Page 37

Mila woke up to Babette licking her ear. The dog was so close it was hard to focus on her little, pointed face. The events of the previous evening came back to her in a rush. Sitting up was harder than she expected because Carter's heavy arm was laying across her chest.

Instead of trying to lift his muscled arm, she slid out from under him and off the bed. Thankfully the robe came with her. The moment she was on her feet, Babette leapt off the bed and started dancing around her feet.

A life growing up around dogs told Mila exactly what Babette needed—outside access!

“In a moment,” she whispered to Babette. The little dog made a whining sound and sat down with a huff.

Gio was in a chair facing the bed, his head resting against the back of the chair at an unnatural angle and his eyes closed. A laptop was sitting on the floor next to him. It looked like it had slid off his lap. The poor man had fallen asleep while working!

“Gio,” she murmured, shaking his shoulder.

His eyes opened, and he straightened up, but he looked dazed. “Yes?”

“You should lay down in the bed,” she said, taking his hand and urging him to stand up.

Blinking slowly, he looked from her to the bed. In the short time since she’d left his embrace, Carter had rolled on his back and extended his arms and legs across the bed while still sound asleep.

After taking in Carter’s starfish pose, he looked back at Mila.

“It’s daytime,” Gio said. He sounded like someone only partially awake.

“It’s early morning,” Mila agreed. He must’ve been up most of the night to be this groggy. She gently tugged at his arm. “Up you go.”

He stood up at her urging but wasn’t steady on his feet. Mila was quick to wrap an arm around his waist to keep him upright.

“Don’t go,” he said as she guided him to lay on the bed. One of Carter’s hands found him and the larger man pulled Gio into his embrace. Even as Gio relaxed into Carter’s arms, he kept his eyes focused on her. It was clear Gio was fighting his fatigue.

“Mila?” He sounded a little like Anna when Mila was putting her to bed.

She leaned over to put her face in his field of vision. “I won’t leave,” she promised.

Gio smiled at her and let his eyes close. “Good.”

Seeing the two men snuggled together in the bed made it hard for her to leave, but Babette’s whining reminded her someone else desperately needed her!

They hurried down the stairs and it only took two tries before Mila found a door that led to a perfectly manicured backyard. Babette was quick to rush past her and squat on the nearest patch of grass.

If the dog was human, Mila was sure she’d be sighing with relief.

Watching the dog relieve herself made Mila aware that her bladder was also uncomfortably full. A glance around the backyard assured her that there was no easy way for the dog to get free, so she left the back door open and headed inside to make use of the facilities herself.

By the time she was done, Babette was waiting at the bathroom door, looking demanding.

“I suppose you want breakfast now?” Mila murmured with a smile and headed to the kitchen. She’d left everything they’d given her for Babette at Joy so hopefully there was something she could give the little dog to tide her over.

To Mila’s absolute shock, there was nothing!

“I’ve never seen a kitchen so empty,” she said to Babette with a shake of her head. It wasn’t that Gio and Carter were out of fresh things, like eggs and milk, but they didn’t have anything! Not even crackers. The pantry shelves were bare except for an empty box of Pop-Tarts.

“Who doesn’t have cereal?” she asked, standing in the center of the enormous and very empty pantry. “I bet Bec would have so much to say about this. She’d have all kinds of predictions about Gio and Carter’s personalities.”

Thinking of Bec made her miss her friend fiercely. “I’m going to call her tonight,” she told Babette. “She needs to know things are starting to work out. Although, I’m not sure I’ll tell her everything.”

Bec was the only person she’d been honest with about everything happening. Bec would die before betraying someone so everyone knew their secrets were safe with her. Still, Mila wasn’t sure about admitting she was sexually interested in the same men who were providing her with a job.

The more she thought about it, the worse it sounded. Was she being a naive idiot all over again?

“Deep moral quandaries are for after breakfast,” she declared, walking out of the pantry with Babette at her heels. She found one of Carter’s shirts in the laundry room. It was big on her, but clean. She’d have to wear the jeans she wore a few days ago. She was out of clean clothes, but at least they weren’t the ones she’d worn last night in the filthy alley.