Once Upon a Puppy by Lizzie Shane

Author:Lizzie Shane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2021-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

This was, undoubtedly, the worst idea Deenie had ever had.

It had seemed so clever at first. She was good at playing parts—she’d thought it might even be fun to pretend to be Connor’s arm candy for a few nights. But when she’d been cooking up the whole plan, she’d somehow failed to take into account that while this was fake for her, it was Connor’s real life. It could have real consequences for him.

He really wanted this promotion. Even if she thought his priorities were seriously out of whack, she didn’t want to screw this up for him. Making partner mattered to him. It was everything he wanted, and suddenly there was pressure—and that pressure was amplified by the fact that he wanted her to be herself.

She’d been perfectly prepared to play Ashley the Accountant, but as soon as he wanted her to be Deenie the Offbeat Princess Party Planner, her stomach twisted with nerves.

These were her parents’ people. What if they didn’t approve of her? And what if they took that disapproval out on Connor?

She wanted to run in the opposite direction, but she kept her mask in place, her smile perfectly poised as she took Connor’s arm and entered the ballroom. A stage had been set up at the front of the room, with a giant screen displaying the Easter Seals logo. A stretch of banquet tables to her left displayed the silent auction wares, while the rest of the ballroom was filled with numbered, linen-covered tables.

The idea of fashionably late obviously hadn’t occurred to the lawyers at Connor’s firm. Their tables were already nearly full as Connor guided her toward them. When they were a few feet away, a circulating waiter offered them champagne, and Connor thanked him, accepting a glass for each of them.

Deenie took it, grateful for the prop, so at least she knew what to do with her hands.

She never had stage fright, so why was her stomach doing somersaults?

“Connor!” One of the men milling around the tables moved to greet them, a broad smile on his face. He was on the shorter side, with close-cropped black hair, and the kind of endearing, open smile that made Deenie instantly like him.

“Davis, good to see you,” Connor said smoothly, nodding to the woman at his side. “Jodie, you look wonderful.”

“And who’s this?” Davis asked, his heavy black eyebrows bouncing up over a speculative grin as he studied Deenie’s hand on Connor’s arm.

“I’ve been meaning to introduce you two,” Connor said—as if they’d been dating for months. “Deenie Mitchell, Davis Aquino and his wife, Jodie.”

“Deenie.” Davis beamed. “Aren’t you a surprise! I had no idea Connor was seeing anyone.”

“My fault,” Deenie immediately claimed, hugging Connor’s firmly muscled arm. “I’ve been keeping him all to myself.”

Davis’s grin got impossibly bigger.

And so it began.

A thousand names seemed to come at her, though it couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen. She tried to keep track of the partners and their spouses versus the associates in competition with Connor and theirs, but there were too many names—and she was too nervous.

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