Page 35 of Grump and Grumpier

“Sorry to have to interrupt your fun, little buddy.” The fluffy dog squirms, trying to reach one of my ears with his busy tongue.

“What’s going on?” Derek strides in, taking in the scene.

“Jansen made a new friend,” I say.

“Make sure that dog never comes in here again.”Jansen shudders, looking and sounding like he’s just been assaulted.

I cock my head at him. “Oh, c’mon. Was it really that bad?”

He just grimaces at me before narrowing his eyes at the dog suspiciously.

Derek reaches out a hand as if he’s about to pet the dog, but pulls it back when the little fluff ball greets him with his tongue. “He’s quite the licker, isn’t he?”

“That’s not all he does,” I say, giggling again, remembering Jansen’s face when I first arrived.

There’s a knock at the door, and Kenzie, the social media manager, is standing there with her cat in her arms and a camera strap over her shoulder. “Hey, great, you’re both together,” she says to Derek and Jansen. “I’d love to get photos of you with some pets to post on our Instagram account.”

The two CEOs exchange a look, and Jansen heaves a sigh, looking prepared to object.

“That’s a great idea,” I say. “Aren’t animal charities popular with the customers?”

“They are,” Derek admits.

A big part of Community Bean’s charitable giving is decided on by customers, who can vote with every order. It’s one of the things that gives the company such a great reputation, and plays into the “Community” part of the company’s name.

“I’ll ask Gloria if I can bring her lab in,” Kenzie says, disappearing briefly and returning with the more laid-back pooch.

She directs the men to sit in chairs next to each other, and she asks me to hand Jansen the little white dog, but Jansen leans away, shaking his head. Derek takes the dog but keeps it at arm’s length as it continues to try to lick him. The lab lies on the floor in front of the two men.

“We need to represent cat lovers, too,” Kenzie says. “Jansen, can you hold Neville Furbottom?”

As I struggle to keep a straight face, Jansen’s eyes find me, and the look he gives me tells me that he’s going to make me pay for this. Kenzie puts her cat in his arms, and though Jansen looks incredibly displeased, he should at least be grateful that the cat isn’t humping him.

Kenzie spends quite a bit of time taking pictures, probably because it’s hard for her to get a shot where both Derek and Jansen look comfortable and semi-pleasant.

As the photo shoot continues, Derek brings the little dog in closer and eventually surrenders to its kisses, letting the persistent pooch lick his face to its heart’s content. Derek almost looks like he enjoys it, and when I overhear him talking baby talk to the dog, I nearly fall over.

Jansen sets his hand on Neville’s back, presumablyto hold the cat in place, but eventually he starts to stroke it, and in a quiet moment, I can hear the cat purr.

Gloria comes in with dog biscuits, and Derek gives a small piece to the little dog, and then offers the rest to Gloria’s lab, talking nicely to both pups.

The men look more agreeable than they’ve ever looked. Agreeable isn’t even a word I ever thought I’d use to describe them.

When Kenzie’s satisfied with the pictures she got, she picks up Neville, and Gloria’s lab takes the opportunity to nudge its nose onto Jansen’s lap. Jansen stiffens, but reaches out to pet it, first tentatively, then with more ease.

Maybe neither of these men had pets when they were children, and that’s part of why they’re so cold.

For some reason, seeing Derek and Jansen pet dogs and cats is making me feel things I have no business feeling. For the first time, I wonder if there could be boyfriend potential there. Maybe I’m just craving some affection for myself.

My mind wanders off to a fantasy scenario where the men are my boyfriends, and it immediately feels strange. Sex with both of them feels incredibly natural, but the idea ofdatingthem, either together or separate, seems odd, especially since there are two of them.

I recall how Jansen tenderly brushed hair backfrom my face the last time we had sex. It seemed affectionate, but am I reading too much into it? Probably.

Seeing them hold dogs and cats makes me wish I could cuddle in their laps, too, though I know I’m with the wrong kind of men for that. What would it even be like to cuddle with them? Surely, they’re capable of it, right?

After everyone else clears out, I’m there holding the little dog, preparing to take it back to the accounting department. “Was that so bad?” I ask the men.

Jansen just stares back at me, but it’s not a cold stare. There’s some warmth there, maybe for the first time. Animals must have magical powers.

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