Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set

by Grover Swank, Denise

  Griffin just shrugged.

  “You can’t tell me that having people come and see, personally, how gorgeous and majestic wild animals are doesn’t make them more engaged in trying to help them.”

  Griffin nodded. “Yes, it does happen.”

  “So zoos can be good.”

  “Wildlife preserves are better.”

  She sighed. The guy just wouldn’t give an inch. “Why not go back to Zambia now then?” she asked.

  “Donovan,” he said simply. “Even though we don’t live in the same place, we see each other a lot and stay in contact. We’re the only family we have, so we need to stay at least on the same continent.”

  Charlie understood that. Being back in Autre had made her realize that she wouldn’t have lasted for too long in France. She would have worked and built her resume there for maybe a year or two, but it hadn’t been a long-term situation.

  “So how did you get into marketing? I’m guessing you could have done anything.”

  She tipped her head. “Now, see, that sounds like a compliment.”

  “I think that probably is.”

  Charlie gave a short laugh. “Okay, well, I got into marketing because I saw what it did for my dad. And because I believe that if a business can grow and be as successful as possible, they can then turn around and be a positive influence on their communities and sometimes even on a bigger scale.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “My dad first went to Shreveport to work for a big company after he graduated from college. But he figured out that as their profits grew, they were only increasing the salaries of their executives and paying out more to their shareholders. They weren’t reinvesting in the company itself, never in the employees, and never in the community around them. So, he quit and opened his own business with the opposite model. It’s a cleaning business for homes and businesses. His salary didn’t increase until all of his employees had paychecks well above the average, great benefits packages, and other perks like help with tuition if they went back to school and childcare. He also donated huge amounts to the community. Only then did he ever take any more money himself. And now it’s a huge multi-state company with some of the best employee satisfaction scores in the business.”

  Griffin was listening with interest, so she went on.

  “About five years ago, Dad used his brand to start a line of cleaning products. They are all-natural, so better for the environment, and the manufacturing of the products created more jobs. Dad insisted on hiring locally first, so our community benefitted from that as well.”

  She took a breath. “And now, after all that hard work and making all of those decisions that were sometimes hard, but always according to his mission, he now has a lot of community and state-wide influence. He has the ear of politicians who can influence legislation that protects workers’ rights and the environment. And he is able to pass on his experience and advice to other business owners, encouraging them to treat their employees and communities right.”

  Griffin didn’t say anything for several seconds. He just stared at her.

  “What?”

  “You helped him to do all of that?”

  “A little bit. Over the last couple of years, I worked with him a little bit more. But he did a lot of it while I was growing up, so he’s actually been more of my inspiration.”

  “And that’s why you chose to go into marketing? You’re going to help other companies do what your dad did?”

  “I hope so. I’m willing to start at square one. I want to find a company that has the potential for growth and help them build. And along the way, as a trusted part of their team, I can be influential in how they use their increased profits and brand recognition.”

  “I never thought of marketing like that,” Griffin said. “I figured it was always just convincing people to buy things.”

  “It is that. But there’s a bigger picture, a long-term plan, with what to do when that works, and people do buy things.” She took a breath. “I want to be involved in helping smaller businesses grow. There were a lot of different ways I could have done that, but my whole life, my dad has told me that I can talk anyone into anything. That meant that I could probably be a very good political lobbyist, or I could sell a ton of cars or something. But marketing is bigger, I think. It’s about creating a whole brand and then really thinking about what you can do with that brand.”

  “So what’s your dream job?”

  “Well, working for a makeup company that just launched a skincare product line and wanted me to work in their Paris office,” she said. “Just, for instance.”

  Griffin looked at her seriously. “You’re heartbroken over the job?”

  She thought about his question then lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know about that. I mean, I don’t regret what I did, and if they were to fire me for that, they weren’t the company I wanted to work for. I guess it’s possible that I could have helped them get bigger and more successful and more profitable, and they wouldn’t have done good things with it.”

  Griffin studied her. He shook his head. “No chance.”

  “No chance of what?”

  “You definitely would have talked them into doing good things.”

  Now that was definitely a compliment.

  “Do you have brothers and sisters?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Two younger sisters. Amelia and Abigail. Abi is in college. She wants to go into healthcare. Ami is… trying to find herself.”

  Griffin lifted a brow. “Oh?”

  “She was Miss Louisiana two years ago,” Charlie said.

  “As in, went to the Miss America pageant?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, that’s something you don’t hear every day.”

  She laughed. “I guess that’s a way to say it. Anyway, I think she thought that was her ticket to whatever she wanted. Turns out, it wasn’t that easy.”

  “What’s she want to do?”

  “Travel the world. Have lots of money. Get paid to be pretty.” Charlie sighed. “Sorry. That makes her sound very superficial and awful. She’s very sweet. She’s just… used to getting her way, and when it doesn’t happen, she isn’t sure how to work for it. She’s the middle daughter and, I guess, feels a little ignored?” She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I love her, but we don’t have a lot in common.”

  He snorted.

  “What?” Charlie asked.

  “If she’s very used to getting her way and holy-shit gorgeous, I’d say you have a lot in common.”

  She gave him a smile and shook her head. “There’s one of those is-that-a-compliment-or-not comments.”

  “It’s… mostly… a compliment.”

  He gave her a little grin that made her panties definitely feel warmer.

  “You’d better watch yourself, Dr. Foster. Throwing out so many compliments in such a short timeframe might make me think you’re starting to like me.”

  “Well, I definitely wouldn’t want that.”

  They sat for several seconds without speaking, smiling at each other stupidly. Until a loud meow came from the stall door, pulling Charlie’s attention away from Griffin.

  A large black cat with a white chest, white paws, and a streak of white on his nose walked past. He entered the stall as if he belonged there. She assumed he did.

  “This is Sylvester?”

  Griffin reached his hand out toward the cat, which approached him without hesitation and rubbed its cheek along Griffin’s fingers. “Yep. Sylvester, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is Sylvester.”

  Sylvester sniffed Hermione, and they touched noses.

  Griffin ran a hand down the back of the cat and then shifted Hermione off his lap and onto the pile of hay next to him. He got to his feet, and the cat immediately took his spot. Some might have guessed it was because the spot was warm from Griffin’s body, and the cat had just come in from the rain, but as soon as he lay down, and Hermione moved to rest her forehead against his stomach, it seemed c
lear he was here for his friend. The warm spot in the straw was just a bonus.

  Griffin brushed the seat of his jeans off and came toward Charlie. He reached out a hand.

  She took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

  He didn’t let go of her once they were both standing. Nor did he step back.

  “They’ll be fine now,” he said, his voice low.

  She looked up at him and was struck with the urge to lean in, wrap her arms around him, and hug him.

  It was a very different urge than she normally had around him. Those urges tended to oscillate between wanting to take her clothes off and wanting to tease him. This was a much softer feeling, and as it curled through her, she realized it came with an undeniable feeling of I just really like him.

  That shouldn’t be a revelation. Of course she liked him. It seemed most of the people who knew him liked him.

  She loved watching him with patients and their owners. She’d loved hearing his chuckle from his office yesterday when he’d seen the new This Probably Has Dog Hair In It mug on his desk. She’d loved imagining his grin when she’d sent him one of her video messages to tell him about a change to his schedule. She’d made herself look like she had otter ears and a nose and whiskers. She was ninety percent sure he’d at least smiled. Even ninety-five percent sure.

  She’d also like to think that she liked most of the men she was attracted to. But this was different. This was a feeling that made her think that she’d like to see him every single day, that if she didn’t, she would miss him, and that even if it wasn’t physical or romantic between them, she wanted to be his friend.

  He was a good man. He was grumpy, said no way more often than she liked, and was stubborn as hell. But she really liked him.

  “Why did you leave Washington, D.C.?” she asked.

  She had been wondering about it since Tori had first mentioned it, but she hadn’t had the chance to ask Griffin yet. Suddenly, she needed to know. She wasn’t just curious now. She felt like she truly needed to know. She wanted to know everything about him.

  When the thought hit her, she looked up into his eyes. What was his favorite sports team? What was his favorite breakfast food? What was his favorite color? What was his mom’s name? Did he have a favorite animal?

  All of these questions were swirling through her mind all at once, and Charlie was as shocked by them as anyone.

  “I got fired.”

  His answer to her question stopped those spinning thoughts.

  She frowned, studying his face. But as his words sunk in, she realized that maybe she wasn’t shocked.

  They seemed like opposites. Where she was outgoing and creative and a little pushy, he seemed serious, introverted, and perpetually annoyed.

  But he was very good with his patients’ families and when they had a common concern, he was honest but compassionate. He also had to be creative in a way as well. Just yesterday, he had needed to sweet talk an older woman into fixing her cat after it had delivered its fourth litter of kittens.

  He wanted the cat to be healthy while cutting down on the population of unwanted kittens and reducing the number of cats the woman was currently living with. He’d had to find a way to communicate those concerns to the woman in a way she would understand and agree with. He’d finally told her he was looking for someone to foster the kittens people turn over to him. He felt that the mother cat would be excellent at nurturing and teaching other kittens, and he knew the woman would be a fabulous foster mother.

  Then, he’d pulled out the big guns. He’d introduced her to a litter of kittens that had been dropped off just two days before. The woman hadn’t stood a chance. Not only had she agreed to the spaying of her adult cats, but she and the kittens had happily gone home together.

  Of course, when Charlie had complimented him on the arrangement, he’d said simply, “Now I don’t have to bottle feed a bunch of kittens.”

  Charlie had rolled her eyes. Griffin had maybe bottle-fed those kittens at one point or another, but Paige had been coming in on a regular basis to do it. It was how Charlie had first met Paige and found out that she was the otter yoga instructor.

  And, along with all the other things they had in common, he could definitely be pushy.

  Charlie knew her family thought she had been getting her way on almost every idea. What they didn’t know was that Griffin had shot down her suggestion for selling organic, homemade cat and dog treats in the clinic. He’d also said, “hell no” to the petting zoo acquiring a sloth. He had not just said no to doing the educational talk at the otter enclosure but had declined her idea about selling a calendar with photos of him and various animals featured. He hadn’t even liked the idea that fifty percent of the proceeds could go to the animal charity of his choice.

  Of course, the calendar idea had been her teasing him rather than anything serious. Not that she thought it wouldn’t sell like crazy, but she wasn’t so sure she could get twelve smiles out of the guy.

  Though he was pretty damn sexy when he didn’t smile too.

  And she was still working on the homemade cat and dog treats.

  She was also pretty sure he knew that.

  “Did it have something to do with the animals?” she asked about him getting fired.

  “Yes.”

  “And humans doing something that bothered the animals or exploited them somehow?”

  “More or less.”

  She smiled at him. They had plenty in common. She’d been fired because of a passionate reaction to a horrible behavior. Griffin’s situation was similar.

  “Tell me the story,” she said.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  She took a step forward, bringing them mere inches apart. She put her hand on his chest. His shirt was still damp, but the skin underneath was hot, and she was immediately warmed by the touch. Though, a lot of that heat was coming from her as well.

  “It matters to me,” she said softly.

  Emotion flared in his eyes. He lifted a hand to cover hers where it rested over his heart. She felt the drumming under her palm and knew hers matched. He didn’t move her hand. He simply rested his on top of hers.

  “This is what I’m talking about.” His voice was rough.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t help being tempting.”

  Charlie felt like she just downed a shot of her grandpa’s moonshine—warm all the way through her body, tingly to her toes, and a little dizzy.

  “Yeah, well, ditto.” She curled her fingers into the damp cotton stretched over hard muscles. “You know my story. I want to know yours.”

  “Aren’t you cold? You got drenched.”

  She shook her head and wet her lips. “Definitely not cold.” She paused. “How about you?”

  His thumb stroked across the back of her knuckles, where her hand was still resting on his chest. “No. Not cold.”

  “Tell me.”

  He took a breath and then slowly blew it out. “Let’s sit.”

  Charlie liked that idea. It indicated that his story might be more than just a sentence. She looked around and spotted a hay bale and a big, plastic bucket they used for feed. Reluctantly, she pulled her hand from his and went to the bucket. She turned it over and dropped onto it like a stool. She gestured toward the hay bale.

  “Have a seat.”

  To her mild surprise and definite pleasure, he did. He sat on the hay bale facing her, elbows on his thighs, his big hands dangling between his knees. It took a few seconds for him to speak. “I was in charge of the tiger propagation program,” he started. “We very much wanted to have a Sumatran tiger cub but were having very little luck. The female tiger didn’t want to mate with any of the males, and none of the males were, for whatever reason, strong enough to convince her otherwise.”

  Charlie smiled. “Discerning tastes. I can respect that.”

  “Yes, well, when you’re an endangered species, you shouldn’t be quite so picky.”

  “Maybe she ju
st didn’t want to be a wife and mom.”

  “Maybe. We actually were talking about acquiring a new female. But she had very strong genetics, and we knew that any cub of hers would do well. So, we finally artificially inseminated her. Four times. Never took.”

  Charlie frowned. “That’s too bad. Must’ve been really frustrating.”

  “It was. Of course. It was the entire reason I’d gone to D.C. from Omaha. Well, other than getting fired in Omaha.”

  Charlie’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, you got fired from the zoo in Omaha too?”

  He nodded. “I get… riled up about animals.”

  She snorted. “No kidding.”

  He shrugged. “That’s not how I would characterize it, but the zoo director put it that way. I’ll admit I get protective. And short-tempered. And…”

  “Easily irritated with other human beings?”

  He blew out a breath and actually gave her a faint smile. “Yeah, something like that.”

  “Okay, so now we have to start in Omaha,” she told him. “What happened there?”

  “Well, it had to do with some animals.” Now he gave her a half smile.

  Which was at least a quarter smile more than she’d gotten from him in a couple of days.

  It made her smile even bigger, and the warmth in her stomach notched up a few degrees. “I’m shocked, Dr. Foster.”

  “I know. But yeah, they wanted to bring in some new penguins but weren’t willing to add onto the enclosure. I got into a huge yelling match with the zoo director and our primary donor.”

  “They fired you for giving them advice that you were essentially hired to give them?”

  “It wasn’t the advice I was giving so much as it was calling our donor a pompous ass and the zoo director a selfish bastard. Loudly. In front of most of the staff. And some of the public.”

  Charlie felt her eyes widen. But her smile spread too.

  “Oh, and to fuck off,” Griffin said, almost thoughtfully. “That definitely didn’t help.”

  Charlie laughed out loud. “Just so you know, I love everything about this story.”

  And now she got a full-on grin.

  And she wanted to climb right into his lap and kiss the hell out of him because of it.