Kylie came walking up to the vet clinic, the morning rays just beginning to peek over the horizon. She was grinning to herself. I have a job, I have a job…When she’d been talking to Dr. Whitaker the afternoon before, she’d been so sure she wasn’t going to get hired. She didn’t have bookkeeping or receptionist experience. She wasn’t on the fast track to become a vet tech. Hell, she’d never even owned a pet.

And yet, he’d hired her.

She wasn’t about to question why, but instead, just thanked her lucky stars that finally, something in her life was going her way.

She felt a little twinge of guilt over not telling Dr. Whitaker about her pregnancy, but she quickly shoved the thought away. No one wanted to hire a young girl who was almost four months pregnant, unmarried, with no place to live, and no prospects. She’d just have to work hard, hope her morning sickness continued to stay under control, and wear loose-fitting clothing for as long as possible. Hopefully, by the time the vet realized the truth, he’d also know what a great employee she was, and wouldn’t want to fire her.

Could he even fire her for being pregnant? She had no clue. They didn’t exactly hand out legal advice along with defective condoms, although she was pretty damn sure that should be changed in the future.

Either way, this was Idaho, not exactly home of workers’ rights. Getting fired for being pregnant totally seemed plausible to Kylie, not to mention that even if it wasn’t legal, how would she fight it? It wasn’t like she had deep pockets, let alone a lawyer on speed-dial.

No, her best bet was to just work as hard as her body would allow her, and make him realize she was indispensable. Let the bad news hit when it would, and hope for the best.

She wandered down the hallway to the back where she found Dr. Whitaker working on cleaning cages and filling water bottles. “Good morning, Dr. Whitaker,” she called out. He looked up and shot her a huge grin.

“Hey! Is it that time already?” His eyes flicked up to the clock on the wall. “Time flies when you’re having fun.” He strode over and shook her hand. “Ready to have some fun of your own?”

The butterflies that were busily dancing up her arm at his touch told her that she was already having fun, but she tried to ignore that thought. This was her boss. Nothing more than that. She’d already been dumb enough to fall for one completely ineligible male. She didn’t need to bat twice at that pitch.

“Sure, sure!” She looked around at the cages, suddenly realizing that if he wanted her to clean up cat shit, she was up shit creek. She couldn’t fake an allergy to cat poop, could she? That seemed like a strange substance to be allergic to, to say the least.

Dr. Whitaker caught her glance and said, “Most of the stuff back here is taken care of by Ollie – he’s the teen you met yesterday. He’s better back here than up front, so best to leave these tasks to him or me. Where I need your help is with paperwork. And coffee. I have a coffee pot and supplies for it over there,” he jerked his head towards what appeared to be an employee kitchen, which mostly seemed to just be a dorm fridge, microwave, and coffee pot, “but I never take the time to make a pot. It’d be great if you could do that.”

She laughed a little. “I’m pretty sure I can make coffee every morning,” she said with just a hint of wryness in her voice. She didn’t want to appear to be laughing at her new boss…even if she was.

He grinned back. “I knew there was a reason I hired you. Okay, let’s go over the phone system and files and stuff.” They walked back upfront, Kylie trailing along behind him, studying the sway of his ass in his tight Wranglers as he walked. She gulped. She’d heard that sometimes, hormones could get out of control when a girl was pregnant, and considering the bolt of desire that just shot through her, she was going to guess she was one of those girls.

This was gonna be one tough job, if only because she had to keep her hands to herself while doing it.

He ran through the phone with her, how to check messages, what he wanted her to say when she answered, how to turn on the computer – she noticed he had no password or login for it; she didn’t even know computers could be set up that way anymore – and then, the grand finale.

“I have a calendar,” he said, pulling a small book out of the front pocket of his shirt. She looked at it, trying to hide the surprise on her face. When he said he had a calendar, he meant an honest-to-God calendar, not something online or on his phone.

She mentally revised his age in her head. She’d thought that maybe he wasn’t so old after all, but this…this was starting to make her think her original guess was correct. Maybe he just had good genes, and appeared to be 35 when he was actually 85.

Really good genes.

“One of my biggest struggles is keeping all of my appointments straight,” he said, holding the calendar out for her to take. She began flipping through it, reading the bold if sloppy handwriting as she went. “I realized that this was only going to get worse if I hired you. I can’t have my calendar in my pocket and here at the clinic at the same time, but we’re both going to need access to it if having you here is going to do me any good. So! I realized: You could take my calendar and put it into the computer. Then I can see it on my phone and you can see it on the computer at the same time!”

He sounded like he’d just discovered the joys of the internet last week, and was now excitedly spreading the knowledge to others. Next, he was going to start telling her all about those handy-dandy apps that can be downloaded to a phone, or how he finally set up a profile on Facebook last week.

She bit down so hard on the inside of her cheek, trying her damnedest to keep from busting out with laughter, that she tasted the iron tang of blood filling her mouth. Her best wasn’t good enough, and he read her like a book. “I probably sound like the world’s biggest idiot when it comes to computers, don’t I?”

“Uhh…”

“They never did much for me,” he continued on, thankfully not requiring her to reply. “I’ve always been happiest around animals, not electronics. I only got a smartphone when my flip phone died a violent death under the hoof of a cow and the Verizon Wireless store didn’t have another one in stock to replace it.” He was holding out the newest iPhone as if it was a snake that was going to bite him, and she struggled to hold back another laugh.

To go from a flip phone to the latest and greatest iPhone was a bit like upgrading from a Geo Metro to a Lamborghini. The fact that the sheer power and capabilities that he was holding in his hand seemed to be completely lost on him was…endearing. She’d even go so far as to say adorable.

Completely insane, but adorable.

She took the iPhone from him after he thumbed it to unlock it, and began flipping through. He only had the basics installed, so she quickly downloaded the Google Calendar app and showed him where she’d put the icon. “I’ll put all of your appointments into Google Calendar here on your computer,” she gestured towards the hulking monstrosity on the desk that was probably old enough to be her mother, “and it’ll show up on your phone. Easy peasy—”

“—Pumpkin squeezy,” he finished for her with a grin. She grinned back. Yeah, impressing Dr. Whitaker wasn’t going to be hard after all.