Dirty Work

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Chapter One

Ainsley

I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my line of work. Manhattan is full of oddballs, and I seem to be a magnet for them. I’ve taken each and every one of their, shall we say, eccentric requests in stride. You know what they say. The customer’s always right. Well, almost always. I do have some hard limits.

And this may be one of them.

I get down on my knees and look my newest prospective client in the eye. The trendy Tribeca loft is big by Manhattan standards, but he seems to dominate the space, his massive frame making the Mad Men–style furniture look like it belongs in a dollhouse. He’s impeccably groomed and sleekly muscled, coiled and ready to pounce like a jungle cat at the slightest sign of weakness.

Honestly, I’m a little afraid of him. He’s more than a tad overwhelming. I’m not sure I can handle that much raw, unadulterated power. I wonder not for the first time what he’s doing here, in this apartment. With his bulk and brawn, he seems more suited to country living than city dwelling. I can’t help feeling he’d be happier somewhere with more room to roam.

“So what do you think, Ainsley? Can you do it?” an uncertain female voice asks from over my shoulder.

Brie Lawson. I’d almost forgotten she’s there, that’s how uncharacteristically rattled I am. In truth, she’s the prospective client, not Roscoe. We met at a spin class in the Village. I made the mistake of telling her what I do for a living, and she insisted I was the only one who could help her.

And Roscoe.

“Please, Ainsley. I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t say yes.”

“I don’t know, Brie,” I answer, not taking my eye off Roscoe, who’s been surprisingly quiet throughout this whole ordeal. “This is totally out of my comfort zone.”

“I’ll pay double your usual rate. Triple. Well, Jake will. Lord knows he can afford it.”

That’s right. It isn’t even Brie who’ll be my client if I accept her crazy proposal. It’s her mysterious, heretofore unseen brother who’ll be footing the bill for my services.

The very exorbitant bill.

I make one last head-to-paw assessment of the Irish wolfhound sitting on his haunches in front of me, then get back to my feet with a crisp nod.  This may be an exercise in insanity given my spotty history with dogs, especially large ones, but three times my going rate is too damn good to pass up. Odds & Errands—the concierge service I started out of my apartment a little less than a year ago—needs the business. And mama needs those Louboutin striped leather sling-backs she saw in the display window at Saks.

“Deal.”

Brie starts to squee, but I rise, cutting her off with a hand held palm out, Supremes style. “I’ll walk him twice a day. Make sure he’s got food and water. That’s it. No snuggle time. No cleaning up any of his little—or not so little—indoor messes. No hauling fifty-pound bags of dog chow up five flights of stairs.”

“The building has an elevator.”

I arch a brow at her. “Do you want me to take this job or not?”

“I want, I want.” Brie throws her arms around me and I instinctively tense up. Such effusive displays of affection aren’t the norm in my family. Hell, any displays of affection aren’t the norm for the emotionally stunted Scot clan, and I’m still getting used to my new friend’s tendency toward over-the-top exuberance. I make a conscious effort to relax as she continues to sing my praises. “You’re a lifesaver. Seriously. I was dreading telling Jake I was dumping Roscoe on him. But he won’t take it half so bad now that you’ll be around to share the burden.”

I don’t like the sound of those words. Share the burden. But it’s too late now. I’ve already given my word, and that’s not something I take lightly. Besides, those Louboutins aren’t going to buy themselves.

The aforementioned burden trots on over and tries to worm his way between us, clearly wanting to get in on the action. I disentangle myself from Brie and take a step back from the pair.

“How did you get stuck with him anyway?” I ask.

She reaches down and takes hold of Roscoe’s collar, keeping him blessedly beside her and away from me. “My parents won a three-month cruise in some raffle fundraiser. They figured since I’ve been staying with Jake while making the audition rounds, we could take care of Roscoe together. I don’t think anyone—least of all me—considered the possibility I’d book something while they were gone. And certainly not something that was going to take me out of town for so long.”

Brie’s practically bursting with excitement, and I’m reminded what brought me here in the first place. I push aside my aversion to PDAs—and Roscoe—and step back toward her to give her a quick squeeze. “Have I told you how jealous I am? Six months doing my absolute favorite musical—Les Misérables—in one of my favorite places, sunny San Diego? You’re going to kill it, girl.”

She totally is. Brie may be one of my newest friends—I’ve known her only a few months—but I had the pleasure of catching her semi-autobiographical one-woman show at Studio 54, and she’s damn good. I’ve seen enough Broadway musicals to know she’s got what it takes to make it on the Great White Way. That was one of the few perks of being a junior associate at Dwight, Kearns & Goodwin, attorneys at law. Free theater tickets when the partners didn’t need them to wine, dine and entertain clients. Yankees and Rangers, too, which Dale sure didn’t seem to mind.

No. I’m not going to think about Dale. And I’m not going to think about DK&G. I’ve left all that in the rearview mirror, on the side of the highway covered in road dust.

Brie blushes and returns the squeeze, pulling me back to the present. “Thanks, but I’m only in the ensemble. If it’s anything like either of the Broadway productions, the lighting will be so subdued I’ll be in shadow the whole time.”

“You know what they say.” I shake my finger at her. “There are no small parts…”

“Only small actors,” Brie finishes, and we bump fists. That much PDA I can deal with. Although I’m not sure fist-bumping in front of a dog counts as public.

She lets go of Roscoe’s collar and gives his head a pat, and he flops down onto the floor like a drag queen doing a death drop. He’s way more chill than I expected. Maybe not all big dogs are high maintenance. I’m going to have to read up on the breed. Research is key to everything we do at Odds & Errands. Like I always tell my army of two—Aaron and Erin, and yes, I really did hire two people with pretty much the same name, albeit different spellings and different sexes—preparation is more than half the battle.

“So.” Brie rocks back and forth on the soles of her Vans pink glitter high-tops. “What happens now? Is this a handshake agreement or is there some sort of paperwork we have to sign?”

This is the part I hate. The business part. At least with friends. It’s awkward and icky and it’s why I tend to shy away from mixing work with my personal life. But Brie seemed so desperate when she asked—no, begged—me to bail her out. She’d had a mini-freak-out worrying how her brother would react when she told him she was leaving him with the responsibility of caring for a dog the size of a small pony. Made him seem like a borderline tyrant.

Unfortunately, since the tyrant is the one paying my tab, he’s the one I need to be dealing with.

“There’s paperwork, but since I’m on your brother’s dime, he’s the one who has to sign.”

“Well…” Brie rocks faster, twisting the hem of her Florence and the Machine T-shirt in her fingers. “That might be a problem.”

Great. Not five minutes in, and already a wrinkle in this half-baked plan.

I plop myself down on a retro-chic chair that’s more comfortable than it looks, figuring this has the potential to be a long, drawn-out discussion. Roscoe takes this as an invitation to join me, lumbering over and sprawling across my feet. Christ, he’s heavy. He must weigh close to two hundred pounds. Still, I humor him, scratching behind his ears, which earns me a tail thump.

“How so? You said your brother’s a grade-A workaholic who doesn’t have time to deal with a dog on his own, right? And money’s not an issue for him.”

Brie perches on the arm of an equally uncomfortable looking sofa. “Yes and yes, but he’s in South Beach scouting a location for a new club. He doesn’t get home until late tomorrow night, and I have to be on a plane to California first thing in the morning.”

I frown. This definitely throws a wrench into the works. “I thought your contract didn’t begin for another couple of weeks.”

“The girl I’m replacing is leaving earlier than expected. They want me there as soon as possible.”

She at least has the good graces to look apologetic.

“So your brother’s just going to…what? Walk in and find me here with his dog?” Brie starts to correct me, but I whip out my “Stop! In the name of love” hand gesture again and the words get stuck in her throat. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Your parents’ dog.”

“Of course not. I’ll call him and explain everything before I go. And it if helps, I can take care of the paperwork. I’m an authorized user on his credit card in case of emergencies.”

“I’m not sure he’ll see this as an emergency.”

Brie rolls her eyes dramatically. Everything she does is dramatic. She’s what Erin would call extra. Part and parcel of being an actress, I suppose. I admit, it was a bit much at first, but now that I’m used to it, it’s more entertaining than exhausting.

“Trust me, if the alternative is him scooping dog poop in Hudson River Park, he’ll think it’s an emergency.”

I’m not entirely convinced, but Brie does her best impression of a damsel in distress, her amber eyes going wide as dinner plates and her full lower lip jutting out in a pathetic pout, and I cave.

Sucker.

“Okay.”

Stepping over Roscoe, I make my way to the kitchen area of the open floor plan, where I left my Kate Spade tote, one of the few holdovers from my DK&G days. Fortunately, I always keep a folder in there with a few blank copies of the standard Odds & Errands contract. When you’re in business, especially a business like mine, everyone you meet is a prospective customer.

I pull out a blank contract and a pen, make a couple of quick changes to the standard terms to reflect the specific services and higher rate we agreed on, then slide pen and paper across the mammoth marble-topped kitchen island to Brie. “Read it, print your name and credit card information in the spaces provided and sign on the line marked ‘client.’”

She grabs her ever-present messenger bag, whips out a credit card and fills out the form, signing her name with a flourish that’s as extra as she is. Then she pushes the paper back toward me. I tuck it safely in my tote and hold out my hand. “Pen?”

I hate asking, but I’ve lost so many it’s become a running joke with my employees. I’m almost positive Aaron and Erin have some kind of bet going. The loser probably has to buy the winner Starbucks for a week.

“Oops.” She hands it over.

“Thanks.” I drop it into my bag. “And I’ll need a key. Do you have a spare?”

“Jake keeps one in here somewhere.” She rummages through drawers until she produces a leather key chain with a pair of shiny silver keys dangling from it. She beams, holding it up like she’s found the holy grail. “The long one’s for the entrance to the building, and the short one’s for this apartment. Heads up.”

She tosses it to me, and I make a sweet one-handed catch. Ten years of tae kwon do as a kid, and I still haven’t lost my lightning-fast reflexes. I add the key chain to the growing collection in my tote, making a mental note to tag it later so I remember whose apartment it goes to. “That should do it.”

I give her a brief, semi-awkward parting hug. “Have a great time in San Diego. Work hard. Play hard. And don’t forget to slay.”

She laughs and hugs me back. “I’ll do my best.”

I start for the door, then remember one more thing and turn back to her. “Oh, I should probably have your brother’s cell number, since you’ll be like three thousand miles away.”

She nods. “I’ll text it to you.”

“Great.” I open the door, step through, then turn back one last time.

“But if this blows up in our faces, I’m totally throwing you under the bus.”