Paws off the Boss by Casey Griffin (best summer reads of all time TXT) 📖

chimed in. “The car thing was more of a spur-of-the-moment maiming rather than a planned thing … Maybe.”

“Yeah, because that’s much better.” Zoe hopped out of the front seat before Piper could protest.

Addison leapt out of the driver’s seat. “This is like an action movie. Or maybe some spy operation. We’re like Charlie’s Angels.”

“Who’s Charlie in this instance?” Zoe asked.

“I guess that would be Marilyn.”

Piper turned to Colin. She couldn’t leave him behind. “Well, Colin. I guess that makes you Bosley. But you’ll have to hide in here for now.” Unzipping her backpack, she dumped out the contents and tucked him inside, leaving an opening big enough for him to watch her back as they headed for the elevators.

Piper fidgeted all the way up to the fortieth floor. Addison used the mirrored doors to pretend she was one of Charlie’s angels, pointing her fingers like a gun. Zoe remained silent, thoughtful.

The doors slid open to reveal Veronica arranged behind her glass desk. Piper wondered if she held her practiced poses all day or if she waited for the elevator ding before positioning herself like she was in a game of musical chairs.

When Veronica saw it was only Piper, she slumped back into her chair and threw her head back, cackling into her headset at something someone said.

“She did not. No way. No way! Ohmygod,” she said, like it was all one word.

Piper tried several times to get her attention, but Veronica spun her chair away, as though if she didn’t see the three women, she couldn’t be accused of ignoring them. However, Piper was short on patience. Leaning over the desk, she plucked the headset off Veronica’s head and tossed it onto the desk.

She smiled sweetly at Veronica’s Botox-petrified expression. “I need a word with your boss.”

“He’s in a meeting at the moment and can’t be interrupted.”

“I’ll wait.”

“It’s a long meeting.” She enunciated each word like Piper didn’t understand English.

Piper’s eyes narrowed. “Then I guess that means he’ll need a break,” she shot right back.

“They ordered in for lunch.”

But Piper wasn’t about to back down. “I need to speak with him. So hit that little button of yours and let me through. I’m sure he’ll understand. This is important.”

Veronica’s bleached smile didn’t reach her eyes. “So is his meeting, and he doesn’t need you coming in here at all times of the day interrupting him. Tamara’s told me about you.”

Piper rolled her eyes at the mention of the PA. “I’m sure she has. Now let me through those doors.” She reached over the desk to hit the release button.

Veronica slapped her hand away. “This is not a dating service. This is his place of business.” She straightened in her chair and slipped her headset on again.

What exactly did Tamara tell her? “Well, unfortunately, I’ve discovered that his recent business involves me.” Piper grabbed the headset again and tossed it over her shoulder. She was done playing nice.

Veronica shot to her feet. Her chair sailed back, rolling away on the polished floor. She glared at Piper across the glass desk, her skin flushing until her orange tan appeared bronze.

“I don’t understand why you have any business at all talking with a sophisticated man like Mr. Caldwell, much less dating him. You’re uncouth, uneducated, and uncivilized.” Her eyes raked over Piper, pausing at her neckline. “And you’re a stripper, for God’s sake.”

Piper followed her gaze. The telltale S peeked out from beneath her coat. Grabbing her collar, she ripped her coat open further, as if it could transform her into the superhero. She was certainly angry enough to lift up the desk and throw it at the orange girl.

“I’m not a stripper,” she said between clenched teeth. “I’m a telegram singer.”

“And she’s educated,” Addison said. “She’s going to be a veterinarian.”

“Yes. A doctor,” Zoe added. “And she also happens to be your boss’s girlfriend, so are you looking to get fired? Or are you going to let her through?”

Colin chose that moment to poke his bony head out of Piper’s backpack and give Veronica a growl of disapproval. Yeah, because toting around an oversized purse dog like the trailer park version of Paris Hilton helped Piper’s argument. She tucked his head back in.

“Well, Supergirl. I’m the administrative assistant to the CEO of this company. And I say that unless Aiden has a sick cow in his office, you won’t be seeing him today.”

“We don’t need to go into his office to see a cow,” Zoe muttered. “We’ve got one right here.”

“Excuse me?” Veronica leaned on her desk like she was ready to stab a pen into Zoe’s eye.

Zoe towered over her with an expression that could kill—one of her many special talents. In fact, she’d persuaded more than one cold-footed groom down the aisle with nothing more than an arch of her eyebrow. Right now, she looked like she wanted to rip Veronica’s hair extensions right off her head.

Piper’s focus was on the catfight in the making, so she didn’t notice Addison sidle to the other end of the reception desk until she heard an innocent, “Whoops.”

Crash.

The fight momentarily forgotten, they all turned. Colin poked his head out again in curiosity. Next to Addison’s ballet flats sparkled the shattered remnants of the giant crystal vase and its scattered Casablanca lilies.

“It was an accident?” And it would have been believable if Addison weren’t grinning mischievously.

Veronica stomped her heel. “All right. All of you need to leave before I call security.”

“I can’t,” Addison said too cheerfully. “I’m afraid to move. What if I cut myself on all this glass?”

“It’s not glass. It’s Swarovski crystal. Or rather, it was. Now get out!”

Addison crossed her arms. “I could bleed to death. Or lose a toe. How would your boss feel about an amputation in his office?”

Veronica huffed. “Don’t move. I’ll get a broom.”

Heels clicking on the marble floor, she walked to the side of the room and slipped her hand into a notch in the wall. Like magic, a hidden door appeared to reveal a room Piper didn’t know existed. Apparently, even the closets were modern. Veronica ducked inside, the wall sealing behind her.

“Now’s your chance,” Zoe hissed. “Hurry.”

Piper eyed the secret door. “Are you sure?”

“We’ve got you covered,” Addison said. “There’s plenty of stuff to break in here.” And by the look in her eye, it was clear she’d do it.

“Okay,” Piper relented. “But don’t hang around too long. I’ll meet you down at the car.”

Eyeballing the wall, Piper scurried past the hidden door and hit the button behind the desk. The lock on the door clicked open, and she slipped through. She slowed her pace, strolling down the corridor of glass-walled offices. Nothing said “I don’t belong here” like frantically bolting through a building.

She strode confidently to the end of the hall until she stood in front of Aiden’s office. The shutters were drawn shut. Taking a deep breath, she tapped on the glass door.

There was no answer. Either he didn’t want to be disturbed or his meeting was being held elsewhere. Piper glanced over her shoulder, shifting from foot to foot. Colin sensed her growing anxiety, and he squirmed in the canvas bag, digging his little paws into her back.

The longer she stood out in the open, the more likely it was Veronica would come searching for her. Or worse. Security would.

A loud crash followed her up the hall from the reception area, and Piper cringed. Addison sure made one heck of a distraction. A chair squeaked in an office nearby. Someone had stood up to go investigate the ruckus.

Body frozen in indecision, heart hammering, Piper finally tried the door. It was unlocked. She supposed it wasn’t like anyone would dare break into the CEO’s office. But, as Aiden had once pointed out, Piper wasn’t one for rules.

She hurried inside and closed the door behind her. It latched shut only a second before footsteps thumped outside. Piper’s muscles tensed, and she held her breath until the sound receded down the hall, away from Aiden’s office. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The office was empty. Now that she looked around the room, at the fastidious arrangement of pens, notepad, and coffee cup, at Aiden’s neatly hung jacket on the back of the door, the invasiveness hit her. She had no right to be here, in this world. Without him, it felt so foreign and wrong.

She considered escaping before anyone noticed, but then she heard another loud crash from up front and decided against it. Digging into her backpack, past Colin’s squirming body, she grabbed her phone and texted Addison.

I’m in. Get out. Will meet you guys at the car.

She hit send, hoping they wouldn’t be leaving in handcuffs.

Feeling like an intruder, Piper took a seat across from Aiden’s desk and let Colin out of her backpack. She wasn’t doing anything wrong if she just sat there, right? Surely Aiden wouldn’t mind if she waited for him in his office. At least, so long as he had nothing to hide. So long as he wasn’t trying to kill or maim her, that is.

But this was Aiden, after all. Aiden. She hated to even think these things about him.

And if it were true, and he really was up to no good? Then what? She’d call the cops, of course. Testify against him in court. But that was the easy part. It was the resulting misery that she pondered as she waited, dreading her heart being crushed like possum roadkill on the side of Route 66. Then