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“I’m so sorry for delaying you.” She curled her fingers about Honey’s collar, intending to take the dog with her when she exited the elevator. Unfortunately, the stubborn dog refused to move from her sitting position pressed against the man’s thigh. “Honey, I really don’t know what’s wrong with you today.” Mia frowned her confusion with this strange behavior. The Labrador was usually so obedient.
It wasn’t the whole of today, Mia realized. Honey had been her usual self when she’d collected her from the apartment of her lawyer owner. The dog also had fun at the park with the other dogs. It was only since they’d entered this building that Honey had stopped listening to her commands.
Mia ran a dog-walking service, before and after her university classes and on weekends. Ten dogs in the morning and the same in the evening. She had to do it in five-dog tranches, so it meant an early start at seven o’clock. She’d then spend the day going to classes, before doing the same walk with the dogs again from four o’clock in the afternoon. She usually didn’t get home until after six in the evenings, which made it a long day.
But the money she earned was paying for the rent on her room in the house she shared with four other girls, with a little left over for bills and food. Well, not so much for food, but she was making money the only way she could right now.
She knew university wasn’t always an option for someone who’d been brought up in the system almost from birth, but she’d been determined, no matter what she had to do, that she was going to take a business course and then start her own business. She wasn’t sure what it was going to be yet, but her goal was to be able to support herself once she had the degree.
She’d needed to take out a student loan to pay the uni’s yearly fees, but had then managed to get through the first year by staying in the subsidized halls of residence at the university and walking six dogs, morning and night. Moving out of that subsidized accommodation this past summer, even into a single room in a barely furnished house in a less-than-salubrious part of London, meant she’d needed to increase the number of dogs she exercised this past month.
Honey was one of the new dogs she’d taken on. Her owner, Giles Fletcher, was a lawyer who worked in the city, which meant he left early for work and often didn’t come home again until late in the evening.
Why people kept dogs at all in a built-up area like London was beyond Mia’s understanding. It seemed a little selfish when the owner’s lifestyle often gave them little time to be with or walk their pets.
She was grateful that so many of them did have dogs and were busy, of course; otherwise, she wouldn’t have a job. But she still didn’t think a city was the appropriate place for them. Cats and other small fluffy pets, yes, but not dogs.
Giles Fletcher had the excuse of the dog having belonged to his recently deceased mother. Although Mia couldn’t help wondering how much longer he would continue to keep a dog he really didn’t want.
She glanced guiltily at the man standing beside her, obviously waiting for her to get the hell off his elevator so he could be on his way.
But who could blame her for lingering a little longer than necessary?
The man oozed sex appeal without even trying, and those wide shoulders and that powerfully muscular chest made her fingers itch to reach out and touch to see if his abs were as hard as they looked. He also had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Fiercely piercing eyes that would easily hold a woman captive as his large hands cupped either side of her face while he slowly lowered his head and his mouth claimed hers.
Mia’s heartbeat sped up at the thought of being kissed by this man.
Which was when she also became aware of how hungrily she was staring at his chiseled lips.
“Maybe she can smell your dog, if you have one?” Mia prompted at the same time as she finally managed to pull a reluctant Honey out of the elevator by that grip on her collar.
“I already told you, this is a no-pets-allowed apartment building,” the gorgeous man told her coldly as he pressed his thumb against the recognition pad. “I’m sorry for the circumstances of you needing to take on the dog, but if you intend keeping her, then you both need to find somewhere else to live.”
Mia straightened. “Oh, I don’t live here,” she assured him lightly as the elevator doors began to close. “And Honey isn’t my dog,” she managed to add before the doors closed fully and the elevator began its ascent.
CHAPTERTWO
“—which is when we’re all going to put on pretty pink tutus and dance around the garden— Fucking hell, Darius, have I been completely wasting my time discussing arrangements and strategy with you for the past ten minutes?” his brother Max complained impatiently.
Darius dragged his attention back to the here and now rather than thinking of the elfin young woman he had met in his private elevator yesterday. Not an easy task when he didn’t seem to be able to think of anything or anyone else since that initial meeting.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact his balls had continued to ache all evening, and not just from that kick from the Golden Labrador, as a reminder of their meeting.
Or that his aroused cock had taken its own sweet time in going down enough for him to be able to sit comfortably.
But he’d been right about his twin telephoning to check on him. Felix had made that call within the ten minutes Darius had thought he might.
He hadn’t mentioned the encounter in the elevator to his brother. What was the point when he would never see Mia again?
She was too young, too wide-eyed and unsullied by the horrors of the world, whenhefelt older than his actual years and had seen far too much of those horrors during his years of serving in the military.
Even if Mia felt in the least attracted to him, which she’d given no indication that she did during their brief conversation, he—
“Do I need to come round there and punch you in the mouth in order to gain your full attention?” Max bit out from between clenched teeth.
Darius was seated in the chair facing his brother across the mahogany desk in Max’s office at Kingston Security. His brother was head of the company, since Sinclair stepped down from that role five years ago for personal reasons.
The six Kingston brothers and their cousin had equal ownership of the company, but being the arrogant arseholes they all were, it would be complete chaos if they all tried to be in charge at the same time.
