Chapter 5 White Knights and Golden Fur
WHITE KNIGHTS AND GOLDEN FUR
Archer
The following week, my gut twisted. Every warning the guys drilled into me about Penny I took to heart, yet I couldn’t stay away from her if I tried.
The fucking white knight inside of me kicked in, until I found myself standing in front of Fetch on Fifth Doggie Daycare, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, of course.
I studied the logo and read the slogan too many times. A sketch of two pups, one with a bowtie, one with pearls, with the slogan in a circle around them: Because even your dog deserves Fifth Avenue treatment. Only Brier Rose could make a doggie daycare look like a luxury brand.
The bell over the door jingled as I stepped inside.
Through the glass wall separating the lobby from the play area, I spotted Penny instantly, kneeling on the mat, surrounded by an army of golden retrievers.
Six of them at least, tails wagging, paws flying, rolling over to get her attention like they’d been bred in a lab to worship her.
Her head tipped back in laughter as a silly one jumped up and tried to lick her chin. Whatever energy radiated off her, the dogs soaked it up like sunshine.
Her laughter disarmed me. My heart grinned before I did.
She noticed me then, and bounded over, pressing her palms to the glass. “Archer? What are you doing here? Nice surprise, but you picked the wrong time. It’s golden playdate hour. I’m on duty.”
Her cheeks flushed pink, giving her a youthful glow, magnetizing me to the spot with her smile. What a dog’s life. I wanted to soak up her sunshine, too.
I held up the folder in my hand and set it on the front desk, reminding myself of my mission. “Looks like you’re busy. I drafted something for you. I’ll just drop it off here.”
Her mouth quirked. “Oh. Okay. Can’t you stay? It’s only for another half hour; we could talk after. In fact, you could come play with us.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Are you sure? These doggies are pretty persuasive.” As if on cue, one golden with a pink bow around its neck jumped up with two front paws high on the glass, almost as tall as me stretched out like that. It barked until I put my hand up to the glass. She booped it with her nose.
“They’re adorable. But I don’t do fur.” I stood my ground, gesturing at my selection of navy blue polo and suit pants for the day.
“I have disposable coveralls you could wear.”
“I always wanted a golden,” I admitted.
Her grin widened. “Then today’s your lucky day.”
My willpower to resist Penny’s charms faded. Especially her charms multiplied by a half dozen goldies? Come on, there was no escaping that. “Okay, you talked me into it.”
That was how I, CEO of Bellamy Brothers Architecture, ended up in doggie daycare tossing balls around, chasing, and getting tackled for thirty straight minutes.
Penny and I tossed an orange rubber football back and forth, running the dogs like crazy, letting them intercept now and then, playing tug of war to get it back.
Instead of Golden Hour, they should call this Happy Dog Love Bomb Fest, what with the pure joy in their eyes and tongue lolls. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing way too much.
By the time I collapsed beside Penny on the rubber mat, chest heaving, my heart skipped lighter than it had in years.
The dogs were worn out, too. One dog instantly sprawled across my lap, belly up, begging for scratches. While another wedged under my arm. Penny leaned her back against the glass, spreading her brightness as if joy itself had been bottled and uncorked.
“Looks like we brought out the playful part of you,” she flirted.
“Enjoy it now. It doesn’t happen often.”
“Then I wish I had my phone on me to capture your face for all eternity.” She threaded her fingers through the fur of the dog across her lap. I hadn’t realized I was beaming, too.
I pulled mine from my pocket and waved it in the air. “Let’s do it.”
She scooted closer to me, shoulders pressed, faces close, dogs squished around us. I stretched my arm as far as it would go. I snapped the shot with as many goldens as I could cram into the frame. She gave me her number, and I sent it to her.
“There. Proof I can smile with the best of them.” I tucked my phone away before I could second-guess what it meant to want this moment memorialized, positive with one look I’d regret walking out of here soon.
The door opened and parents arrived one by one, calling names and clipping leashes. Dogs left until there were only tumbleweeds of fur skating across the floor. All the while I could see how much the clients loved Penny as she checked them out and handled payments. What was not to like?
She locked the door after the last group to leave. “Alone at last.” She handed me a lint roller with a laugh. “You’re going to need this more than I do.”
I understood why she wore a staff T-shirt and leggings in pale pastel colors now. My navy blue was not fur-friendly. Mysteriously, despite the coveralls, the fur got everywhere, like sand at a beach getting into every crack.
Side by side we worked, brushing at sleeves and pant legs. Our shoulders almost touched. A tiny spark of her perfume teased under the scent of fur.
She chuckled. “Here, let me help you get this one spot on your back,” she offered. I turned and twisted, not seeing it, but she did. She rolled low down my back and my ass. I licked my lips, wondering if that was on purpose.
Fuck me, getting all turned on from the pass of a roller…
I swiveled on my heel. We stood close. Her breath caught. The urge to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear became an intense distraction. Another inch and I’d know the taste of her lips. My tongue would tangle with hers, staking a claim and taking possession of her.
Then the warnings of Rex and Richard swam in my head again. The figure $105,274 flashed through my mind in bold red print, the total I had paid out for Brianne’s grad school, but even that didn’t come close to what she cost my heart.
What if I was too broken from the past to love again?
I stepped away and pressed my phone to my ear, faking a call. It was the coward’s way out of the situation with Penny before it’d even begun.
“Yeah. Uh-huh. I’ll call you back.” I pocketed it with a forced smile, while she spritzed her chest with an overwhelming floral scent from a spray bottle of fabric freshener. “Sorry, Penny. I have to run. Thanks for the playtime, though. It was fun.”
“It was. Wish we had more time to talk, but I understand you’re a busy man. Oh, what was this?” She held up the folder I’d brought.
“Right. That. Uh, I wrote you a letter of recommendation.” I scratched the back of my neck, likely more fur there I missed. “You shouldn’t sell yourself short, Penny. You have the education, so go after what you want, even if you have to start at the bottom somewhere.”
“A letter?” She blinked and read, eyes skimming down it, mouth agape.
“You’re smart and willing to work. Those are the people I hire. I’m sure other potential employers will see that too. Even when you smell like a floral-bouquet-grenade exploded on your chest.”
She chuckled. “Archer, you don’t have to do this for me.”
“But I want to. Put me down as a reference. I know most of the firms and people in this business around the city. If you get a job offer, text and run it by me. I’ll give you some inside intel on them.”
“You’re serious?”
“I’m always serious about good people who deserve a chance.”
“Thank you.” She held the folder close to her chest, her fluttering lashes as flirty as her pretty full lips. “You might be the nicest man in New York.”
I cringed. “Please don’t spread that rumor.” I wanted to argue that I really wasn’t, wanted to explain that this was a way for me to say goodbye and to let her go, but the curve of her mouth, dog-kissed or not, had my full attention.
“Sometimes what people need most are options, Penny. Believe me, my letter will open doors for you.”
There. White-knight chivalry done. I can rest easy now and put Penny behind me.
“Options. Right.”
“So, um, I’ll see you around, okay?”
“Sure. Thank you again, Archer.”
We held eyes for a heartbeat, her chocolate orbs with amber flecks drawing me in deeper. If I didn’t leave now, I might never leave. I escaped into the cool night air, lungs tight.
As I drove away, I scolded myself in the rearview mirror. “You fucking dick. It’s for the best, and you know it.” Then why did her lingering laugh, tangled up with golden fur, whisper in my chest that I might regret this one day?