Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
The heat of being this near to him was dizzying.
And those hands of his.
She couldn't remember being fascinated with the size of one's hands before.
They were just so large. And yet so gentle. It had her wondering if he would be just as gentle if he were to—
Stop right there, Jilly!
She jumped to her feet.
I need distraction, fast.
And so she quickly moved on to introducing the rest of her babies.
"This is Middle." Jilly showed Guy his glass terrarium while taking extra care not to stand too close to him. "He's a two-year-old gecko lizard. His eyes sometimes look crazy, but it's nothing to be worried about, I promise."
Jilly moved to the next enclosure while making sure not to meet a certain pair of ice-ice-baby-blue eyes. "Over here is Meanie. He's just your regular box turtle, except for the fact that he's just turned ten, and his desire for space must be respected at all costs."
Guy followed Jillian to the second floor. It didn't escape him at all that she was suddenly nervous and self-conscious around him. With other women, he would have simply assumed they were pretending to be shy. But Jillian, though...
He enjoyed seeing her like this. And he looked forward to seeing her disturbed more and more by his presence.
"The covered-up cage—" Jilly pointed to the cage in one corner. "—-is where Manny and Maiden sleep. They're a bonded pair of sun conures. I adopted them from a bird sanctuary. They told me their first owners surrendered them because they were too "high maintenance."
A glower darkened her features as she said this, and Guy had the most ridiculous desire to play her knight in shining armor and find out just who Manny and Maiden's first owners were, just so he could punish them in her name.
What the hell was wrong with him?
"And finally, Apple."
Jillian called out to the three-year-old cockatiel, and Guy was impressed in how swiftly the bird responded to her command, having now perched himself comfortably on her fingers.
"That's pretty much it—"
Guy raised a brow when Jillian suddenly stopped speaking.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Just a second—"
She rushed out of the room, and Guy followed behind her at a leisurely pace. He eventually found her in the kitchen and pulling one of the counter drawers open.
"Here you go!"
Jillian dropped an armload of custom-printed cloth-bound tomes into his hands without warning, and caught by surprise, Guy nearly buckled under the weight.
"They're care manuals for every one of my babies," Jilly explained. "Anything you're likely to ask, it's all...there." Jilly's voice trailed off once again, having remembered something particularly...dangerous.
"Um, do you want anything to drink?"
Guy kept his face expressionless as he watched her start walking backwards while speaking.
"I've got, um, bottled water, soda, juice..."
Guy pretended not to notice how she seemed to be in a hurry to dump something she had grabbed from the refrigerator. First, there was that thing she had hidden under the cushion. And now, this? She didn't look like the type to take drugs, but who knew, really?
Looks were entirely deceiving, and Guy should know, considering what he did for a living.
Jilly nearly sagged with relief when she turned to face Guy and saw him thumbing through the care manuals.
Oh, thank God!
"So, um, do you have any questions before I go?"
Guy placed the care manuals on the counter. "I don't think so. They seem to pretty much cover everything." And this was no exaggeration, since the topics listed under the table of contents also included What to Do If The Rapture Takes Place, and My Owner Is No Longer Here.
"Are you sure?" Jilly suddenly started having second thoughts about leaving all of her babies under the care of His Gorgeousness. She might be his number one fan, but her familiarity with his life and career had nothing to do with his skills as a pet sitter.
Guy caught Jillian gnawing on her lip and knew she had started to overthink.
"There's nothing for you to worry about," he said gently. "I wasn't lying when I told you I was a fast learner."
Jilly slowly nodded. "I...know." She did watch that documentary about him—
Oops.
Jilly belatedly noticed Guy raising a brow at her answer.
"Do you, really?"
"Because you, um, have that look about you."
"What kind of look?"
"The kind that, um, says, 'I'm smarty and I know it?'"
Guy's lips slowly pressed together in a straight line. Did she even realize she had uttered those words to the tune of Sexy and I Know It?
Jilly started squirming on her feet at his continued silence. "Maybe this is a mistake—"
"Or maybe..." Guy's voice was still gentle. "It's simply time for you to go."
Jilly couldn't answer, with Guy's hands having suddenly settled on her shoulders while speaking.
Oh...my.
All she could do was swallow hard as his touch seemed to burn all the way to her skin, and her breath caught when she felt him slowly exert pressure through his grip.