Page 29 of Omega's Reluctant Mate
I licked my lips. “I think… that it might be because it doesn’t affect him.”
“But it does me?”
I nodded. “In a way. It’s not about you, but it does affect you.”
“Umm…”
I reached out, then thought better of it and ended up holding my hand awkwardly to my chest. “This is one hundred percent a me thing, and I don’t want you to feel like it’s a reflection on you. Can you trust me on that?”
He studied me for a moment, then nodded.
Tiny sniffed at me then plopped on the sand.
Corey looked down at him. “I should get back to the walking part of the job.” He paused. “Do you want to join me?”
“I’d like that.”
He gave me a soft smile, and I reached over to brush some sand from his shirt.
“Tiny,” he started. “Walk time.”
Tiny trotted over from where he’d been playing and fell in beside us as we walked.
It was quiet, peaceful. Despite the fact that Corey was there, and clearly wanted answers, he didn’t push. We were two men and a dog walking along the beach.
“Are all the dogs you walk this easy?” I asked after several minutes.
Corey laughed. “No. Tiny’s an angel. Most of the dogs can’t be let off the leash unless I take them to the dog park. Granted, most don’t have this much room without a crowd.”
“Your clients probably like that you spend so much one-on-one time with the dogs.”
“Depends,” he shrugged. “My early afternoon has several group walks, where I get a bunch of dogs from a building and walk them at the same time.”
“That must be difficult.”
He shook his head. “Not as bad as you’d think. I always have to see how any dog will react to the group, but once they get to know their friends it tends to go ok. Most of them are quite a bit smaller too, needing to go out midday or they’d have accidents inside the apartments or condos.”
He paused. “That’s the thing about Billionaire Row. Yes, it’s my job to come in and walk Tiny, but there’s always somebody around if he needs to go outside again. House staff know the basics, so my job is socialization and getting that first walk of the day in, especially on days when Wes and Cody are too busy or out of town. Tiny knows somebody will play with him every day. But just getting a dog out on a schedule is critical for those houses without staff. They’ve gotta go, yanno?”
I chuckled. “Makes sense. So the dogs don’t get as much individual time?”
“It’s what the owners want and can afford. Group walks that focus on the dog doing their business are the least expensive. Wes can obviously afford to splurge for Tiny, but most people just want to come home and know that they’re not going to step in an accident, or find that the house has been destroyed because the dog had too much energy.”
“I think I get it.”
Corey glanced up at me with a soft smile, and I loved the simplicity of the moment. There was no pressure, no high-powered executives with their own ideas sitting across a table.
Just him and me, and for the briefest moment, it felt right.
Chapter 13 - Corey
Thursday and Friday went much like Tuesday and Wednesday had: me waking up sore and horny, finding Nate on the beach, and spending time together while I walked Tiny.
He still hadn’t told me what made him run, but the more time I spent with him the more I realized just how sheltered he’d made himself. It only strengthened my feeling that he needed a friend.
Cody and Theo hadn’t been mated to billionaires long, but between what they told me, and how Zaya and the others welcomed me into the fold, I’d seen there were plenty of social occasions. I’d been flown to San Francisco on a whim more than once to attend the opening of a new play, a couple times even to New York. I’d attended parties with people who thought my yearly wage wasn’t enough for a day’s shopping, and that wasn’t even a drop in the bucket from what I’d been told.
However, when I asked Nate about places he’d been, or fun things he’d done, he demurred. Vacations seemed to be a foreign concept, and social events something to be avoided. He talked about going overseas for business meetings rather than fun, and didn’t have any hobbies other than golf.
