Page 23 of Confessions of a Canine Drama Queen

“You’re right. We’ll probably need a bit more time,” she said, nodding. “Let’s say five thirty. I’ve gone over the itinerary that Isla and Scout provided, and I have some ideas for how we can make Molly shine. Now, I can’t be too involved in front of the cameras but—”

“Cameras?” Keaton shook his head as if trying to rattle a thought around.

“Yeah, the film crew will be getting footage for the documentary.”

“Whatdocumentary?” His hands tightened on the steering wheel. Funny how his sister hadn’t mentioned that little detail. “I never heard anything about a documentary.”

August held up the folder in her hand. “You mean the documentary that’s literally mentioned on the first page of the welcome pack that Leah emailed you?”

The welcome pack, which he definitely had not read and which August had printed out, highlighted, applied sticky tabs to and had likely memorized by now.

Thatwelcome pack.

“You didn’t even open it, did you?” She shook her head. “Typical.”

“Typical what?” His shoulders hiked up a bit. August was supposed to be here to help him, not bust his balls.

“Typicalyou. You always think you can breeze into a place and command the room without doing an ounce of preparation. You fly by the seat of your pants!”

He always tried to make it look that way. Because if he appeared to breeze in, people might think they could get one by him, and he’d found that the Wall Street Sharks tended to show their true colors when they thought you weren’t fully prepared. It was advantageous to have people underestimate him. It had been like that since he was a kid.

Asher Benson had underestimated him—thinking Keaton was just some pauper who’d be so scared to lose his position at the firm that he’d put up with anything to keep it.

Wrong.

“So, has the matchmaker organized you another date?” he asked.

“You’re trying to change the topic.”

“Not trying,” he said, shooting her a cocky grin. “Succeeding.”

She rolled her eyes and, in the back, Molly let out a loud huff. The dog was mercifully docile tonight, but Keaton wasn’t sure how long that luck would last. Something told him that grace tonight would mean a world of annoyance tomorrow. But right now, they had miles and miles of highway in front of them and nothing else to do.

He could figure out the dog competition when they arrived. For now, he wanted to know where August stood with Asher Benson.

“Did you wait until I was trapped in a car with you to bring this up?” she asked, burrowing back into the passenger-side seat.

“Of course not,” he lied. “That’s merely a coincidence.”

“Why do you even care? And don’t give me this ‘we’re friends’ bullshit, okay? Because we’ve gone over that already.”

Just because they didn’t hang out, didn’t mean they weren’t friends, at least in his mind. But clearly she’d taken his teasing to heart.

“You’re like family to me.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie. August might not be related to him by blood, but he’d known her since she was thirteen and she was important to Leah. Therefore, she was important to him.

“You think of me as a little sister?” August’s expression was difficult to read.

“I didn’t say that.” As much as it would be easier if she fit squarely into that category, then he would feel even more gross about being attracted to her. “More like a distant second cousin twice removed...”

She snorted. “You’re sending mixed messages.”

I know.

“Why are you so reluctant to tell me about it?”

If she saw the tactic of switching the spotlight back to her, she didn’t call it out.

“Are you going to judge me for using a matchmaker?” she asked.

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