Page 36 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

Having fun was all well and good. But I wouldn’t forget my daughter’s needs came first.

Dex shot me a grin over his shoulder before he opened the passenger door with a flourish for Berry and then for me to get in. I slipped inside and tried not to purr at the feeling of the leather seats against the backs of my legs. I looked around the flawless interior, imagining racing down curvy back country roads with the wind in my hair and seventies music pumping out of the speakers.

On a non-rainy day of course.

My needs? Just didn’t matter.

NINE

A field tripto the pet store with a woman I barely knew and her increasingly charming young daughter—and oh, couldn’t forget Bob—wasn’t how I’d planned to spend my day, but man, I was enjoying it.

“Watch his leash. Keep tension in the lead,” Shelby told Berry as we walked the aisles of Pet-o-Rama.

Well, I walked. Strolled, really, hands in my pockets, since I didn’t even have to hang on to my dog. Shelby?

Marched at the pace of a drill sergeant with a list a mile long of things to accomplish. She wasn’t even a pet owner, but she had a schedule to keep.

Berry moved at a pace in the middle, meandering with Bob to sniff and check out every single thing.

She didn’t sniff, however. Bob did enough sniffing for both of them.

“Berry, you’re slackening on the leash. If he gets loose—”

“If he gets loose, he’ll flop over and show his belly to the first person who offers him treats or pets. Or both. Bob is not an attack dog,” I reminded her, just in case she’d somehow missed this fact.

Shelby shot me a narrow-eyed look over her shoulder as she continued her march through the store. “And if he encounters other dogs?”

I made a show of glancing around. At this particular moment, no other dogs were in sight, just a few couples and some senior citizens. Of course, that could change at any moment.

If it did, Shelby the Fearsome would be ready.

I shrugged. “Depends on if said dog has a toy. Bob might run into him and slobber him into submission in an attempt to make him his best friend. Then he’d steal the toy.”

Shelby sighed as if there was no helping me, but I saw her lips twitch.

Bob and I were similar, personality-wise. We didn’t get worked up over much. And if we lacked other methods to win someone over, we used our innate charm.

His was much more powerful than mine, but having a cute dog also helped.

Berry’s eyes lit up. “Can we get him a toy?”

“Sure.” He had a giant bin of them already, but what was one more? I almost always got him some on every trip.

Berry picked up the pace in search of the toy aisle and Bob hurried to keep up with her. She had to clear three more aisles of dishes, bowls, mats, beds, and leashes, and other assorted dog and cat paraphernalia. She came upon the dog toy aisle with a gasp as if she’d just found F.A.O. Schwartz in New York City.

Bob plopped down on her sneakered foot and together, they scanned the shelves that extended far above their heads. Every possible toy was crowded together. Plastic toys, stuffed toys, rope toys, balls, and many more.

“Can we get him one?” Berry asked again breathlessly, as if she hadn’t believed me the first time.

“Definitely. Get him whatever you want.”

Shelby glanced at me, aghast. “Not whatever. Some will be too expensive.”

Grasping that this was somehow a teachable moment since a child was involved, I nodded sternly. “Yes, no more than, I don’t know, fifty.”

“Fifty?” Berry’s eyes widened to the size of silver dollars.

“No, not fifty,” Shelby snapped. “He meant ten.”

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