Page 26 of Nanny for the Athletes

Braden came over shortly after that and asked, “What’s up, Beth? Making friends?”

“Beth didn’t get to do much mingling tonight, so we’re making up for lost time.”

Braden got a determined look in his blue eyes. “I’m on it. Give me a stack of cards.”

I handed him some cards, and then he went hurrying off into the crowd. Like a paperboy with a new route, he made sure everyone had a card, stuffing them into every pocket he could find. He even slid one into the rear pants pocket of the president of the charity organization, giving him an emphatic smack on the rump afterward, which drew a few laughs.

“I wouldloveto send my two Vizslas to you while we’re in Ibiza,” one well-spoken woman was telling me. “I do have to warn you: they’re quite high energy.”

I put on my best smile. “That won’t be a problem. My kennel sits on four acres of land. There’s lots of room for the dogs to run and play and get all their energy out.”

“And if I wanted you to work them individually?” she asked. “Perhaps taking them on daily jogs?”

“That’s… something we can certainly discuss!” I replied. “The cost for such a service…”

She waved a gloved hand. “No matter the cost, my Vizslas simplymusthave private service. May I have three extra cards to give to the other members of the St. Louis Women’s Club?”

“Of course!” I said, handing her a stack.

“Beth!” Braden was waving at me from across the room. “We’ve got a whole pack over here who needs boardingnext week.”

Christian grinned at me. “Better go snag them.”

11

Beth

“I can’t believe we gave away all of my business cards!”

We all laughed in the limo while passing around a bottle of champagne. It was the second one we had opened since leaving the event. Rap music blared in the limo, and the LEDs around the ceiling were flashing in different colors in time with the beat.

“My boy Braden was all over that shit,” one of the linemen said. “He was moving around like a running back, trying to cover as much ground as possible.”

“I’m good at following directions,” Braden said with a huge grin. “Give me an assignment and I’ll get to work.”

“Well, I appreciate all the help,” I said after taking another swig from the bottle. “Hopefully I get some new customers.”

“How did you become a dog nanny?” one of the linemen’s dates asked.

“Yeah!” Braden said. “What started it all?”

“When I was a teenager, I babysat around my neighborhood,” I explained. “We lived in a dense neighborhood, so I had lots of customers. I was booked outweeksin advance, and sometimes babysat for multiple families on the same night. Then one summer, one of the families I babysat for asked if I could watch their dog while they were on vacation. Then another family heard about that and asked me for the same thing. Pretty soon, I was babysitting dogs as much as humans. And I learned that I liked dogs a lot more. So eventually, I stopped babysitting and focused only on pets. Don’t get me wrong—Ilovedbabysitting. Especially if it was just one kid at a time. But there were lots of nights where I was watching half a dozen kids at once, which getsreallycrazy. Dogs are much easier, especially when you’re dealing with more than one.”

“Besides, parents get bent out of shape if you stick their toddler in a crate,” Christian said with a small smile.

Braden barked a laugh. “That might be the funniest thing you’ve ever said.”

Christian frowned. “You act like I never make jokes.”

“You do, but they’re usually not funny.”

The linemen roared with laughter at that. Christian pretended like he was going to throw the bottle of champagne at them.

The music switched to a new rap song, and the two linemen started singing along while dancing in their seats. Braden stood up—which was more of a crouch in the limo—and began twerking in his suit. One of the other women reached over and slapped him on the ass, so I leaned forward and did the same thing. My palm made a satisfyingsmackagainst his butt.

The Colts had won their game last night, and the charity event was a lot of fun. Everyone was having a good time—me included. It helped that I was working with a really nice buzz.

We dropped off the linemen, and then it was just the three of us remaining. Braden and Christian relaxed into the seats across from me.

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