Page 21 of The CEO

This time I didn’t hold back my laugh. “I told you there’s nothing there, but I’ll definitely come. Maybe I can meet a handsome and generous man who loves animals while I’m there.”

“I have a feeling you don’t have to look too far to find the man you’re looking for.” Adele’s phone buzzed, stopping her from saying anything more. “Shoot. It looks like I need to go. Give me your information real quick and I’ll send you something in the next few days.” Rattling off my email address, I looked around for the dogs. It was probably time to start heading back to the apartment. I still needed to put their dinner in the crockpot. Hell, their dinners smelled so good I was tempted to eat along with them. No one would know if I did.

“It was good meeting you, Pria. I hope to see you at the fundraiser.” Adele waved as she headed toward Trixie.

“It was good meeting you too.”

Everything was going so well.The dogs seemed to have gotten all their energy out at the park. No one was tugging on their leash as we headed back to the apartment. By no one, I meant Sarah. She seemed to be in a good mood, and I was going to treat her for it once we got upstairs.

I knew I shouldn’t have been counting my lucky stars. One minute everything was great and the next, first one squirrel and then another ran right in front of us. If any animal should have been banned from New York, it should have been squirrels; they were trouble with a capitalT. Sarah darted for one and then the other nearly ripping my arm off. The girl was seriously strong.

Instead of letting her take me down like she did the first day, I let go of the leash. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do until I watched Sarah run like her ass was on fire down the sidewalk after the squirrels. Orvy started barking like he was telling her to come back, but she wasn’t listening to either one of us.

Scooping Jimmy into my arms, I took off after Sarah. It really was like trying to run after a horse. One second she was there and the next she was gone. Completely out of sight. One block and then another, I tried to catch up to her as I screamed her name over and over again. My voice was becoming hoarse from yelling. In the distance, I could see her smelling a bush. I yelled Sarah’s name again and what did she do? She looked at me, ran toward me only to run right past me. I tried to stomp on her leash as she flew by to no avail.

A runner I was not, and I was starting to slow down. I was surprised I’d lasted as long as I had. When I saw the building Kingston lived in up ahead, I knew I needed to drop the dogs off and head back out as quickly as possible. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Kingston was going to kill me when he found out I’d lost his dog.

Tears sprung to my eyes as I opened the door. Spotting the doorman, I rushed over dragging Orvy with me. He seemed to want to follow after Sarah and wasn’t liking that we’d gone inside. “I don’t mean to bother you, but do you by any chance have a key to get to Mr. Avery’s penthouse?”

His eyes flicked up and then back down at the paper that was in front of him. “And what would your name be?”

I understood he was doing his job, but I needed to get back out there and look for Sarah. I gripped Orvy’s leash tighter and hugged Jimmy to me as I tried to rein in what I wanted to say so this man would take them. Unfortunately, in my time here, I hadn’t met this doorman and he didn’t know who Iwas. I understood he was trying to protect the occupants of the building by not letting random people up, but time was of the essence.

“My name is Pria Wang. I’m staying in Kingston Avery’s penthouse while he’s out of town. I wanted?—”

“Yes, I have you down here as his guest. What may I help you with?” He eyed me up and down. I was sure I looked a mess and my voice sounded like I’d smoked twenty packs of cigarettes a day, but I didn’t care. I needed his help.

Holding the leashes out to him, I already had one foot aimed at the door ready to leave as soon as I handed them over. “I need you to take Orville and Jimmy up to Mr. Avery’s apartment.”

He looked down at the dogs, the leashes I was holding out, and then to me. “Where’s Sarah?”

Good question.

“She ran away and I need to go find her. Hence why I’m standing here trying to hand over these two. Can. You. Take. Them. Or. Not?” If I had to, I’d take them with me, but it would be easier if I didn’t have to worry about them. I had to find Sarah, and the longer I was in here trying to get this bozo to take the other two dogs, the faster my chances of finding her diminished.

His eyes widened and he gasped as if I’d committed a cardinal sin. Or maybe he knew precisely how Kingston would react when he found out the news. Either way, I knew it was bad, but I couldn’t help but drop the leash out of instinct when she went chasing after those damn squirrels. Squirrels needed to be banned from this part of town because every time I saw one, I nearly had a panic attack. I was starting to believe I had PTSD from our first walk. I was likely going to have it now after losing her and having to explain all this to Kingston.

“Please take them upstairs so I can continue looking. I need to find her,” I begged, thrusting the leashes into his waiting handbefore he agreed. “Thanks,” I called over my shoulder as I jogged outside.

I didn’t get far though. I ran straight into a hard chest. When I looked up, up, and up some more, my gaze was met by the icy green orbs of Kingston Avery.

I was well and truly fucked now.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

kingston

Stepping out of my car,I had only taken two steps before Pria ran straight into me. She looked at me in shock and then tears filled her eyes.

Did she know tears were my weakness? I had planned to yell at her when I saw her, and she likely knew. They didn’t look fake, especially as one slipped down her cheek and a flood of them followed.

“You’re going to hate me.” Her lower lip quivered as tears slipped past her perfect pout. “I lost Sarah.” My hands tightened on her arms and her head started shaking as she continued to speak. “We were almost here when a fucking squirrel ran out in front of her. Don’t they know to stay hidden when she’s around?” She didn’t let me answer and even if she had, I wouldn’t have known what to say to her statement. Pria seemed a little unhinged. “She was about to drag me down and I let go of her leash. We’d had such a nice day, and I thought we’d turned a corner. I dropped Jimmy and Orvy off with the doorman to take them upstairs while I went back out to look for her.”

“Which way did she go?” I asked through gritted teeth. I wasn’t sure how I was going to look at her day after day if anything happened to Sarah. Was Pria’s job in life to piss me off?

“That way.” She pulled out of my grip and pointed to the left. “She’s so fast.”

That she was, but if we were lucky she’d stop by one of the vendors close by and beg for some food. If not, I’m not sure how we’d find her. There were so many places for her to go and there was always the chance someone might try to steal her. It was doubtful with how big she was, but she was a beautiful dog. Who knew? My mind was all over the place on all the possibilities.

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