Following her line of thought, she continued to hold out her hand but awkwardly turned the rest of her body back toward her bag and resumed fishing around in there for her sleep shirt and sweat pants. She froze as a cool, wet touch brushed over her knuckles.
Souze sniffed her hand, her wrist, and a warm tongue briefly licked her fingertips before the air around her hands turned cold with his retreat.
“Did I pass inspection?” She used both her hands to gather her stuff and faced him again.
He was back to sitting, ears up, but now his head was cocked at an angle, giving him an inquisitive expression.
“I’m going to take a quick shower.” She walked past him to the bathroom and stopped in the doorway. Just as she spun to face him, there he was again. Sitting. Facing her. Definitely closer to the bathroom than he had been before. Apparently, the wonderfully cushy carpet allowed the dog super stealth. “You do not need to accompany me into the shower.”
She stepped backward into the bathroom and closed the door in his face.
Briefly, she leaned her forehead against the door and laughed. Quietly. This had been a day of ups and downs, and her heart might not survive the crazy flip-flop moments interspersed with bad scares. But this taste of the ridiculous was kind of fun.
Alex had done her a big favor leaving Souze with her. Beyond the security he provided, the company was invaluable. And she could not thank Alex enough for the amount of consideration he’d given her since the moment she’d met him. If she thought back, so many of his actions had been kind and generous, even when he hadn’t any idea of who she was or if he’d ever see her again. There’d been no good reason for him to invest the effort.
Despite his intimidating exterior, he was a good man. Maybe that was why her gut told her she could accept Alex’s help while her logical thought process repeatedly reminded her how much trouble it could get her into.
There was a lot of anger in him. She’d seen it a couple of times. And she absolutely could see it a mile away. That ability had developed over the last few years with her ex as a survival skill. But Alex kept it on a tight leash, controlled, and never directed it at his daughter as far as she could tell. Boom didn’t show even the slightest fear of her father. If anything, Boom was the kind of bright and energetic child who might be allowed somewhat more license to go wild than she should be. So far, Alex hadn’t directed his temper at Elisa, either. He’d stopped himself a couple of times, even. Visibly struggled. But hadn’t exploded.
If anything, knowing it was there made him more trustable in her eyes. She’d rather see it there, below the surface, than completely hidden and likely to burst out without any warning.
Besides, his anger wasn’t the only way Alex Rojas burned hot.
The memory of his kisses was enough to send her into the shower. As the water ran over her, she remembered how much she’d enjoyed his mouth on hers, and it wasn’t quite as embarrassing. No idea why, but there it was. The only issue was the way her imagination ran away with the remembered feel of his hands on her shoulders, her back, and took it further. She wanted him to hold her, slide his hands over her, and use his mouth all over.
Reaching out, she turned the taps to a cooler temperature. She could keep imagining things and maybe even give herself some relief. Nothing wrong with that. But then she’d be wobbly getting out of the shower and there was also a really big dog between her and the bed.
She was fairly certain he would absolutely know what she’d been up to. And the thought squicked her out.
When she did finally open the door to the bathroom dressed in her sleep clothes, Souze was still sitting there. His mouth was open and his tongue lolled out a little.
“Please tell me you’re not laughing at me.” She walked past him and repacked her overnight bag. No idea how long she’d be staying, but if her bag wasn’t packed and ready, if an emergency came up, she’d have to leave things behind.
Luckily, she had what was left of her savings with her in her shoulder bag. But she needed to brainstorm a few ideas as to where she could keep emergency money in case she had to leave everything and make a break for it.
“It’s only been forty-eight hours or so and Alex has already taught me way more than I realized I didn’t know when I decided to leave.” She started to turn down the bed, addressing Souze over her shoulder. “I mean, I got a few pamphlets, so I had an idea of what to plan to do before I left. Really left. But he’s had a lot of good suggestions, too.”
When she glanced back at Souze, he was still giving her his doggie grin. His tail swept the carpet back and forth once. Tock-tock.
Tail wagging was a good sign, as far as she knew.
Encouraged, she kept talking. “So I’ll follow his example and keep trying to think of the worst-case scenario.”