Read Online Must Love Wieners by Casey Griffin - Free Book Online Page A

him to pick it up, staring at him like, Come on. What are you waiting for?
    He chuckled before lobbing the ball across the expansive park. “Where do you want to work once you graduate?”
    “Anywhere, really,” Piper said. “But I want to be able to volunteer more time at the center. Right now we don’t have the facilities or money to treat the serious cases that come in. Using an outside vet seriously drains our funds, which prevents us from taking more dogs off the euthanasia lists around the city.”
    “Really? That’s terrible.”
    “Yeah. It is. Once I’m licensed, hopefully I can prevent some of that. We try to save as many dogs as we can and help find them good homes.”
    He nodded like he’d ticked off another question on his mental list. “So I’d like to go over some of the details of the job and what would be expected.”
    “All right.” Piper didn’t think she could sit up any straighter.
    “The wage will be seventy dollars. You can come over—”
    “Seventy dollars a day?” Piper interrupted.
    “No. Seventy an hour.”
    “An hour?” she blurted. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”
    He hesitated, blinking in surprise. “Is it not enough?”
    “Enough?” Piper stared at him like he was the crazy one now. “It’s too much.” She wondered what would possess him to offer such a ridiculous wage. Who did he think she was, Cesar Millan?
    Suddenly, she remembered stumbling into Aiden’s office the day before wearing hardly anything and how he’d followed her down to the taxi afterward. Of course. He’d jumped to the same conclusions so many telegram customers had before.
    Piper received this kind of treatment all the time, requests for “private parties” or “photo shoots.” How did she not see it before? Probably because she’d never had a request for a dog walker. Plus there was something about Aiden Caldwell. She’d expected more class from the man.
    He doesn’t mix business with pleasure my ass, she thought.
    She jumped to her feet and swiped Colin’s leash off the bench. He scampered over with the ball, ready to play some more, but the moment he saw the expression on her face he dropped it. She clipped on his leash and turned back to Aiden.
    “Look, Mr. Caldwell, I don’t know what kind of girl you think I am, but clearly you have the wrong idea about me.”
    Aiden stared at her openmouthed as she spun on her heel and began to march right out of the park.

 
    7
    Never Mix Business with Wieners
    Piper stomped back the way they’d come through the dog park—which was difficult to do on wood chips—burning with mortification. She should have seen it coming. A sexy CEO offering her a job the moment she needed it most? How desperate did he think she was? Piper, you idiot, she told herself. Of course it was too good to be true.
    “Wait a minute!” Aiden called out to her.
    She didn’t turn back. She kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, weaving through the packed dog park. The crowd had grown since she last noticed. She’d been too busy ogling the man who wanted to proposition her for … well, who knew what.
    When Aiden caught up to her, Sophie was in one arm, his coat in the other. “Hold on a second. Wait. You’re mad because I’m offering you too much money?”
    She spun to face him. “Seventy dollars an hour? What exactly are you expecting for that kind of wage? Another lap dance like yesterday?”
    “I expect you to walk my dog.” His voice rose with what she guessed was insult. “It might be more than your average pay, but that’s what it’s worth to me.”
    “You can hire anyone else in this city for less than half that.”
    “I’m not asking anyone else,” he said. “I’m asking you.”
    Piper gave him a hard stare, trying to figure out what game he was playing. She recalled her original fear, that he pitied her. And to her, that was worse than propositioning her. She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not a charity case, either.”
    He held his hands up in