More than a little irritated that her assistance, and actually saving the man’s life, was being paid back this way, Ildariahad no qualms about sliding into his mind and taking control of him. She quickly rearranged his memories of this meeting,put it into his mind that he was positive she couldn’t be his “angel,” eased his desire to find said “angel” and then senthim back to his car with the mindset to let go of his fruitless hunt, return to the head office, and move on to his next case.
She watched him drive out of the parking lot, worrying about any other possible repercussions from that video. Lucian hadseen it and dragged her here. Jack Barr had found her because of it. What if Juan or one of his people saw it? Would she haveto go on the run again?
Mouth tightening, Ildaria closed and locked her car door then headed inside, quite sure she wouldn’t be reading her “homework”now.
Ildaria was wrong. After pacing and fretting uselessly for half an hour, she actually snatched up one of the books Sofia hadinsisted on getting just to escape her worries for a bit. It had actually worked. The stories were engrossing and worked beautifullyat taking her away from her own life for a bit. Ildaria managed to read all of one, and half of a second book before she hadto stop to get ready for work.
She was actually looking forward to continuing with the stories after work. But not for any seduction advice they offered. There wasn’t really much help regarding that. It seemed to her that the sex in the books was situational, rather than a matter of seduction. The women didn’t wear risqué outfits, or spout suggestive lines to lure the men. It just kind of happened. But, she still wanted to finish reading the one she was halfway through, and then move on to the other books. Because, much to her surprise, she was actually enjoying them. The one she’d finished and the one she’d started weren’t at all the bodice rippers she’d expected. The stories were full of adventure and action, with heroines that were strong and intelligent, not helpless creatures needing rescuing. They fought alongside the men in the stories, saving themselves and occasionally even saving their male counterparts. She was enjoying them, and anything that took her mind off Juan and the possibility of his finding her was a welcome diversion.
Of course, her worries about G.G. leaving and Juan finding her returned the moment she put the second book down and beganto get ready for work. And it continued to weigh on her mind as she worked, but Ildaria was no closer to coming up with asolution to either problem by the time her eight hours of office work were done.
Since keeping G.G. from leaving was the larger concern in her mind, she continued to ponder the problem as she took H.D. upto her apartment to wait for G.G. to collect him.
Maybe if she quit working for him, she thought. Then G.G. would have no reason to flee and she could come to the club as a customer and . . . what? The what was the problem. She still had no idea how to handle the situation. Could she even afford to come here without a job? Notto mention, she’d be homeless. The apartments were for employees; if she quit she’d have to find somewhere else to live.
Things would be a lot easier if she could just tell him the truth and work things out from there. G.G. might have a thingabout turning, but that didn’t mean he would refuse to be her life mate . . . necessarily. She wasn’t sure. Besides, if shesucceeded at seducing him, as Sofia wanted her to do, he’d realize he was her life mate the moment they did. Life mates felteach other’s pleasure and then passed out at the end. Although the passing out part wasn’t guaranteed. There were instances where it didn’t happen. But the shared pleasure part definitely happened every time and would give away that theywere life mates.
She wasn’t sure what to do now. Tell him, not tell him. Seduce him, not seduce him.
H.D. shifted beside her on the couch. When she glanced down, he craned his head around, and licked her hand where it restedon his shoulder.
“Hey, sweetie. Feeling neglected? Sorry, I’m just trying to sort out what to do about your daddy,” she murmured, rubbing himbetween the ears, and then smiling faintly, she asked, “Any advice?”
H.D. tilted his head and then got to his feet, rested his paws on her chest, and licked her chin.
Chuckling, Ildaria scooped him up and got up from the couch. “How about a treat to make up for neglecting you?” she asked, carrying him to the kitchen.
Recognizing the word treat, H.D. panted excitedly, and went wild in her arms, desperate to lick any bit of flesh he could reach: hands, neck, chin.
Laughing, Ildaria set him on the floor in the kitchen and moved to the refrigerator. She retrieved a container of cherry yogurtas well as the homemade dog treats G.G. had given her, and set both on the counter, then retrieved a bowl and spoon. She quicklyscooped out some yogurt, and then retrieved a treat from the second container before returning both to the fridge.
“Come on,” she said lightly to H.D., heading out of the kitchen. Sitting on the couch, she set the bowl of yogurt on the coffeetable, and then offered the homemade bone-shaped cookie to H.D. The pup nearly took her finger off snatching it from her.
“Keep that up and I’ll stop giving you treats, buddy,” she warned. Not that he listened. He was too busy devouring
