Page 8 of Daddy By Design

“And what would you do with those?”

“It can snip through a surprisingly thick…branch.”

I snorted.

“Even if he was, what? Six-feet-three?”

“At least. He was massive, Ave. Okay, maybe the darkness made him seem a little bigger, but not by much.” I straightened up and held my arms out. “His shoulders were...like whoa. And he was wearing all black. Like some crazy demon. And so mad. I mean, yeah, I scratched Little Dick into his truck—I get it. Not cool.”

Avery arched her very expressive eyebrow. She was startlingly beautiful without a lick of makeup. I was only mildly jealous. Especially of her all too real eyelashes, where I had to add enhancements to make my eyes pop.

“I know, okay?”

She locked her shears together once more. “Girl, what were you thinking? You could have been arrested. That had to be thousands of dollars of damage on a monster truck.”

I hunched my shoulders. “I wasn’t thinking, okay? I was worried about Gizmo. And about my getting evicted due to my stupid cat’s obsession with running water.”

She rolled her eyes. “I keep telling you to get him one of those fountains.”

“I’ve tried every fountain. I’ve even put rubber bands around my faucet handle so he can’t turn it on. The little shit bites his way through them, or he just plain rolls them off. How he knows how to do that, I do not know. He’s a little demon, I swear it.”

Avery folded her arms over her chest and slouched in the chair. “Maybe you should have named him Spike instead.”

I laughed and mirrored her relaxed pose. “I probably should have. Damn gremlin. But after he flooded the downstairs apartment, then I saw Derek—I was pretty sure it was Derek, anyway—kissing that woman and I just went nuts.”

“Derek is not worth vandalism, Dahl.”

I sighed. “No, he isn’t. I was at the end of my rope.”

“Rope? You passed rope and went to completely unhinged.”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “All right, I get it. I’m just waiting for the call from Dare for the bill. What’s one more thing to add to my crushing debt?”

“Did you talk to your landlord?”

I winced. “No, I have a meeting with Deb, our property manager, after work.”

She gave me a painful smile. “Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

“Maybe I’m screwed. Do you think they’ll evict me?”

“Probably not, but they may make you rehome Gizmo.”

“No! I can’t do that.” I snatched the framed photo of my cat and clutched it to my chest. “Would you be willing?—”

“Nope!” Avery stood up. “I love you, but there’s no amount of Zyrtec that will stave off my allergies to your cat.”

I sighed and put my frame back where it belonged. “Okay. Maybe I can get Shelby to take him for a little while.”

“With the two dogs?”

I tipped my head back. Bad idea. “No, Gizmo is a menace with dogs.”

“Sorry, babe.” She flipped her long, thick mane of a ponytail over her shoulder and holstered her shears. “I’m off to the Jefferson’s house to finish excavating. I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You always do.” She slapped the doorjamb then waved before she sailed out the door.

Yes, I did. I was one of the best problem solvers in our firm. As for my own life? Not so much. That was absolute chaos compared to my business acumen.

Unfortunately, Gizmo had stolen my heart within the first twenty seconds after finding him behind a property we’d been renovating.

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