caught so . . . unprepared. She apparently didn’t expect you to arrive so soon. G.G. had told her you wouldn’t arrive for a couple of days.”
“Joshua!” his mother said with dismay. “Why would you tell her that? You knew we were flying out right away.”
“I didn’t tell her that,” G.G. assured his mother. When Ildaria made a snorting sound, he turned back and reminded her, “You were the one who suggested they most likely wouldn’t arrive for a couple days. I was about to correct you and say their plane was probably halfway here already when Lucian showed up and you went to let him in.”
Ildaria stared at him silently for a moment and then her head bowed, her shoulders drooped, and she simply turned and left the room.
G.G. watched with a small frown, his gaze dropping to her bare legs, and H.D. abandoned him to follow her as she took a wide route around the group across the kitchen. The little fur ball caught up to her as she passed through the living room, and pranced along at her side as she headed up the hall toward the bedrooms, his little head turned up, watching her with concern the whole way.
There was a day the dog wouldn’t have left his side for anything. Obviously, those days were over. Ildaria had somehow usurped his position as H.D.’s favorite person. He didn’t blame the mutt. She was his favorite person too, and frankly, he’d rather be trailing her to the bedroom himself right now. In fact he should be. She was upset and needed soothing. He couldn’t blame her. This wasn’t how he’d planned her first meeting with his parents to go either.
“She’s beautiful, son.”
G.G. turned his head at his mother’s words and nodded wearily. “Yes. She is. Inside and out.”
“Well, of course she is,” she said with a nod. “You’re lovely inside . . . and would be outside too if you didn’t try so hard not to be,” she added, scowling as her gaze traveled to the Mohawk on his head and then dropped to the tattoos winding over his now naked shoulders and down his arms.
G.G. grinned. His mother hated his Mohawk and tattoos, considering them mutilations of her beautiful boy. Much to his amusement, she never missed an opportunity to let him know that either. It didn’t upset him, but did remind him that he was now standing there shirtless in just his jeans.
Frowning, he shifted on his feet, and then said, “Ildaria seemed upset. I should go talk to her and get my shirt back.”
“No!” The four people facing him said the word at the same time. A brief silence followed as they all glanced at each other a bit wryly, and then his mother turned back to him and said, “Of course, she’s upset, the poor dear. This isn’t how any girl wants to meet her in-laws. No doubt our walking in on the two of you like this was terribly embarrassing for her. But you can’t talk to her.”
“Of course I can. She’s my life mate, I—”
“Your very new life mate,” his mother interrupted. “And we all know how that would go. You’d mean to talk and reassure her, but it would end up in shag city.”
“Shag city?” he echoed with disbelief.
“You know I’m right,” she said firmly.
“Yeah, I just can’t believe you’d call it that,” he rumbled.
“You have tattoos, I have a potty mouth,” she said with a shrug and then headed out of the kitchen. “I will go talk to her.”
G.G. started to protest with alarm, but his mother had burst into immortal speed and was already disappearing up the hall.
“Oh hell,” he said with dismay.
“It will be fine,” Robert said, moving to his side to pat him on the back. “Your mother is just going to reassure her that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about and welcome her to the family.”
“Right,” G.G. breathed, but didn’t feel reassured himself. His mother could be . . . mother.
“His parents! The Enforcers would have been bad enough, but his parents,” Ildaria told H.D. with disgust. The dog sat patiently next to her in front of the closet, head tilted to the side, seeming to listen intently, as Ildaria pulled clothes out of the closet and ranted to him.
“Oh my God! His father saw my bare bottom,” Ildaria realized, stopping to press the top she’d just pulled out to her cheeks as she felt them heat at the memory. Her eyes then widened and