Dog Walking in Heels

LOGAN

Logan only recognized the dog walker when the girl showed up on his doorstep.

Having just gotten off the phone with his ex-mother-in-law, he had been in a foul mood. He now regretted how short he had been with Missy Tempton.

Once again, they had gotten off on the wrong foot somehow.

He remembered her, of course he remembered her. The curvy blonde with slender ankles and nothing but mischief in her eyes.

There was something about those chubby cheeks and her oddly arrogant attitude that simply set him off.

Logan couldn’t even put his finger on it exactly, all he knew was that he remembered her, and he didn’t remember just anyone.

The day they had met was memorable only because of her presence.

He doubted he would ever forget how surprised he had felt when Vivian introduced him to the slightly chubby blonde girl in the cheap sundress and she had openly snorted at him.

No one ever snorted at him.

Or scoffed, sniffed, or laughed, for that matter.

Most women positively melted at his feet upon first meeting him.

Her reaction had been oddly refreshing, in a way. She didn’t know who he was, how much his net worth was, or where he came from, nor did she seem to give two hoots.

She hadn’t so much as glanced at him again for the rest of the party, though he had found himself unable to look away.

Unlike most women, she embraced her curves without trying to hide them, and she moved with the seamless grace and poise of a model.

It was obvious from the way she moved and how often she smiled that she thought she was Somebody. If she had any insecurities, she didn’t show them easily, this one. He liked that.

And now here she was, in his kitchen, chatting with him breezily as if they’d known each other for years instead of minutes.

He hardly knew what to do with her. Even when she was firmly shoving her foot in her mouth, she was so adorable it drove him to distraction.

He knew he should be talking to her with more of his usual suave charm, yet he continuously found himself putting his own foot in his mouth.

The last thing he would ever want to do was insult her body image, and he realized that was exactly what he had just managed to do.

Logan didn’t care for this strange new lack of control over himself that he was experiencing.

Missy Tempton did all sorts of odd things to his head, and he wasn’t sure if he could tolerate her being around yet or not.

MISSY

“I need you to stay overnight with Reddington for perhaps as long as weeks at a time. Can you handle that?” Logan said to me, baldly.

“Of course. That’s what I do.” I tried to give him a reassuring smile. He seemed to be getting worried about the whole thing already and I genuinely wanted to put him at ease.

“That’s good to hear. I’ll be able to schedule with you in advance; I like to keep a tight schedule.”

I was sure he did. I reined in another snort.

“But if I need you immediately, will you be able to make yourself available?” he asked me.

I drew myself up to my full height of five foot three and met his eyes directly. “Maybe, depends on my own schedule of course.”

“I’d be happy to double the rates of any other client to compensate you for your time. It means a lot to me that Reddington will always have someone to care for him if necessary.

“This has been an ongoing problem of mine for some time: finding a proper caretaker for him.”

“I understand, Mr. Rourke,” I told him patiently. “But until we establish this as a permanent thing, I can’t give you priority over my long-term clients, no matter what you pay me.

“This is a loyalty-built business I’m in, and a lot of my clientele rely on word of mouth. You understand, I’m sure.”

Logan smiled faintly at me. “That’s fair enough, I suppose.” He straightened, moving away from the counter. “Come, I think it’s time that I took you to meet Reddington.”

Finally! It was about time.

But I wisely kept that thought to myself.

“Lead the way,” I said instead, again with my winning smile.

I genuinely couldn’t wait to meet this Reddington I had heard so much about.

Apparently, he was a particularly stunning creature, rather like his master.

Logan led me out of his steel and chrome kitchen and into a modern dining space.

One whole wall was solid glass to allow for the best view possible, and the view was stunning.

Logan’s mansion was set directly on the beach, and the Atlantic Ocean shimmered a deep azure that dominated the visible horizon.

I could also see the expansive deck, which was fully equipped with a grill, a jacuzzi, and an infinity edge pool sunken into the deck itself.

Logan slid open the glass door and gestured that I should precede him outside. I stepped past him and shivered involuntarily at the sensation of his proximity.

The man was tangibly attractive and that was dangerous.

Outside on the deck, I had to admire the sheer luxury of it all. The seating area looked inviting and comfortable with an open firepit and umbrellas to shield guests from the hot Florida sun.

I hid my awe, however, not wanting to drool in front of him.

I could feel him watching me, gauging my reaction to his wealth, perhaps?

He meandered over to the edge of the deck, where a flight of wooden steps descended to the beach.

I joined him and I saw a white German Shepherd romping across the sand, sniffing at the driftwood with a bored sort of interest.

Logan whistled once and the pure-white dog immediately stopped, its massive head lifting, ears pricking toward us. Then he bounded up the beach and up the stairs.

I stepped back as the dog gained the landing to receive scratches behind the ears from his master.

Logan smiled down at the incredibly wolf-like dog. “Reddington, sit.”

Reddington obediently sat at his feet, then fixed his brown eyes upon me, his satellite ears aimed directly at me.

I slowly lowered myself to my haunches and extended a hand. I could see that this dog was highly intelligent and that a baby voice would not be appreciated by the dog or the owner.

“Hello there, Reddington,” I said in a low but clear voice.

Reddington hesitated, sniffing me from a distance. But even very shy or grumpy animals warmed up to me in the end. It was utterly inevitable; I just had a certain sway with animals.

Maybe it was something in the way I smelled, or maybe it was that they could intrinsically sense that I would never harm them and that they were safe in my presence.

Whatever it was, it had served me well up to now. Sure enough, even the aloof Reddington eventually couldn’t help himself any longer and got up to slink over to me.

He inspected my hand with his giant wet nose, then gave the back of it a conservative lick. He glanced at my face, then looked away, as if to let me know how unimpressed with me he was.

If he was in a competition with his master for who could be less impressed with me, I wasn’t sure who would be winning.

Done with me and having resolved that I wasn’t a threat, nor of any particular interest, Reddington moseyed on into the house.

Logan chuckled as I rose to my feet. “He likes you. He doesn’t usually even approach people he doesn’t know.”

I was flattered to hear that, and Logan didn’t need to know that that was the least enthusiastically I had ever been greeted by an animal before.

“He seems like a very intelligent and well-behaved dog.”

“He is. He’s highly intelligent and I’m pleased to note that you didn’t speak to him in one of those despicable baby-speak voices.

“That was an important test you just passed. I haven’t found a female dog walker yet who doesn’t talk to Reddington in a godforsaken baby voice.

“I will not have my dog cooed to, that needs to be clear right from the beginning.”

I felt something dark and cold come over me in that instant.

“And I don’t particularly care for being tested, Mr. Rourke. If you have a request, please simply name it and I will do my utmost to fulfill it, but I cannot live or work without transparency.”

I bit my lip almost as soon as I was finished talking, however. I hadn’t meant that to come out so harshly.

This was an interview, after all, and Mr. Rourke had every right in the world to throw weird tests and curveballs at me.

Really, it was that comment he made about not being able to find a female dog walker who didn’t use baby talk that had set me off.

Logan Rourke studied me with a decidedly closed-off expression now, and I inwardly cursed myself.

I had really been looking forward to picking up a new client, especially one with a situation like Logan’s; it was perfect for me.

Whatever chances I’d had at getting the job, I was pretty sure I had just blown them up with my rapier wit.

“I promise I will be transparent with you from here on out, Ms. Tempton,” Logan said in a quiet voice at last.

I raised my eyes to his face, surprised. “Just Missy, please,” I said in an even quieter voice. It was more of a squeak than anything.

Thin, masculine lips slowly curved up at the corners in a smile that was way more seductive than it needed to be. “Missy.”

“Right.” I stared up into those deep-green eyes, noticing the flecks of golden brown within them only as the light hit them just so, capturing their complexity.

I felt myself blushing again. I wish I had an off switch for it because I knew he could tell every time I flushed; I had exceptionally pale skin for someone living in Miami.

Logan himself was a deep, natural tan, for example. I wondered if he spent a lot of time sunning himself out on his deck. Then I wondered if he had any tan lines…

Logan was saying words to me now. I cleared my throat and tried to pay attention to what he was actually saying, instead of just smiling at him like a half-wit while imagining him in the buff.

“I usually take him for a run on the beach every morning when I’m here for about an hour,” Logan was saying.

“Good God,” was my candid reaction. “You really run a lot, don’t you?”

He stopped and stared at me as if it had just occurred to him that perhaps I was a half-wit.

I blushed yet again. “Sorry, go on.”

“In the name of transparency, I will dare to ask you once again if the cardio of the job will be an issue for you,” Logan said to me, and I sighed.

“Well, you didn’t actually ask me that before,” I couldn’t help but point out. He was just so infuriating on so many levels.

“But yes, Mr. Rourke, I will run, run, run my little legs off for the two of you. I’m sure it’ll be good for me, or something.

“So, what else should I know about Reddington?”