Page 12 of Winning the Nightcap

Holy fuck. I think it’s going to be an unforgettable weekend.

Chapter Seven

Bec

I’m running late. Of course I’m running late.

I could lie to myself and say it was because I lost track of time, but I can admit to myself that I’ve been a bit of a wreck this morning thinking about seeing Aiden for his one-on-one makeup class. Well, one-on-one, plus an overzealous puppy.

I changed my outfit three times before finally throwing on leggings and a T-shirt with the Center’s logo. It’s my usual look for class, so I’m keeping it simple and comfortable since I’m up and moving all day and eventually covered in dog hair anyway. Do I normally wear this much makeup and curl my hair for class? No, but what the fuck ever. I need a confidence boost to walk into work today. Well, to run in, since all the fuss made me late.

“Morning, Abby!” I call over my shoulder, hearing our newest trainer return the greeting. I jog past the front desk into the employee office where I drop my bag and grab my clipboard and treat pouch, clipping it to my leggings above my hip. All the trainers share a small office, since we never spend much time there anyway. It’s mostly used for storage.

“Uh, Bec? There’s a beautiful man with an adorable lab asking foryou. I’m assuming you have a makeup class this morning? I let him into Training Room Four to wait,” Abby says while tucking her braids behind her ear and leaning against the door to the office.

“Shit. Yeah, I’m running late this morning. Has he been here long?”

“Not too long. He didn’t seem bothered, so I wouldn’t worry,” Abby says.

“Awesome, thanks for getting them set up. Oh, and remind me to send you the name of the book the girls and I are reading next month. That is, if you still want to join us and dirty up your pristine book collection with some certified filth.”

“After seeing your face while you were reading at the front desk yesterday, I absolutely need to know what I’m missing. Consider me ready and waiting to be scandalized.”

“Please…I kept my cool. I’m a professional smut reader. My poker face is unshakable.”

“Bec, you sat with your jaw on the floor for two minutes straight, followed by a fit of nervous giggling and borderline squealing. Not even the phone ringing snapped you out of it. I don’t even think you were blinking.”

“It’s not my fault! That was my first monster romance. I’m not sure how to recover from it. The main character had…let’s just say they had some anatomyenhancementsthat were…intriguing.” That book had me questioning things about myself, mostly how I can find myself my own monster. Thank god for my e-reader. The cover was anything but discrete and I fucking loved it. But I don’t need our clients at the Center knowing anything about my books.

“Okay, well maybe don’t start me off with monster romance,” Abby says with a laugh. “Let me dip my toe in the water before you throw me into the deep end.”

“I promise, I won’t start you with monsters. But I’m not taking it easy on you. The mouth on this next guy is sure to be downrightsinful.”

Abby shakes her head. “I don’t know why I agreed to this, but I’m in. Oh, and I’m heading over to New Hope this afternoon for a meeting on the adoption fair if you want to join. We have a new sponsor, and we’re running through updates on other potential donors.”

New Hope is the animal shelter where a lot of the Center’s employees volunteer. We’ve had a close working partnership between our organizations for years. I try to make it there a few times each month to work with the dogs waiting to find families, especially those with more difficult behaviors that could potentially ward off an adoption. There’s a ton of work to do before the adoption fair in February. It takes months of preparation, so we all try to help out when we can.

“Of course I’ll be there,” I say.

Abby nods and returns to the front desk. I smooth my clammy hands over my waist and walk down the hall to room four, where I find Aiden waiting with Hop. The mischievous lab is biting and tugging on his leash, shaking his head back and forth with vigor.

“Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late. I’m normally early, I swear,” I rush out, trying to catch my breath. He turns toward me and, ugh, it’s painful how handsome I find his seemingly effortless self-assurance to be. He doesn’t even seem real. He must think I’m a mess.

“Don’t worry about it. Hop and I were just getting a jump start on things.” Hop looks up at him at that moment, wags his tail, and tugs hard on his leash. Aiden sighs and looks up at me with pleading eyes. “We may be a tough case, so I thought I’d try my hand at some bribery to make sure we don’t get kicked out of class.” He gestures to the table underneath the windows where two to-go cups sit. “I didn’t know what you like, so I got a dark roast with sugar and cream and a pumpkin spice latte. Figured you could pick, and I’ll take the other.”

“You…brought me coffee?” He nods, looking shy and uncertain. “Well, that was really sweet of you. You sure you don’t mind mechoosing? Because I would love the dark roast.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. I’m not ashamed to say I look forward to the pumpkin flavors coming out in the fall. The woman at the coffee shop said she was surprised to learn that I’mbasic. Whatever that means. Here.” He hands me the cup with a smile so genuine, my stomach gives a little flip. “So, what do you think? Can we stay or should Hopper and I give up now?”

“Nah, Hop seems like way too much fun to kick out of class before we teach him how to give you more trouble.”

“See, I had a feeling you’d use your powers for evil.” He smirks and takes a sip of his drink, and I can’t hold back my laugh.

I perch against the table’s edge, hugging my clipboard to my chest. “I’ve worked with dogs much more challenging than him. To get started, I want to learn more about your history. I mean…notyourhistory. Your history with Hop.” I feel my cheeks heat and I look down at my clipboard, avoiding eye contact. “What kind of training you’ve tried, if any. What his usual routine is. Who else is involved in day-to-day training. We’ll want to use consistent techniques with him moving forward. Anyone you live with, or you know…anyone who is over at your place regularly will need to use the same commands.”

“It’s just me that’ll be training him. I acted a little impulsively and adopted Hopper right as my last season started. I was away pretty often, traveling for work. I tried to train him while I was home, but given how often I was on the road, I had to piece together help from a few friends and hire local dog sitters to watch him. There was next to no consistency as far as training. I was scrambling to find anyone who could take him for a few days at a time. I didn’t want to be any more of an inconvenience by asking them to take on training too. As far as a routine, we haven’t had one. I guess that’s probably part of our problem.”

It strikes me that maybe Hopper isn’t the only one struggling with allof the changes over the last few months. It’s understandable, anyone would be expected to have a tough time having to relocate their entire life for work while attempting to train a puppy.

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