It was H.D.’s tiny little tongue licking her cheek that woke Ildaria up. Nose wrinkling at the wet kisses, she blinked hereyes open and stared into his furry chest, slowly becoming aware that she was lying on something lumpy. Lifting her head,she turned to look down and saw that she was lying on G.G.’s hairy chest.
Ildaria had just recalled how she’d got there when H.D. started in licking again. This time he went for her ear, and she grimacedand then groaned, “Stop, H.D.,” as she turned her head back and let it rest on G.G.’s chest again. She simply didn’t havethe energy to move yet. H.D. would have to give her a moment, she thought and then glimpsed movement beyond the dog, and tiltedher head on G.G.’s chest to see what was behind him. She blinked when she spotted part of a man’s very large, black, dressshoe.
Blinking, she lifted her gaze to the dark gray dress pants above it, and then further to the white shirt and suit jacket,before ending on the handsome face of a stranger with dark hair.
Ildaria had never seen the man before, and had certainly not invited him in. Since G.G. was lying unconscious under her, she knew he hadn’t either. Yet the man had somehow got past her guards and was standing there in her apartment, staring down at her where she lay naked on top of G.G.
Embarrassingly enough it took a moment for all of that to coalesce in Ildaria’s mind in a way that made sense. Once it did,the word that kept repeating through her mind was naked. NAKED. NAKED!
Shrieking like an idiot, Ildaria scrambled to her feet, unintentionally kneeing G.G. in the process, which—while unfortunate—hadthe positive effect of waking him up. Her big man woke with a shout of pain, and immediately rolled to his side, clutchinghimself. His feet caught hers at the ankle with the movement and would have knocked her down if the stranger hadn’t caughther arm and helped her stay upright.
Ildaria was about to thank him for the kindness with a blow to the balls, followed by one to the head when the man said, “Youmust be Ildaria. G.G.’s told us all about you.” He then turned his head and shouted, “I have found them, my love. They arefine.” Turning back then, he smiled faintly and told her, “She tends to worry.”
Ildaria lowered the knee she’d been about to plant in his groin, pretty sure the man wasn’t a threat. The problem was, shehad no idea who he was. Some friend of G.G.’s? Then she heard footsteps hurrying up the hall from the bedrooms and glancedthat way with curiosity.
“You may want to cover up, dear,” G.G.’s friend said kindly.
Suddenly recalled to her nudity, Ildaria gasped and then scrambled around the island with a squeal of alarm, looking for something to cover herself with. There was nothing. Her pants were a shredded mess on the floor, and she couldn’t immediately spot her bustier, so she grabbed the nearest thing to hand, a tea towel, and held it over her body.
It was a small tea towel. It almost covered her breasts, leaving the outer curve of each boob visible on either side of thetowel, but she wasn’t at all confident it reached down to cover her groin. Ildaria was feeling the bottom, trying to see ifit did, when three people rushed into the kitchen.
Two women and a man hurried around the island and then stopped abruptly as they took in the scene. Ildaria shifted uncomfortablyunder their gaping gazes, her own moving over them in return. One woman was a very pretty blonde with blue eyes that matchedthe summery sky-blue dress she wore. The other had black hair with bright fuchsia tips and was dressed in black jeans anda black T-shirt. She also bristled with weapons. They were all over her; a knife was strapped to her outer thigh, anotherknife rested in a holder attached to a belt around her waist, while a gun holster dangled from the same belt on the otherside. She was also wearing a chest holster with two guns in it. The man was similarly decked out with weapons. He had darkhair, rugged features, and was of a similar size to G.G. except that he was a couple inches shorter, or perhaps it was justthat G.G.’s Mohawk made him seem taller, she acknowledged.
“I love the boots,” the woman with black and fuchsia hair said finally, breaking the silence.
Ildaria closed her eyes on a sigh, her humiliation complete, and then the blonde woman said, “Joshua, get up off the floor. What are you doing down there?” and Ildaria blinked her eyes open again in time to see G.G. finally drag himself to his feet on the other side of the island with a muttered, “Just writhing in agony. Nothing to worry about.”
Ildaria felt a moment’s guilt as she recalled that she’d accidentally kneed him, but then scowled when she noticed that hewas, of course, fully clothed. G.G. had merely undone his jeans earlier, not removed them, and now his T-shirt was hangingdown, hiding his groin area. She couldn’t tell if he was still hanging out of his pants or not, but to anyone looking he appearedfully dressed . . . the bastard, she thought resentfully.
“Writhing in agony?” the woman was asking, sounding concerned as she pulled him into a hug. Leaning back, she then peeredinto his face and patted his chest as if looking for injuries as she asked, “Why? Oh, I knew there was something wrong whenwe didn’t get an answer to our knock. What happened? Are you all right?”
Ildaria’s eyes narrowed. The woman was touching and petting G.G. with a proprietary air, as if she had a right to, and shedidn’t find that pleasing at all. If she didn’t stop it,
