“Hey, boss.”
He sighed. She grinned. He had been the one to make a point of her being his assistant—especially when it came to cleaning up dog vomit and various types of animal bodily fluids—but when she called him “boss,” he always sighed.
“Charlotte,” he greeted simply.
It was different seeing him here than it was at the clinic.
He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. A dark blue shirt that stretched over his muscled shoulders and arms enticingly. He wore jeans and t-shirts a lot when he went out on calls outside of the clinic, but she didn’t really get a chance to ogle him in them. When he had somewhere to go—i.e., a great reason to get away from her—he was out the door almost too fast for her to get a good look at his ass in blue jeans.
Almost. She always made a point of watching him leave.
But when he was in the clinic, he was in scrubs. Which was also stupidly hot. They made him look so capable and in charge.
She liked this look now though.
He’d showered since she’d last seen him. His hair was still a little damp along his collar. But he hadn’t shaved. He had more than a five o’clock shadow. That was serious scruff, and she loved it.
“How’s the cow?” she asked. He’d left that afternoon to go visit a pregnant cow.
“Not pregnant anymore.”
She smiled. “Everything went okay?”
“Yep. But no need to send a video of you with a cow nose and ears or anything,” he said. “Clive doesn’t have a cell phone.”
She’d been sending the little update videos to patients for the past few days after Andre had said the one she’d sent him was so cool. After Brownie had been home for a couple of days, Michael had sent her a video showing the dog cuddled up on the couch with Andre watching cartoons. That had been one of the highlights of her week. So yes, the videos were now a permanent part of the care at Autre Animal Hospital.
She used filters to turn her into whatever animal they’d been caring for. She’d been a cat three times, a dog again, a rabbit, and a guinea pig. Which had led to her putting guinea pigs on her list of petting zoo additions.
Griffin had not only rolled his eyes, but he’d adamantly declined her invitation to be in the videos too. Still, all of the clients had commented positively on the videos, and one of the cat owners had said her daughter had wanted to bring Sally, the tabby, into their clinic because of the video Andre had shown her. And Charlie knew Griffin had loved that video of Andre and Brownie at home and that they were doing well.
In fact, right now, Charlie could swear the corner of Griffin’s mouth was trying to tip up thinking about her becoming a cow for a video.
Even that tiny bit of reaction made her want more. A lot more.
At the clinic, he was all business, purely professional, and focused on his tasks and patients as he should be. She just really wanted to be on his mind.
“Okay, but I should definitely take a congratulations gift out there. Is the appropriate baby gift for a cow a bouquet of flowers or a cake?” she asked.
“She’d eat the flowers.” He paused. “And maybe the cake too, which would be bad for her.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a human cake,” Charlie said as if that was obvious.
Finally, he turned his head to look at her. “What would you make a cow a cake out of?”
“I would think we could somehow mix grains and… alfalfa?” she guessed.
“You really would make her a cake, wouldn’t you?”
She would. If it made him look at her with that hint of wonder. Okay, a lot of the look in his eyes was you’re-kind-of-cuckoo-you-know-that? But there was a hint of wonder, and she liked that.
“Oh my God, it’s a girl? I’ll have to figure out how to make the grains pink.”
“Food coloring could be bad for her.”
“Could be? Don’t you know?”
“I’ve honestly never had an occasion to worry. I’ve never known anyone who might make a cow a pink cake to celebrate her new calf.”
“Huh. That’s weird,” she said, trying hard not to laugh. “I mean, it’s rude, really.”
He shook his head.
She smiled. She’d been doing some homework on the animals the clinic served. “I guess we can leave the pink coloring out. Maybe there are some pink flowers we could put on top.”
“And when you say ‘we,’ you mean you.”
God, she’d love to get Griffin doing something like that. That would be funny. And sweet. “You can totally help.”
“I’m not making cakes for cows.”
“Cupcakes? Like a mouthful. We could just do three or four.” She didn’t really mean any of this, of course. Though if she thought it was something their clients would like… and would talk to other people about… she’d do it.
But Griffin looked like he couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not. And she liked to keep him guessing.
“I’m not making cupcakes. Or cookies. Or pie.”
“Just for the cows?” Charlie asked. “Or for any animals? Or for any reason whatsoever?”
“Let’s say for any reason whatsoever,” Griffin said. “God knows what you might get me to do.”
“Well, if I’m going to get you to do things I want, I don’t think I would start with cow cookies. Or any cookies. Or even baking, for that matter.”
That flash of heat, and then exasperation, that was becoming awfully familiar, flickered in his eyes. “Stop it.”
“Because we’re in my family’s bar surrounded by a ton of people?”
“That’s one good reason.”
“How many good reasons are there?”
“Several.”
She didn’t agree. She didn’t even really believe him. But they were in public with a lot of other people, and she was about to be the center of attention. She could let this go for now.
“Maybe you should hang out here more often,” she told him, “if you think being around all of these people will make me behave.”
He snorted at that, and Charlie felt her smile grow.
“I’m not sure you’re entirely capable of behaving. And this particular group of people is definitely not one I would expect to be a good influence.”
That was an accurate statement. Okay, those were maybe both accurate statements.
“Okay, let’s hear it!” Owen called from the back.
He was one of the partners in Boys of the Bayou and married to Maddie. He’d certainly had his days as a hellion, though he settled down a lot since Maddie had come back to town. Then again, a couple of the best family stories included crazy stuff Maddie had done as well.
Charlie looked at the group and grinned. They all had money out, and Fletcher had his phone out.
“I’ve got everyone’s bets right here,” he said, holding the device up.
She really loved these people, and she loved the laid-back, take-it-as-it-comes, live-life-out-loud attitude that permeated this place.
Zeke and Zander and Fletcher had rejoined the group at the back of the bar and were lounging at the table with almost every one of her other cousins. Owen and Maddie were there, as were Sawyer and Juliet. Josh was there too, but Tori was missing, and because she now had access to the clinic schedule, Charlie assumed it was because she was feeling either a little sick or just tired from the pregnancy, since she didn’t have any appointments scheduled for tonight. Tori and Griffin both got called out at strange hours for various animal needs.
Mitch and Paige were also there, and Charlie gave Paige a big grin. She liked the newest addition to the family. Mitch and Paige weren’t married yet, but it was very clear every time they looked at one another that they were headed in that direction. Mitch was definitely one of the nicer of her cousins when it came to teasing and hell-raising, but it seemed that when he fell in love, he fell as hard and as passionately as the rest of them.
She’d already chatted with Paige a couple of times because of the expanded otter yoga sessions
and was looking forward to getting to know her better.
“Before I tell the story,” she said to the group. “I want to hear what y’all think happened in Paris.”
This should be entertaining.
Fletcher held up a finger indicating this was number one on the list. “He cheated on you.”
Charlie wrinkled her nose. “Ew, no. We weren’t dating. I’d never date that dickhead.”
Four people groaned and tossed their twenty dollars into the middle of the table. Charlie laughed.
“I wouldn’t have risked getting in trouble and having to pay for that paint job for a guy who cheated on me,” she said. “Just being without me would have been punishment enough.”
They all laughed, and Leo said, “That’s my girl.”
“Well, if you weren’t dating, that knocks out him just breaking things off,” Fletcher said.
Only one person tossed money into the middle of the table for that one. Charlie smiled at Juliet, Sawyer’s new wife. The other woman was also fairly new to the family and didn’t know Charlie very well.
Fletcher held up a second finger. “He ruined one of your projects and cost you a client.”
Charlie shook her head. “Nope. He’s the CEO’s son and is the Vice President of Development. He has nothing to do with marketing.”
“What does the Vice President of Development do?” Zeke asked.
Charlie shrugged. “Just means he’s the CEO’s son, she paid for a very expensive college degree, but no one will hire him because he’s an asshole.”
Three people tossed money into the middle of the table now.
Charlie laughed. “You think I would key a guy’s Porsche because he stole a project from me? In that case, I would have just gone around him to the client and proved that my new idea, which he wouldn’t know anything about, and was way better, and I would’ve stolen the client back.”
Ellie gave her a big grin. “Keying a man’s sports car is an act of passion. Stealing an account from you would have simply stoked your competitiveness. He did something that made you beyond angry.”
Charlie nodded. “Exactly.”
“So something that would make you enraged, but that had nothing to do with a personal relationship,” Zander said.
Charlie was aware that Griffin was listening intently. He was done eating and had pushed his plate away. But his arms were folded, and his elbows were resting on the bar. He didn’t look like he was in any kind of hurry to get out of here. Either he was highly entertained by her family, or he was actually interested in knowing more about her and what happened to lead her back to Autre. She liked the idea that he might want to know more about her.
“I’ll give you a hint,” Charlie said. “He did something to someone else.”
Zeke and Zander both nodded as if that made total sense. Charlie cast a glance toward Griffin. He had turned to look at her.
“Someone guessed that he cheated on one of your friends,” Fletcher read from his phone.
Charlie looked at Ellie. “That was your guess?”
Ellie nodded. “You’re passionate about things you care about. Of course, that includes your work and projects. But nothing as much as the people in your life. If you are going to risk jail time for something, it will be on behalf of someone else.”
Charlie liked that her grandmother knew her so well. She also liked Ellie’s observation. She was a passionate person, but it was true that it took a lot to push her to the point of property damage.
“Well, that’s as close as anyone’s gotten,” she admitted.
Ellie gave a little whoop and held out her hand toward Fletcher, who had gathered all the money from the middle of the table into a stack.
“Let’s hear her story first,” Fletcher said. “She said it’s just close.”
Ellie scoffed. “But nobody else is going to win it this way.”
Fletcher sighed. She had a point. He handed the money over, and Ellie sat back in her chair with a big grin and started to count it up.
“I still want to hear the story,” Zeke said.
“For sure,” Zander agreed. “Did he call the cops on you?”
Charlie shook her head. “He wouldn’t dare. He wouldn’t have wanted to explain to them why I’d done it.”
Zander scowled. “I want to hear the story, Charlie.”
“Me too.”
She looked to her right to find Griffin watching her closely. He looked concerned.
That made her stomach flip. The rest of the people in the bar were protective of her and would be appalled by this story when she told them. But something about having Griffin’s concern made her feel warm. It wasn’t that she thought he wasn’t the type of guy to care about a woman having issues with a man that might involve the cops. But when their eyes met, she could see that his concern was personal. That might have seemed like a strange thing to be able to read in someone’s expression, but that was how it felt.
“Alan, that’s the guy with the Porsche, had asked one of our interns out a couple of times before I got to Paris,” Charlie started. “She was a lovely girl, young, a little naïve. But she absolutely did not like Alan, and she had turned him down both times. She shared that with me one day at lunch when he had left her a message on her phone saying that he wanted to speak with her after work.”
Charlie shifted on the barstool. She was facing the room with the bar behind her. She now pivoted so that she could rest her right elbow on the top of the bar. That also caused her to lean closer to Griffin. He didn’t move back an inch. In fact, he seemed to lean in a little closer.
“She was nervous that he was going to pressure her to go out with him again and possibly use his position over her as leverage.”
Zander’s scowl deepened, and Ellie sat forward in her chair now.
“I told her I would go with her, but she turned me down. I insisted that I wait for her after the meeting though.” Remembering that day and how Isabelle had looked stepping off the elevator after her “meeting” with Alan made anger tighten Charlie’s chest even now.
“Turns out that he got on the elevator with her, stopped it, and physically assaulted her.”
“What?” Zander growled. “Tell me he was bleeding when you saw him.”
Charlie shook her head. “He didn’t get off the elevator with her. He’d gotten off on the floor earlier. Or he definitely would’ve been bleeding.” Charlie would have definitely gone after him. It might be a blessing that he had been a chicken shit and gotten off the elevator early, but she still felt the helplessness and rage.
“He’d backed Isabelle into the corner, and put his hands up her shirt. She told him no repeatedly, and he wouldn’t stop. Her blouse was ripped, and she was shaking so hard when I saw her she almost couldn’t walk.”
Zander’s hand came down hard on the table in front of him. The people around him jumped, but he was frowning at Charlie. “There was a camera in the elevator, right?”
“He’d turned it off.”
Zander shook his head. “So it was premeditated.”
Charlie nodded.
There were frowns and gasps throughout the room, which she appreciated. Of course, these people would think that was horrible. It was horrible.
“I walked her out to her car and tried to get her to let me take her home. She refused, but I decided to follow her. But on my way to my car, I saw his.”
Everyone nodded at that, obviously figuring out that was when she pulled her keys out.
“Please tell me that is not all you did to that asshole,” Zeke said.
Charlie took a deep breath and made herself smile. She tipped her head. “Gosh, what do you mean? You think he deserved more than just ‘I have a tiny dick’ scratched into the side of his most prized possession?”
“He would have been walking with a permanent limp if I’d been there,” Zeke said.
“And never would’ve fathered children,” Fletcher added.
Charlie glanced at Griffin. His jaw was tig
ht, and his gaze locked on hers.
“What did you do, Charlie?” he asked. His voice was low enough that no one else could hear it. It was low and rumbly as if he was ignoring the rest of the room.
“You think I did something?”
“I do.” He paused. “And I’ll bet it was something he won’t forget soon.”
“You’re figuring me out.”
“It doesn’t take long to figure out that you can handle whatever is thrown at you, and you do it perfectly.”
Chapter 10
She stared at him. She hadn’t been expecting a compliment. She definitely took what he just said as a compliment. She knew that Griffin liked a few things about her. He certainly seemed to like kissing her. He definitely liked her mouth wrapped around his cock. And while he didn’t like all of her ideas for the petting zoo, she thought he did kind of like her little update videos she sent to their clients and that she’d gotten Fletcher to fill in on the otter talk rather than continuing to press Griffin for it.
“I wrote down everything she told me and everything I witnessed about her after the incident. Then, the next day I got on the elevator with him, stopped it just the way he had with her, backed him up into the corner, and told him if he ever went near her again, I would sneak into his house and cut his dick off with a rusty knife. He stammered and stuttered and said that he hadn’t meant to scare her or hurt her. Basically, I got a full confession out of him. And I had a recorder in my pocket. Which I gave to Isabelle to take to the cops.”
“Well done, Charlie,” Zander said. “That’s amazing. I don’t love that you were stuck on an elevator with the scumbag by yourself, but you handled it. I hope he was arrested.”
Charlie realized she’d been looking at Griffin the entire time she’d told that portion of the story. The intense blue of his eyes and swirling emotion there wouldn’t allow her to look away.
“He was taken in for questioning,” Charlie said. “But I’m not sure what else happened at that point. I was fired later that day because of the car.”
“His dad fired you even after hearing what he’d done to the intern?” Zeke asked.
Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set Page 238
