Page 24 of The Laughing Game

When I opened the door, a cold blast of air came in with Gideon, who looked me up and down and grinned.

“Hello!” he said, gaze zeroing in on my lower half, where the cool air from outside raised goosebumps. “I see you’ve got a start.”

I gazed down at my state of undress.

“Oh, fuck. Sorry,” I muttered, closing the door behind him.

“No, no, don’t apologize. I’d suggest you wear that to Molly’s but I wouldn’t be able to keep the other men off of you,” he said, taking off his blue cashmere coat and hanging it on one of the hooks by the door. “Or Vihaal, for that matter.”

The cats had come to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

“Oh my gosh! Your kitties! That must be Mr. Mistoffelees,” Gideon said, nodding at the correct cat, who took up a spot on the half wall to observe him with disdain.

“Yes. And this is Rummy,” I said, leaning down and picking up my sweet girl, who purred and regarded Gideon with curiosity.

“She’s soooo pretty! And Mr. Toff is such a gentleman!” He glanced at his surroundings. “This is such a cute place!”

“Thanks.”

He kicked off his boots and stepped inside, reaching out to let Rummy sniff his fingers, then giving her a gentle tickle on her head. She made a little mewl, which was a sign of her approval.

“Vihaal doesn’t have to sit in the car. He can come inside…”

“Oh, he’s fine. He’s listening to the radio,” Gideon said, fluttering his fingers in the air. “Some classical concert, I don’t know. Anyway, he knows that when it comes to fashion choices, it’s best to let me work alone.”

I put Rummy down.

Gideon clapped his hands together. “Where’s your closet?”

I took him upstairs.

After perusing the minimal amount of clothing in my closet, he turned to me. “Oh, sweetheart. You need to buy more clothes.”

His use of the endearment gave me a soft, safe feeling.

“Clearly.”

“Okay. Let’s see what we can figure out.” He pulled a pair of dark gray suit pants out of my closet. “We’ll start with these. Do you have T-shirts?”

“Yes. Here,” I said. Rummy jumped up on the dresser and meowed.

“Oh, look, she likes me!” Gideon exclaimed, obviously thrilled. He leaned down to her level. “Don’t you, sweet thing? You think I’m all right.”

“Of course she does. You’re wonderful.”

He blinked at me. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

I smiled, and at the look in his eyes, I simply wanted to get going.

“Should I wear a suit?”

He frowned. “Oh no. No. A suit would be all wrong. At least, a business suit would. Do you have any, like, fancy suits?”

“Uh. Nope,” I said.

“Hmm.” He rifled through one of my drawers and pulled out a black turtleneck. “This is perfect.”

“Really? For a club?” I’d always thought of turtlenecks as things to wear at home, when you were cold.

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