Page 37 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

“We’re going to need some ground rules,” she insisted. “Like no messing around in the office.”

“I can’t promise that. How about no messing around in the office in front of patients?”

“I think you already broke that one, boss.”

I gave her a funny look and then burst out laughing. I certainly hadn’t expected her to make light of the situation so quickly.

“Fair enough, but I’ll try.”

“What are my hours and what’s the pay? If we’re being serious about this, these are important questions.”

“Fine. What time does Vada get dropped off and picked up?”

She rolled her eyes. “You can’t make my schedule around Vada’s. This is business.”

“To hell I can’t. I can set whatever hours I like. It’s eight to three, right?”

“If you already knew the answer, why are you asking?”

“Just making sure I had that right.”

“Eight to three.”

“Okay, so the clinic opens at nine on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. In general I close at five, but as you already know, that rarely happens. Still, if we can do eight-thirty to five, taking lunch from twelve to one and then a thirty minute Vada break around three, we’re good.”

I could see her mentally counting up the hours in her head.

“That’s only seven hours four days a week, only part time.”

“I’m paying $35 an hour.”

She considered that. “Okay, but are you sure? That’s way overpriced for a receptionist.”

“With medical experience,” I added, careful not to say medically trained. “Plus there will be additional things I could use assistance with and the days off aren’t a guarantee.”

“For the most part, that’s okay with me. I will need time to find a sitter for Vada in the evenings.”

“No, Vada will come to work with us. I’ll get one of the storage rooms cleaned out this weekend to give her a safe room to play in when times get busy. For this she can just hang out in the front area with you while I’m with patients. It’s not that big of a deal unless it becomes problematic for you. Or if you’d rather, I could talk to Emma and see if she’d be interested in working a few evening hours. Bravo team is home right now so unless something happens, she may prefer to spend her time with her mate. She’s a gorilla shifter, but she’s fantastic with kids. She watches Shelby and Ben’s triplets during school hours. Shelby’s a teacher.”

She nodded. “I know who they are. I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to reach out to her.”

“You should do that.”

By the time she agreed on my terms of employment, it was sadly time to say goodbye. I knew the boys would forgive me if I bailed on them, but I didn’t want to be the guy who let down his friends at the last second either.

With another kiss, I left her with plans to see her in the morning.

“What has gotten into you?”Baine demanded. “Last week you couldn’t play for shit and today you’re on fire.”

“Went for a run, didn’t you?” Grant asked as I watched the ball sail out of my hands and right through the hoop for a perfect net ball.

“I did actually. Thanks for that. It was rather life changing.”

“Life changing? What kind of bullshit are you spouting off now, Doc?” Baine challenged.

I laughed. “Well, can you fools just shut up and play the game already? I swear you’re bigger gossips than Nonna.”

“Hey now, no one is a bigger gossip than that,” Tarron pointed out making us all laugh. There was no doubt just how much that man loved the crazy old woman who insisted on adopting him, the lone fox shifter at the time, and then take in all of his mate’s sisters claiming them as her own.

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