Page 28 of The Lamb and the Llama
“Yeah, one of the things Carol and I bonded over was our cheater exes,” Erika explained before realizing the faux pas. “Oh. You didn’t know.”
“I don’t know anything about Richard’s past relationships,” Amira admitted. “Actually, I guess I don’t know much about Richard at all.” Her stomach churned with this new realization. Richard was a cheater?Why do I always attract the cheaters?She stood to leave, and though the ladies tried to stop her, she waved them off and headed back toward the guest house.
“Wait!” Harriet had followed her. “Please don’t take that the wrong way. Richard is a complicated man.”
“Cheating isn’t complicated,” Amira spat. “And I’ve been there myself—with a man who cheated on me, I mean. And I won’t do it again.” She charged forward, and this time, Harriet didn’t follow.
She didn’t know what to do when she re-entered the guest house. She didn’t feel like waking Richard and having a confrontation. She had to admit that she was overtired, and the jetlag proved difficult to deal with.
She decided to sleep in one of the other bedrooms, not wanting to see Richard at all. She wondered if he’d made all the same proclamations to Carol that he’d made to her, just to end up cheating on her at some point.
What was she going to do now? Her crush on Richard had grown. She’d really thought she’d developed real feelings for him, but now she knew the truth about him. How could she go back to work for him after all they’d been through?
Maybe she didn’t have to. What if she got promoted to work in Greece? The idea had never crossed her mind before, but she supposed it was something possible. After all, that was what had happened to Harriet and Carol. Could she leave him and take the job? Amira’s heart sank. He might not love her, but it was becoming abundantly clear to her she was falling for him. Because if she was honest with herself, she’d turn the job down in a heartbeat if it meant staying with Richard.
She let out a sigh before washing out her cup and heading to the bedrooms. Sure enough, Richard was still fast asleep in the master bedroom. She peered over at him. He looked so at peace. How could a man who cheated seem so at peace while sleeping? Amira quietly grabbed her suitcase and headed for one of the spare guest bedrooms at the opposite end of the hallway. She was an early riser, so her morning run routine would allow her the opportunity to avoid Richard most of the morning. Thank goodness for small pleasures.
13
It was six in the morning when Richard’s alarm went off. Normally he wouldn’t be up this early, but he wanted to look over the briefing folder a couple of more times before Amira and he headed to the talks to guard the specific dignitaries they were both assigned last night. As he stretched, he realized he was in the bedroom alone.
Did she sleep somewhere else?
He shook his head, trying to clear the silly thoughts plaguing him. He had to be overthinking things. Of course, she’d slept in the bedroom with him last night—right? They’d made love yesterday afternoon, so why would she sleep somewhere else? But once he’d made it to the bathroom, he realized her suitcase wasn’t there. Amira had, in fact, must have slept somewhere else last night. But why?
He peeked in the other rooms, looking for her, and found her suitcase but no sign of Amira. Figuring he’d find her at the palace, he finished his coffee and headed over. He had plans to speak with Treasure and Teo about incorporating MILF, or Milos Infantry Liaisons to Furry United Coalition, for a project they were doing on Milos. Treasure had found FUC training beneficial for her as a BS agent, and she’d hoped the infantry on Milos could train with a few good FUCs while studying abroad.
But once he got to the palace, Lear greeted him.
“I need you to come with me. Zagan’s been spotted at the Skiathos International Airport. It’s only a matter of time before he gets a connecting flight to the islands. I need your help to find him because you’re a llama and have an acute tracking ability. I’m great when I’m in the water, but if he’s on land, you’d have a better chance of finding him more quickly than me.”
“Lead the way. I don’t want that guy anywhere near Amira again.” Richard quickly cupped his mouth. He’d done it again and let his mind do the talking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that. It’s just that Amira and Quinn were both Zagan’s prisoners, and?—”
Lear placed his palms in front of Richard.
“Say no more. I get what you mean. I don’t want Zagan hurting Harriet either. These women of ours are strong FUCs, and it’s hard to know when to?—”
“Protect them in the field!”
“Actually, I was going to say when to have their backs and let them lead the mission. But, yeah, sometimes we need to know when to step into the lead role, too.”
“Oh. I see.” Richard let out a sigh. “Lear, I think I’m falling for her, and that keeps clouding my judgment. All I want to do is shield her from danger. And I know if Cherry could hear me right now, she’d give me a tongue-lashing about feminine equality and how my ideals are so 1950s.”
Lear slapped a palm on Richard’s shoulder.
“You’ll get into a comfortable spot with her, Richard. Relationships are hard and take work. Sometimes she’ll want you as her safety net. Other times, she’ll tell you she’s taking the reins. Let her lead you to what she needs from you, and you do the same for her.”
Richard smiled. It was the first genuine smile he’d had in a while that wasn’t coming from being around Amira. He finally felt that someone understood him and how hard he’d been trying to work on himself. And really, he wouldn’t have tried in the first place if it wasn’t for Amira.
“Thanks. That’s brilliant advice.”
* * *
“This is it, Ash,” Zagan proclaimed. “Everything we’ve worked toward will come to fruition. Today the Hellenic shifters will be SHITless!”
“Do you mean you’re going to take SHIT down?” asked Ash with widened eyes.
“Yes! And it will start with the MILFs.”
