Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,17
my head.
“Light brown hair. At least I got that much.” He winked and then left me alone.
When I was absolutely certain he was gone, I came out of hiding and ran for the bathroom locking myself inside.
It was a nice bathroom, luxurious even. There was a big soaking tub and a shower. It was like something I’d seen on one of the television shows we’d been watching. I shifted into my human skin and took a good look in the mirror. It wasn’t pretty. I’d been in gorilla form for a very long time. Even in my skin I was almost as hairy.
Noticing the razor on the sink, I ran a hot bath and then climbed in and got to work shaving my legs and cleaning myself up. By the time I was done, it looked like my gorilla had bathed there.
I sighed. “What a mess.” I didn’t know what to do about it.
I eyed the shower and decided it was better to rinse off in there. Once I was clean, another thought came to mind. I couldn’t remember the last time my gorilla was washed. Sure, I maintained good hygiene in gorilla form, but really clean. I shifted in the shower and scrubbed off the dirt and loose hair. When I was done, the shower looked even worse than the tub.
I heard him before he spoke. “Sahara, where are you?”
I noticed the entire room was fogged up, including the mirror. Cringing over the name I hated the most, I quickly wrote Emma in the fog. Then I shifted back to my gorilla form and opened the door. He stepped in and his jaw dropped.
“Uh, well, I guess you’re clean now, huh?”
I nodded and then hooted some to get his attention and I pointed to the mirror.
Painter
Chapter 7
“Emma. Emma. Is that your name?”
She nodded.
I was confused. “Not Sahara?”
She shook her head and grunted. Clearly, she didn’t like the name the Raglan had used for her cage fighting days. I cringed, hating that I’d been using it not knowing better.
I took her furry face in my hands and smiled. “Emma.”
She whistled and sang. I knew that made her happy.
I may have been shocked walking into the disaster of a bathroom, but I was excited to finally be making some progress with her.
“Come on,” I said.
She looked back at the mess and turned apologetic eyes towards me.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s have lunch.”
I let her go on ahead and I pulled out my wallet and slipped a hundred dollar bill on the counter. Housekeeping was going to earn every penny of it. I quickly called them and found they were available immediately.
I had already made salads ahead of time for the week, and quickly grabbed two.
“Come on. I’m going to show you where I work today.”
I could tell Emma felt badly for the mess in the bathroom, but it didn’t bother me in the least. When we passed it on the way out, she looked again.
“Don’t worry about it, Emma. Housekeeping will take care of it.”
I led her out and down over to the elevator.
“Sorry, the stairs won’t get us there, at least not these. Trust me, it’s okay.”
Using my card, I activated the basement levels, and we took it all the way to the bottom. Once we stepped out it was into an empty room. I used my access card to open the next door. Before we walked through, Archie was up from his seat and running towards us.
“You can’t bring in unauthorized guests.”
“Archie, where are your manners? This is my mate.”
“Painter,” he warned.
“Emma, this is Archie. Archie, Emma. There, now we’re all friends here.”
“No unauthorized guests allowed.”
I looked at Emma and nodded my head. She grunted and swung her arms as she stomped the floor.
“I’m calling security,” he said running away to the safety of his desk.
I chuckled. “You do know Bravo company runs security around here, right?”
The door clicked open behind me and Kyle Westin and Patrick O’Connell walked in.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
“Painter,” Kyle said. “Is this your mate?”
“Kyle Westin, meet Emma.” I introduced her to Patrick too, no differently than I would have if she were in human form. I just wanted her to feel comfortable here and if that meant she needed to stay in her fur then so be it.
“Patrick, he’s brought in an unauthorized guest,” Archie ratted us out from the safety of his desk behind yet another locked door. “Do something.”
“Moles are just no match for a gorilla,” I told them.