Page 10 of Grumpy Boss's Secret

“What’s wrong with her eye?” I asked.

“It’s not an infection,” Susan said hurriedly. “It’s just an old wound.”

I had a feeling Potato might have been there for a while. She did look a little worse for wear. I opened her cage and put my hand inside. Potato lifted her head and sniffed it. Then she stood up and stepped forward. She snuffled my fingers for a few seconds, then bent her head and bumped my hand with it.

Immediately, an electric thrill passed through me. I felt like she'd chosen me. She'd been here, waiting for me, and she had just claimed my soul as the one that matched hers in a secret, inexplicable magic ceremony.

I was in love.

“Oh, my God,” I said. “Susan, you were right. This is my cat.”

Susan laughed as if she was now someone who didn't believe what she'd said. It didn't matter. This was my cat. I would adopt her, meaning I would have to stay in Seattle.

"You're going to be my baby," I told Potato as she let me scratch behind her ears. "And that nasty old Ian Huntington can't stop me."

“Ian Huntington?”

I turned to Susan in surprise. “Yeah, he’s my boss,” I said.

"Oh my gosh, I haven't seen him in years," Susan said. "He lived next door to me when he was a kid. He was the sweetest little guy."

It must be a different Ian Huntington.

"He was so interested in airplanes! Airplanes and reading. He wanted to be a pilot. But I guess running a billion-dollar company is even better," she said.

Okay, fine, same, Ian. But he'd changed.

“Tell him I say hello,” she said. “See if he remembers me.”

“I will,” I said, even though I hated for her to be disappointed like that. I was sure he wouldn’t have anything to say, even if he did remember her.

Susan asked me for my email address and emailed me a link to the adoption application.

“We won’t be able to process it until you have an approved lease signed,” she said. “But you can fill out most of the form ahead of time and save your progress.”

“I’ll do it tonight,” I said, smiling. I waved at Potato. “Bye, Potato.”

Potato was looking at me. Someday that cute little face was going to be in my home. Kirk was right. Getting a pet was a great idea. As I walked out of the shop and into the twilight, I realized that I'd felt that same electric thrill of connection once in my life before. It was when I read Kirk's writing for the first time.

Chapter Four

"Greece, here I come!" I stepped inside the Seattle airport, trailing my red rolling suitcase – now filled with a bevy of recent purchases – and sparkling excitedly.

This trip was going to be good. This trip was going to be great. Ian Huntington was not going to ruin it for me. Things had been much better at the office since my first day. Granted, I hadn't spoken to or seen Ian for the rest of the week, but still, it was better. Not having to meet with him regularly meant that I could endure the times when I had to be in the same room.

I'd picked out a new apartment and signed a lease. I planned on moving Potato there when I returned from Greece, then slowly moving in with her. It was a beautiful apartment, with big windows, on the sixth story of a quaint old building near the water.

Everything was falling into place. Everything felt better. I was excited to travel. Things were going to be good. Then I caught sight of Ian Huntington standing in front of the check-in, staring at me as if something stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Fine. Things were going to be mostly good.

"You're late," he said as I approached him.

I gawked. “We have two hours before the plane leaves,” I said.

“The itinerary instructed you to be here at 9:00 am,” he said. I stared.

“And it said that we would all meet at the gate a half hour before the plane left,” I said. “I didn’t realize you were going to be babysitting.”

Ian’s nostrils flared.

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