a very old bra, embarrassingly old, and it was so thin that—wet as it was—it was as see-through as that veil nightie would have been. Ildaria felt her face flush with heat, but refused to let her embarrassment show otherwise and lifted her chin defiantly as she muttered, “Fine. I’ll be right back.”
Turning on her heel then, she headed for her room. Ildaria had the brief concern that he might flee once she was out of sight, but H.D.’s squirming to a more comfortable position in her arms had her relaxing. The man might want to flee now that he knew they were possible life mates, but he wouldn’t go without H.D. This was an instance where “man’s best friend,” was true. Because that man loved his dog.
The minute Ildaria set H.D. on the bed, the fur ball dove headfirst into the pillows and then dragged himself across her blankets, doing his best to dry himself.
Shaking her head at his antics, Ildaria spared a moment to rub the little beast down, and then straightened to strip off her clothes. She was soaked through, not just her bra, but her skirt and panties had also taken a soaking from the water dripping down from the dog against her chest. She donned a fresh pair of white cotton panties, and an equally boring white cotton bra. This set was as worn and threadbare as the ones she’d just taken off, but they were clean. She didn’t even consider the black lace lingerie set she’d purchased after the first shared dreams. What they had to talk about was not going to lead to anything that would call for black lace.
Mouth tightening, at the thought of the unpleasant task to come, Ildaria pulled out a pair of baggy jogging pants, and an oversized sweatshirt and tugged those on as well. Fully dressed now in the most unattractive clothes she owned, Ildaria stopped to drag a brush through her damp hair, put it up in a ponytail, and then take several deep breaths.
It didn’t help much, but then she doubted anything would, except getting this over with. Turning away from her reflection in the mirror, she patted her leg and said, “Come on, buddy, let’s go see your dad.”
H.D. leapt off the bed and scampered out the door the moment Ildaria opened it. She followed more slowly, half hoping G.G. would snatch up H.D. and leave before she could get to the living room, and half afraid he would.
He didn’t. G.G. was standing by the island with H.D. in his big, brawny arms, petting him when she reached the kitchen. But he stopped to give her the once-over, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
“Only you could make sweats look sexy,” he said with weary amusement as his gaze slid back up to her eyes.
Ildaria frowned. There wasn’t anything the least sexy in what she was wearing. But perhaps it was the effect of the dreams, she thought. With the memories of those dreams crowding the mind, she could probably wear a potato sack and look sexy to him. Just as he would appear sexy to her in whatever he chose to wear. But he wasn’t dressed in unattractive clothes. He was wearing his usual Night Club outfit of black dress pants and black dress shirt with the top two buttons undone. Sort of casual dressy, but still very sexy.
“Your cocoa,” G.G. said quietly, nodding toward the two cups on the island. “I had a sip of mine. It doesn’t taste as good as yours, but I just followed the directions on the can. I suspect you do something different.”
“I add a little cream,” Ildaria explained, moving past him into the kitchen to fetch the cream Marguerite had brought with the groceries two weeks ago. It was nearly gone now. She’d have to buy more soon, she thought as she carried it back to add a little to both their cups.
“Thank you,” G.G. murmured, setting H.D. down and taking one of the cups as she replaced the cream.
When she returned, he was standing to the side of the table, waiting for her to take a seat. Ildaria picked up her own cup, and then chose the nearest end chair. She wasn’t surprised when he chose the opposite one, as far from her as he could get. Now that he knew they were life mates, he would avoid touching her at all unless he decided to agree to be her life mate. She had no doubt