Page 46 of One Bossy Date
So, I opened my eyes, and looked around with an unbiased mind.
This room, initially intended as a storeroom, could be used for my business again. We couldn’t manage to work with two cats at a time, so freeing up this space would help with that. I could focus on dry grooming, which entailed nail clipping, brushing, accessorizing—a service we most certainly offered but were yet to start implementing. In addition, I could start making the advent calendars. Maybe ten to start with to see if they sold. I had some good recipes for homemade treats, and behind the December 24th door I could wrap one of the toys that hadn’t fallen victim to the water.
In other words: moving out of this space would help the business immensely.
Nowthatwas some solid reasoning I could get behind—if only I wasn’t lying to someone again, and that was myself.
* * *
“Sooo, how was the party? Did you get your clit licked?” Jim dropped his things on the front counter when he arrived. Immediately, he hovered over me as I scrubbed the washing room clean. With gloves up to my elbows and my hair wet from sweating in the small room, I laughed.
“No, but oh, Jimmy. You’re in for one hell of a story.”
In his excitement, a squeaking noise left his mouth, and he got himself comfortable on the counter alongside the basin. “Shoot, girl! Ialwayslove a hell of a story.”
A half-hour later, I was still filling him in. We had our cups of coffee in our hands, my second for the day already, while we waited for our first Saturday regular to arrive. By then, I’d told him all about Brody’s jealous commentary, my accidental outburst, which had caused the whole family to believe I was pregnant, and the fact that I was basically expected to move in with Anders now.
“Move in with him? Like,livewith him?”
“Yep.”
“We’re talking about that fine piece of man that picked you up in a limo last night? Thechopper?”
I chuckled. “Yes.”
With a hand on his chest, Jim considered my predicament. “Oh, Lord, Zo. This is like a dream come true. I’m so happy for you. You canfinallyget out of your luxury one-room kingdom.” His arms spread wide now, gesturing to the entire store. “Oh, sorry, darling, I mean, your ‘kitty lounge.’” He made quote fingers.
“I know. But…he’s like, my boss, basically.”
“Yes, yes. Tricky.” He chewed on his bottom lip. “Not the boss part, uh-uh. That’s the fun part. Problem is, not only will you have to live with his two monster dogs—you’ll have to live withhisone-eyed monster.” He grinned.
Trying to ignore that last part, I shrugged. “Well, Jim, that’s not too much of an issue anymore.”
“It isn’t? You mean you’re ready to tame theanaconda?”
“Jim! No, I mean I can handle the dogs, ‘cause I know them now. I’m pretty certain they won’t bite me.”
He appeared seriously impressed. “Wow! You’ve already come so far. Soon we’ll be selling Bratwursts and accepting pups here, I can just feel it.”
“Back to the topic, Jim.” I held up a hand, not wanting to get into that now. “There’s another reason this would be super weird.”
“Why?” With wide eyes, he leaned forward, and in his anticipation, he spilled some of his coffee.
“Because…last night, Anders and I, kind of—”
Jim gasped, interrupting my attempt at a confession. “Yousleptwith him. He peppered your ass! Oh, my fuck,Zoe. What did his python look like?” His questioning grew desperate now.
“No! Holy shit,Jim. Slow your horses.”
He flattened his lips in disappointment. “Spill.”
“We kissed.”
His excited smile returned. “Get outta here.”
“It was…just…magical.” I sighed, finally having found the word.
“Girl! It must have been, with a beefcake like that.”