That should all be pointing a huge flashing neon sign to take her up on this. Instead, he suddenly needed to get some space from her. Quickly.
“I need to go do some calls. Outside of the building. For the rest of the day.”
She looked like she didn’t believe a word of that. “Okay. Just tell me what to do with Brownie. And if I can text an update to Andre.”
He checked the dog over, and they got him settled in one of the kennels where he would wake up slowly.
Charlie sent Michael an update with a little video using a filter that made her look like a dog. She sang the first line to Elvis’s “Hound Dog” before she cut herself off laughing and telling Andre that she didn’t know any other songs that had dogs in them but that she’d just realized this song wasn’t really appropriate. Then she told him everything had gone well and that Brownie was resting, and they would text another update later.
As soon as he was sure that the dog and Charlie would be fine without him, Griffin got the hell out of the clinic. And away from the most intriguing woman he had maybe ever met. Before he backed her up to the examination table in room two.
But not before he wished he had a copy of that video to watch a few more times.
Dammit. She really was delightful.
9
“Yeah, yeah, she’s everything I remember. And more.”
The two otters took the chance to give their opinion. They chattered to him for a good two minutes. Unfortunately, when they were finished, Griffin still felt completely mixed up about Charlie.
“She’s been here for one day. One. Day. And already I’m feeling pressured. And annoyed.”
Gus, the adult male otter, and father to four of the other otters, climbed into Griffin’s lap. He told Griffin he was being ridiculous and then pawed at the pocket on Griffin’s shirt. Griffin gave him a couple of treats and then stroked his hand from the animal’s head to tail.
He did love these guys. He hadn’t intended to. He’d come to join Tori in the practice believing that he would see mostly cows, horses, cats, and dogs. But the otters had already been a part of the Landry family, and it had only taken them about a day to win him over.
The otters weren’t the best listeners though. In fact, they hardly ever shut up long enough to hear someone else speak. But they followed him around, excitedly noisy whenever they saw him. He was like an otter celebrity. They thought he was great, even when he didn’t bring them treats. They were easy to make happy.
And all of that reminded him of Charlie.
Griffin rolled his eyes and shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m never going to be able to not think about her, am I?” he asked Gus.
Gus wasn’t sure, but he thought another treat might help him form an opinion.
Griffin handed it over.
“She comes off as this woman who is used to everyone just nodding and saying, “Yes, ma’am.” Griffin actually gave a short chuckle. “She even admitted she always gets her way. But…” He thought about her in those knee-high rubber boots and then the scrubs, not only taking direction but doing a damn good job. The kennel had been clean, and the room even smelled good when she was done. “She doesn’t hesitate to jump in and get things done. She’s pushy as hell, but she does listen.”
At least, kind of. When he’d expressed concern about how people would be interacting with the animals, she’d listened. That was really fucking nice.
He knew what he was talking about. He had more knowledge and experience in human-animal interactions than she did. He was overly protective sometimes, but it was with all the right intentions. She seemed to realize that. Even if the “no’s” weren’t what she wanted to hear, she respected his expertise.
That was really fucking nice. He’d butted heads so many times with so many people who didn’t respect his experience and training. It had led to him getting fired twice.
Well, that was the underlying reason. The real reason he’d been fired and not just had a stern talking to was that he let his passion and protectiveness override the you shouldn’t call him a selfish bastard thought at the back of his mind, and don’t grab the mega-donor’s wife by the arm and march her out of the tiger exhibit in front of everyone warning his brain had tried to give him.
It also seemed easy to make Charlie happy.
Yes, physically. He couldn’t not think about that when he thought about giving her things she wanted. She’d been very upfront and vocal about what she liked when he’d been kissing and touching her. And yes, that was a huge turn-on.
But it seemed easy enough to make her happy otherwise as well.
And damn it, he wanted to.
She wanted him to talk about otters to little kids. How hard could that be? She also wanted his help coming up with otter facts to put up at the enclosure. He could do that.
He looked around. The enclosure was impressive. Mitch Landry had designed it and built it with the help of his cousins Fletcher and Zeke. It included rocks and logs and branches that gave the otters plenty of things to climb on and play with. There was also a long, winding river and two swimming pools for the otters to splash and swim in. The river even had a riverbank made with dirt, mud, and grasses taken from the actual river just a couple of miles away. The otters slipped and slid on it and had built a den in the bank just as they would have in the wild.
The enclosure had been designed to look and function very much like a real otter environment, but it was surrounded by a tall see-through wall that allowed human visitors to observe the otters while keeping the animals protected.
There was also a rise up behind the otter river with a flat grassy area where Mitch’s girlfriend, Paige, did otter yoga with local women three times a week.
Charlie was going to love that. He wasn’t sure if she already knew about it, but she would absolutely want to advertise that and push for more classes. Not that Paige would mind. She was a firecracker on her own and might just stand toe-to-toe with Charlie if she didn’t want to do it, but… why wouldn’t she want to do it?
Charlie wasn’t really asking for anything that crazy.
She wanted to do things that would make the place more fun and more appealing to more people. Which would, in turn, make it more profitable for her family.
A few hedgehogs, some snow cones, collectible stickers.
Those weren’t big things overall.
He should probably cool it a little.
But it wasn’t the snow cones he was worried about. It was how much more likable she was. Already. Watching her brainstorm and muck out a dog kennel had made him like her even more.
A couple of weeks with hedgehogs and kettle corn—because, of course, they’d have kettle corn too, right? What was a good concession stand without kettle corn? He might have to suggest that…
Yeah, he was totally screwed.
Griffin gave Gertie, the adult female otter, a stroke as she climbed over his lap. Gertie was Gus’s girlfriend, and they were hoping that she would be having pups again soon to add to the brood they were already raising that was getting more independent.
“I’m thinking about kettle corn, Gert,” Griffin said. “She’s got me thinking about kettle corn.”
Gertie squeaked her approval.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, petting her again. “This woman is going to have a merry-go-round and Ferris wheel in a month. I’d put money on it.”