G.G. had the mad urge to rush over, drop onto the floor before her and say, “I am, I’m a pretty puppy.” And beg her to hold and nuzzle him that way. Instead, he simply stood, watching her repeat the routine one final time, and then she ducked her head to nuzzle and kiss H.D. before scooping him up and suddenly rolling onto her back, taking H.D. with her so that he landed with his body on her chest and his face above hers. H.D. immediately set to licking her face with eager excitement, and Ildaria laughed and twisted her neck from side to side to keep him from getting her nose or mouth with his little, wet tongue. Her body was rolling back and forth during this exercise, her legs shifting and her pencil skirt sliding up her legs a bit more with each movement.
G.G. was watching its slow ride upward with breathless anticipation when H.D. suddenly stilled, his head jerking in his directionlike a heat-seeking missile finding its target. In the next moment, the dog abandoned Ildaria with one leaping bound and racedtoward G.G., ears flopping and fluffy tail wagging.
Disappointment pinched G.G. at the end to the game he’d been watching, but he forced it back and managed a smile as he kneltto greet his dog.
“Hey, buddy. Did you have a good night with Ildaria? Hmm?” he asked lightly, scooping up the little fur ball and cuddlingand petting him as he straightened. His gaze slid back to Ildaria to find that she was on her feet, her skirt dropping tocover her shapely legs as she tugged her blouse back into place and then reached up to check her hair.
The neat bun she’d arrived in and managed to keep for the first eight hours that she’d worked in his office, had loosenedand fallen. Most of her hair was a long black wave, ending at the part still caught in the knot. Grimacing, she tugged thefastener loose and let her hair fall free. She then moved toward him in a relaxed walk, a smile claiming her lips.
“All done for the night?”
“Yeah.” Hearing the husky sound to his voice, G.G. cleared his throat and nodded. “All done.”
“Great.” She beamed at him brightly and moved past him, giving H.D. a pat on the head. “I guess I’ll head back to Marguerite’s then. He was good, by the way. Didn’t eat a single thing he shouldn’t, or get into any trouble. What time do you want me back tomorrow?”
G.G. turned, watching as she scooped up her shoes, and bent to slip on one then the other. They were damned sexy shoes witha little black bow on each heel that he hadn’t noticed earlier.
“G.G.?”
He liked the way the nickname sounded on her lips, kind of husky and sweet. Then he realized she was waiting for an answer,and cleared his throat again. “The club doesn’t open until sunset. Half an hour before that is fine. I only had you come inearly today so I could give you some pointers on the bookkeeping. But I can keep H.D. with me until the club opens.”
“Awesome.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “That means I have time for a nap before I go apartment hunting.”
“Apartment hunting?” His gaze had dropped to her legs and feet in the pretty little shoes again, but he lifted it back toher face with interest.
“Well, I can’t stay with Marguerite and Julius forever,” she pointed out with a wry smile. “I’ve felt guilty staying with them at all. And that’s on me, not because they’ve acted like I’m a burden,” she assured him, as if he might believe Marguerite had made her feel unwelcome. “They’ve been really kind, but I’m not used to depending on others. Fortunately, now that I have not one, but two full-time jobs, I don’t have to. I can use the money I’ve saved up for first and last months’ rent and save the money for my tuition out of my wages.” She shrugged. “So I’ll take a nap and then get up and start searching the internet for apartments.”
“Or you could stay here.” The words were out of his mouth before his brain could filter them. But when she stood with hermouth open, her eyes blinking in surprise, he mentally reviewed what he’d said and quickly added, “I mean in the building.This is one of four apartments above the club. There are two on the third floor and two on this floor. Sofia—she works thebar,” he paused to explain before continuing, “She has one of the apartments on the third floor, and I’m the only one on thisfloor. There are still two apartments available, one on each floor. I expected one of them would go to the bookkeeper andthe other to the dog sitter if they didn’t already have a place in the city. But—” He shrugged wryly and pointed out, “You’reboth the dog sitter and the bookkeeper so get your choice of apartments.”
When she didn’t respond right away, he added, “H.D.’s last sitter was mortal. I couldn’t find an immortal to do it, and hadto make do with a mortal. Fortunately, she already lived in the city because I wouldn’t have been comfortable with offeringher an apartment here. It was risky even having her around the building, but I was desperate. I did make it clear she wasnever to step foot in the Night Club though.”
He paused briefly, but her continued silence made him add, “Living here would solve your apartment problem, and the rent is cheap. Also, you wouldn’t need to commute to work, just head downstairs, and if an emergency crops up you’ll be nearby, and . . .” He let his voice trail away, not for lack of excuses to move her into the building, but because he realized he was yapping. G.G. wasn’t a yapper. Usually. He was a listener. Women loved to talk and he was always happy to listen.
