two seemed so happy in January.”
Ray was my last romance, and really, the most serious boyfriend I had ever had. He was the CFA of McKenzie Tech and technically my boss. He was also a sexy six-foot-seven with the face of a model. We had danced together at a fundraising ball and slept together once, but he stopped calling right after. I wasn’t sure why. I was so embarrassed that he found something wrong with me that I avoided him as much as I could at work.
I tried to smile at Reese—Ray was still a sore subject. I had really thought he was the one, but he basically ghosted me.
“I’m not sure,” I explained to Reese. “I thought we were golden, but Ray, well, he just stopped calling.”
“No explanation?”
“None. Just when we were getting close, he pulled away.”
Reese rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. I could tell she was thinking about something. Reese liked to plan things out and make things happen.
“Do you want me to talk to him?” she asked after a few moments of silence. “Ray and Kane are real tight and we all belong to the same…club.”
I reached forward and put my hand gently on her knee. I looked into her eyes,
so she knew that I was serious.
“Please don’t, Reese,” I said urgently. “I know you mean well, but that would be too embarrassing. I don’t want to know what Ray found wrong with me.” I turned back to my new dog and patted him on the head. “Besides I’m done with men. It’s Mr. Pugsly and I for now on.”
There was a knock at the front door. I excused myself to Reese and jumped up to answer. I looked through the peephole and saw my youngest brother, Jake, fidgeting outside my door. I hadn’t been expecting him, but Jakey liked to stop by when ever he felt the need. We were close.
I had three brothers and no sisters. My mother passed away when I was young due to complications from breast cancer, and my father never remarried, so I grew up as the only girl in a household of boys. So, I adapted as well as I could to fit in with my brothers and my father. That could explain why I was such a tomboy. I could throw a baseball better than I could paint my nails, but I enjoyed both.
I opened the door and smiled at my little—or I should say—younger brother.
“Hi Jakey. I wasn’t expecting you tonight.”
Jake smiled back. He was trying out wearing a goatee and it made him look a bit older than he was. The boy was two years younger than my twenty-eight. He maneuvered through my doorframe looking a bit awkward.
All my brothers are the size of dump trucks. Jake was the smallest at six-foot-five and over three hundred pounds—all muscle. Yes, all my brothers played football in college. They could have played in the NFL, but they decided to go to law school and follow in my father’s footsteps.
“Le Le.” He addressed me by my childhood nickname. “You didn’t answer my last text. I knew you had a date today. I got worried.” All my family is a little over protective of me.
I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into the living room.
“I’m fine, Jakey. Come meet Reese, my friend from work.”
Reese was standing and grabbing her purse when we entered the living room. She flinched when she first saw my brother—most people do, he’s just that large—but recovered quickly and held out her slim hand to him.
“Hello, Mr. Davies,” she said in her musical voice. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Eileen talks about her brothers all the time.”
Jake shook her hand gently, holding it like it was made of porcelain. “Hello, Mrs. McKenzie, it’s a pleasure and congratulations on your recent nuptials.”
Reese beamed; she was very much in love with her husband. “About that, I’m sorry but I have to go. Kane called. We are looking for an apartment in the city and he’s found the perfect candidate. He wants me to look at it right away.”
She skipped to me and reached up to give me a hug.
“Bye, Le Le,” Reese said with a big, snarky smile.
I groaned. She was going to tell everyone at work my nickname. That was going to be annoying.
Reese ran towards the front door. “Enjoy your new dog!” she said in parting.
“Dog?” my brother asked.
Jake looked around the room. His eyes settled on Mr. Pugsly and then opened wide with shock.
“That’s not a dog…I’m not sure what that is.”
****
I convinced Jake to take Mr. Pugsly on a walk with me. My brother was reluctant and complained that he was wearing his nicest pair of work shoes, but I told him that we would just go around the block and back. It was too late in the day for a long walk.
The sun was setting, and the lights were coming on, illuminating the streets of Manhattan. Jake held Pugsly’s neon pink leash as the pug moved forward with his awkward pace, stopping occasionally to sniff the sparse landscaping of the apartment buildings that surrounded mine.
“So, you’re really giving up on men?” My brother raised a bushy brown eyebrow as he glanced at me.
“I’m done with dating. Finding a man is too hard. I’ve probably gone on twenty dates this month and none of them were good.”
“But that’s just this month, Le Le. You’ve rarely dated otherwise. Hell, you’ve never even had a serious boyfriend or at least, not one that you brought to meet your family.”
He glanced at my face again, looking for signs that I was leading a hidden life. I tried to keep my face impassive. It was true that I had barely dated, and I had never told any of my family about Ray. I didn’t think my father and brothers would approve of me dating my boss. Luckily that wasn’t an issue anymore.
“What made you decide to start dating like crazy this month anyways?” Jake asked. “It was like you decided that you had to find a boyfriend right away. You’re not knocked up, are you?”
I snorted a laugh. “Oh please, you’re good-girl sister is still a virgin,” I lied.
Jake snorted a laugh this time.
Mr. Pugsly pulled quickly to towards the shop we were walking past. I looked over and caught sight of a smooshed, discarded hot dog that was pushed up against the building.
“Don’t let him eat that!” I shrieked.
Jake jumped forward and picked up the black pug before he could put his lips on the gross trash. The pug growled a bit at my brother’s rough touch, but he didn’t bite him, so that was good. I put a hand on Jake’s shoulder and then reached down to pat Pugsly on the head.
“That’s a no no, mister!” I told the pug in my best baby-talk voice. “If you want a fresh hotdog, just ask. I’ll buy my baby anything he wants.”
Jake rolled his eyes. He moved down the sidewalk away from anything that would tempt the dog and my eyes caught on something in the widow-display we were standing by. It was a pair of black, patent leather heels. I wanted them.
I had never owned a pair of heels in my life. Truth be told, I wasn’t very comfortable with my height and anything that would enhance that seemed like a bad idea—until now. If I was going to give up men, then maybe I could start wearing whatever I wanted…including heels.
“Jakey,” I called.
Down the sidewalk, my brother stopped and turned around.
“Hold on a second, I have to buy a pair of shoes.”
He put down the pug and stood up to glare at me. “Le Le, you have got to be kidding me.”
“What’s you hurry?” I snapped. “You have a hot date?”
Jake grumbled, rolled his eyes and crossed his meaty arms over his wide chest. Unfortunately, my little brother dated as rarely as I did, or as rarely as I did until the last month.
I wasn’t going to admit it to anyone but after Ray ghosted me, I was desperate to get a new man in my life. Obviously, my plan backfired, but that was fine. I didn’t need anyone in my life anymore. I didn’t need a husband or a boyfriend or whatever. I had Pugsly and soon, I would have a pair of hot new shoes.
Chapter 2
Ray
“Ray? Ray are you listening to me?”
I looked over to Kane and shrugged a bit. I wasn’t listening. I had been staring out his office window and looking over the skyline of Manhattan. Spring was coming and there was something about it that was making me feel odd. I felt like something big and life changing was coming but I didn’t know what.
“Sorry, Kane. I’m just off-kilter today. Maybe I need more coffee.”
Melissa, Kane’s Personal Assistant, looked over from her position seated next to me on Kane’s gray leather couch. She tucked a strand of her chin length bob behind her ear.
“You want me to get you a cup, Ray?”
Melissa’s British accent always made me smile. I thought she was from London, but she didn’t really talk about her past much. At least not to me.
I sighed and slumped back into the couch a bit, trying to decide if I wanted to bother her or not.
“It’s not a bother,” she said, basically reading my mind.
Kane and Ashton looked at each other. They and Maria—our newest partner and Ashton’s girl—had all pulled office chairs over to the couch so we could sit informally around Kane’s coffee table. I could tell the set up was a little too informal for Ashton, who was very
proper at work, but Kane liked us to feel relaxed at meetings like this. We were all friends, so why not.
Maria raised her dainty hand up off the arm of her chair. “I’ll have one too, please, Ms. Star.”
Melissa frowned at her. “It’s Melissa, Ms. Herrera. You don’t have to be so formal here.”
Maria nodded, but she still looked like she didn’t believe her. “In that case, you should be calling me Maria.” Both women smiled at each other.
Ashton inclined his head towards Melissa indicating that he wanted a cup of coffee as well. He gave her a very formal smile and Melissa nodded back to him before she passed through Kane’s office door and into the coffee bar/lobby that was right out front at the entrance of the executive floor.
McKenzie Technologies had merged with Smith Inc. just a few months ago. Ashton was still figuring out his way around the building and with the new workers he inherited in the merger. He had brought his own employees too, of course, and most seemed to be doing fine—there was one or two that got fired—but the man himself was still feeling odd. It was easy to tell by his constant frown and uneasy glances.
The merger was an adjustment for all of us. Kane, who was a close friend of mine, had never had a business partner before. He was used to being the solo head honcho and calling all the shots for his business. Being business partners was new to him, but he was dealing with it well. Ash’s caution and serious nature seemed to reign Kane in some and Maria was full of good ideas and new ways to get things done.
Overall the merger was a good thing, but it did upend us all a bit and now we were talking about doing it again. It wasn’t something I was looking forward to, but it was a good idea.
I frowned, straighten my shirt cuffs so they looked perfect against the sleeves of my new navy jacket and found myself staring out the window again. I needed to go buy a new set of cufflinks. That would cheer me up. They were one of the few things I collected.
“I don’t know about this man, Kane.” Ash twirled his chair a bit and frowned at the room in general. “How do you know him again?”
Kane tapped the arm of his chair with his fingers forming a steady rhythm. “He’s the son of one of my golfing buddies and the brother of one of my employees.”