Page 46 of The Enemy's Daughter

“I said … I fucked up with Nora.”

“Your PA?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. It’s not your problem. This is mine. Ignore me.” Rex lifted up his glass. “I’m starting to think we’re both lame here.”

“Do you have a thing for Nora?” Alaric asked. “The PA the partners put on you, and the woman who sent you on meetings you didn’t have?”

“Yeah, one and the same. She has a great deal of fire, and I’ve been the one to snuff that out. She has quit on me. Effective immediately. The bosses are pissed off with me. She was the best of the best, came highly recommended, and when they asked her to stay on, and work for someone else, she told them that she wouldn’t do it. There was no way she’d risk seeing me.”

“You did something?” Alaric said.

“Yeah, I did something, and I said something, and I’m a fucking asshole, that’s what. Anyway, my problems are my own. This is your problem so let’s deal with that.”

“Nothing to deal with. I’m going to head home, and wait, try to come up with a plan, or to say something that will help Bella forgive me.”

“Don’t get rid of Buster,” Rex said.

“Huh?”

“She loves pets right? I wouldn’t get rid of him, and why don’t you try forming that bond they talk about? The one that says dogs are a man’s best friend, and that kind of shit.”

Alaric finished his brandy and took a cab back to his penthouse suit. Going inside, he locked the door, and flicked on the lights. He made his way toward the bedroom that he’d placed Buster inside. It was an empty room that he’d placed some paper on the floor for the pup to take a crap, food, water, and lots of toys, along with a bed.

He opened the door, and nearly vomited. The smell alone was going to kill him.

When he looked into the room again, he saw the dog mess was indeed on the papers, and on his dog.

“This is going to be so gross.”

Buster barked, and he sighed.

Getting stuck in, Alaric first, grabbed the dog, and carried him through to the bath. It was a messy, horrible, smelly job, but after he got the thick of the shit off Buster, he then climbed in, naked, and washed himself before dealing with his dog once again. Buster sat, and waited.

“You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” he asked. “Now I’m talking to a dog. Do you have any advice on how I’m going to win the woman of my dreams back?”

Buster tilted his head to the side, and Alaric shook his head, laughing. Once they were both washed, clean, and smelling fresh, he locked Buster in his room, and dealt with the chaos in the other bedroom. Cleaning everything away, he put a stamp on the door, so that he would remember to call his cleaner and pay her triple for dealing with the mess.

Putting down some fresh food and water, he let Buster back out. The moment he was out of the room, he squatted down and took a piss.

“Seriously? I thought I was paying for them to train you.” Rolling his eyes, he started to clean up that mess when his cell phone rang. “Hello,” he said.

“Oh, are you okay?” Bella asked.

“Fine, why?”

“You sound a little pissed off.”

“Oh, no reason. Cleaning up dog mess is always fun.”

Bella laughed. “Oh dear. See, you’re going to have to keep him on the whole training thing. He’ll come around. He’s a pup. He doesn’t know any better.”

“I know, and that is why he’s going to be going to training school so that he can be perfect.”

“There’s no such thing as perfect.”

“I can try. How did it go with your dad?” he asked. His stomach tensed as he waited.

“He’s happy for me, and he’d really like to meet you.”

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