Page 46 of Fur-Ever Home

"Know the code?" I grinned. "I could write it in my sleep. I bet I know what he broke. The dashboard is no longer communicating with the third-party apps for step tracking and nutrition."

Pops nodded. "Good guess. You're hired."

"For this project, right? Not a … not full time?"

"Why not?"

"I never learned how to code," I admitted. "I created Wellness Dashboard for fun."

"You'll learn on the job." Pops clapped me on the shoulder. "When I tell my team you created the app, they'll want to teach you everything they know. You wouldn't believe how much they raved about the simplicity when we first started using it."

I'd been called "simple" plenty of times, mostly by Hank. It always sounded like a bad word. When Pops said my designs were simple and elegant, I puffed up at the praise.

"Meet me at the office tomorrow at eight." His smirk reminded me of Ben's. "We'll have you coding our customer-facing website in no time."

On the ride home, Ben squeezed my thigh, nudging me out of my thoughts.

"Pops said you're starting at the bank tomorrow."

As much as I wanted a job, I was still leery of working for Ben's parents. "I am. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Why?" He rarely looked away from the road while driving, but he flashed me an angry glare before jerking his eyes back to the road at the sound of a horn. We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but Ben was a cautious driver, leaving three car-lengths between us and the SUV ahead.

"I know you don't want me to work there," I said.

"I never said that." He chuffed a laugh. "I don't want a job at the bank, but this sounds perfect for you. Even if you hate it, you'll have a better resume after six months and can try again."

"I … can." Jobs had always left me. I'd never left them. Seasons ended, businesses closed, start-ups sold, and now Hank had fired me. I didn't know if I could quit a job after six months, but I would do anything to make Ben happy.

The next morning,Ben dropped me off at the head office for SoCal Community Bank on his way to Barclay Foods. Pops, or James as he told me to call him at work, met me in the lobby and ushered me through a gorgeous glass office building. Even the elevator was glass, so we could watch the people chatting or ambling through the lobby below.

Instead of leading me into his office, James motioned me toward a conference room. He introduced me to his lead developer, Kurt, and the rest of the team. Kurt's reception was frosty, but the other techs welcomed me. Anne, a tall woman with short graying red hair and glasses offered me her desk and console to, "see what you can do." I had the application interface fixed within the first fifteen minutes, and I caught a code error in another application she showed me before our hour was up.

By lunch, James had fired Kurt and moved me into his office. I was stunned. I didn't know what to say when he offered to take me shopping for some office decor after lunch.

"This feels a lot like nepotism," I said when we sat down to lunch at a restaurant a few blocks away. We'd walked, enjoying the hazy sunshine and warm but not yet blazing temperatures.

"I don't care," James said. "You're already well on your way to becoming my favorite son-in-law. I've never seen Ben soenamored with anyone. All I want is for my children to be happy, and if he won't work here …"

"I will." I nodded. "I get it, but I don't have any credentials."

"Nobody on the development floor has questioned your ability." Our server interrupted with glasses of water and menus, and then James leaned over the table. "Kurt was one ass-smack away from a sexual harassment lawsuit, and he's a shitty developer. I'd much rather have a reliable family man on my staff, if you know what I mean."

My face felt hot. "I'm not … Ben's not …"

"Son, you don't need to put a ring on my boy's finger or knock him up to be part of this family." His kind smile reminded me so much of Ben's. "From what I've heard, you could use all the family you can get."

I blinked back hot tears and managed to choke out, "Thank you."

I felt better about the office decor when James led me back to the building after lunch. We raided a supply closet not far from my new digs. They had everything I would need, from copier paper to sticky notes.

Next, he led me to a storeroom on the first floor filled with framed artwork and decorative lamps. "Make it your own," he said.

I was immediately drawn to a painting of a rocky cave mouth. Before it, a mother wolf watched three playing pups.

"This one," I said.

"Benjamin and the others don't know this, but we have wolf shifters in our family tree."

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