Dog Walking in Heels

MISSY

Perhaps I was a bit of a reverse snob, but I fully expected a butler or maid to open the door.

I was hoping to have some time to orient myself as I entered Logan’s house, before I had to face the man himself.

So I was entirely flustered when Logan Rourke himself opened the door.

He gazed down at me with those intense green eyes of his, his dark auburn hair glinting in the sunlight, and I found myself blushing like an idiot.

“Um, hi, I’m Missy? Vivian recommended me…to you?”

He continued to gaze at me as if waiting for a conclusion to my babbling.

I frowned at him slightly. Just because he was rich shouldn’t mean he could get away with being rude.

“I’m a pet sitter?” I prompted.

His green eyes dropped down my body and I felt myself blushing again as he assessed me. He was looking rather immaculate in one of those white long-sleeved shirts that all movie stars seem to wear.

It was made from a textured-looking material and had three top buttons that he’d left unfastened to show just a tantalizing glimpse of tan chest.

As my eyes dropped down him in turn, I was surprised to find that he actually was wearing a pair of blue jeans. They were probably designer, but still, maybe I didn’t have him as pegged as I thought I did.

“Ahh, yes,” he finally said, bringing my eyes back up to his face with a jolt. “Please come in, Ms. Tempton.”

He seemed oddly stiff, and I wondered if I had come at a bad time.

I entered his mansion with one of my winning smiles, but the smile faded as I found myself gazing around his foyer.

I had never been in a place so grand in my entire life.

The floors were gray marble and the chandelier dripping crystal from the ceiling looked like it could have cost well over a million.

Logan came to stand at my side and I forced a smile back onto my face.

“Can I get you anything? Coffee? Coconut water? A cocktail?” he asked me politely.

I wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, but I laughed because I laugh when I’m nervous. “Coffee sounds great.”

He led the way past a grandiose staircase into a giant kitchen.

It was only then that I realized he was barefoot.

I couldn’t even say why exactly, but that kinda turned me on.

“We’ve met once before, I believe,” he said, pouring me a mug of coffee at the island counter.

He asked me if I took cream and sugar and I told him that I did. He took his black as sin, I noticed.

I rested my palms on the black marble countertop to keep them from visibly trembling and to force myself not to fidget.

I was a chronic fidgeter and I had learned tricks to make myself appear more confident than I felt, like bracing my hands on a tabletop.

I looked up into Logan’s eyes as he slid me the cup of coffee. I blinked, realizing that I had completely tuned out what he’d just been saying.

“Hmm?” I made as vague a sound as possible, hoping he would be encouraged to elaborate further.

He studied me, and though his face was carefully guarded, I thought his eyes glittered with just the faintest, low light of amusement.

“At Vivian’s brunch last year, wasn’t it? Surely you remember. You were wearing a pink dress and you spilled something on it.

“Vivian was rather cross with you and sent you off to clean it. I recall her apologizing about you to me.”

My eyes slowly widened as I stared back at him. I was flabbergasted to find that he remembered not only me, but also what I was wearing and that I had spilled something on myself that day.

I had even forgotten about that.

Then the last part of what he’d said finally hit me. “She apologized for me?”

Now his amusement was evident in every line of his classically chiseled face.

“Yes, you seemed…let’s just say mildly disdainful of me at our first meeting. I was surprised when Vivian recommended you to me, to be honest.”

My eyebrows shot up. “D-d-disdainful? No, why would I—?”

Logan chuckled, a shockingly sexy sound. “It’s perfectly all right, Ms. Tempton. I would probably be disdainful of me if I met me, too. I do want to thank you for showing up today.”

He was mocking me, ever so slightly, but it wasn’t lost on me. He was also testing my intelligence, if I wasn’t mistaken.

Maybe I did have him pegged after all: Logan Rourke was something of a natural bully.

Where did that chip on his shoulder come from, I wondered.

I treated him to one of my very best smiles. “Please, just call me Missy.”

He studied me with dry amusement and I noticed that he didn’t encourage me to call him Logan.

Mr. Rourke it was, then.

“Missy.” He said my name with a certain mocking edge to his voice, but it still made my tummy go all melty like warm chocolate, for some reason.

“So, tell me about yourself, Missy.” He leaned against the island counter as he sipped his own mug of coffee. I noted how he discreetly checked his Cartier watch as he did so.

Mr. In-A-Hurry-All-The-Time; I knew the type.

“Well, I was raised in Maine by my two loving and unbelievably normal parents. I grew up with a lot of pets, so I guess I’ve just always had a natural affinity for them.”

I gave him my usual spiel as I, too, leaned on the counter that separated us.

“And why did you move down from Maine, Missy?” he asked me softly, and I was compelled to meet his gaze once more.

Those eyes… Those eyes of his really threw me off. They were so probing and intense and yet somehow oddly tender at the same time.

Those eyes made me want to giggle nervously and run away.

Those eyes made me feel like he was thinking about eating me alive; I was a little on the plump side, after all.

“Umm…,” I said eloquently. “Um, I moved down from Maine for a change of scenery, I guess, and for the sunshine. I’ve always been strangely drawn to Florida. I can’t really explain why.”

“Ahhh, I see. And are you going to school here currently?”

I hid my grimace. I hated that question. “No.” I answered simply. I didn’t have to explain myself to anyone.

“Hmmm.” He gazed at me as if he was weighing the worth of my soul. I honestly didn’t see how me being in school had anything to do with whether I was qualified to pick up his dog’s poop or not.

Of course, I knew that the job was always much more than that. It was an act of trust, admission past the privacy barrier. Mr. Rourke wanted in-house care for his pet, after all.

“Do you have a driver’s license?” he asked me next.

“Yeah, why?” I couldn’t help it if I was a bit wary in answering.

I had driven myself down from Maine in my ancient Subaru and had sold it when I arrived in Miami to afford the down payment on my loft.

“Good. I like to drive Reddington to the jogging trail at Oleta State River Park every day if I can, it’s where I take him running.”

I brightened up at this. “Does that mean I got the job?” I asked him teasingly.

I realized as soon as I said it that it was highly stupid of me to tease this man who obviously took himself very seriously.

Sure enough, he was not amused. “That has yet to be decided, I think. You have to meet Reddington, for one thing. His judgement must be passed, above all else.”

I contained my desire to roll my eyes. I had never met an animal that didn’t love me at first sniff.

“Of course,” was what I said out loud.

Logan eyed me again with that wry expression that was beginning to irk me just a bit. “As I understand it, Vivian’s dog is a toy breed—”

“Yeah, a Papillon, but I don’t see what Minky has to do with anything.”

“I’m just concerned that you’re not fully prepared to handle Reddington’s rigorous care. I run for three miles with him every day.”

I felt myself pale, just slightly. I wasn’t much for cardio, which was the rude question he wasn’t directly asking, but I’d be damned if I was about to admit it to this absurdly arrogant man.

“I don’t see why that should be a problem. I grew up with big dogs and I would run with them all the time.

“I’m prepared to handle whatever my clients’ pets might need of me, from grooming to overnight care, and that includes all sorts of rigorous activities.”

I heard how inappropriate that sounded as soon as it left my mouth, and his smirk now made me positively glow with the heat of my embarrassment.

“That is to say…I can handle it, whatever it is that you need.” My blush only intensified the longer I spoke, as did my embarrassment.

This was so not going well.

I was just so flustered by him and his audacity to discriminate against my physical fitness level.

Everyone in Miami was so darn body-conscious. That was one thing I missed about my cold, drizzly home state.

“All right. If you say so.” Logan relented at last as he regarded my stubborn expression and saw that I wasn’t backing down.

You needed to stand up to bullies if you ever wanted to gain their respect.

“So, how ’bout you tell me what my future duties will be?” I suggested with another charming smile.