Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
“Tell me more about yourself,” Tallulah begins excitedly. “You’re Antonio’s brother, right? Is he older or younger? What’s your family like? Do you like my puppies?”
As she speaks, she pets Zeus and Hades under the table. I’ve noticed her feeding them little scraps from the table, which I would never normally tolerate, but the way she sneaks them off her plate, thinking I won’t notice, is fucking adorable. I don’t have it in my heart to stop her.
Julio, however, doesn’t respond to Tallulah at all. Though he does glance at her when I introduce them, he quickly returns his attention to me. He’s the man I should’ve made Tallulah’s guard. He’d never put her above me unless I told him to. Julio listens to me, and me alone. No matter the tantrum Tallulah would throw, he’s going to have my back.
“Are you going to answer me?” Tallulah hisses now, but he is nonplussed, still keeping his attention on me.
“Anything else you need, don Xavier?” he asks calmly.
“Yes,” Tallulah growls. “I need you to acknowledge me. I’m above you in this house! You do as I say!”
I chuckle, addressing my ward in an easy-going tone. “He’s not one of your pups, angel.”
“He is,” she huffs. “Tell him to listen to me, Xavier. Tell him he should do as I say.”
Julio remains unimpressed, keeping his gaze on me.
“That’ll be all for now, Julio,” I wave my hand dismissively. “Keep an eye on this little rugrat. I don’t want her out of your sight. Good job.”
He nods and retreats to the corner of the room, keeping his gaze trained on Tallulah. She seems appalled, tracking his movement and sticking her tongue out at him - another little act of rebellion he doesn’t react to at all.
“If you say nothing to me right now, I’m going to lose it,” Tallulah threatens him, but the man still doesn’t budge. I can see the resolve in her strengthen. It amuses me, so I smirk at her and don’t stop whatever she’s about to do. As she pets Hades and Zeus under the table, her fingers tighten around their necks. “Would you like to meet my puppies, Julio?”
Still, the man is stone-faced, refusing to react to her shenanigans designed to get his attention.
Tallulah’s mouth sets into a pouty, cute little line. She leans down and whispers to the dogs lovingly.
“See that man over there, Hades, Zeus? He’s a bad man, very very bad man.”
I laugh out loud. “Those puppies couldn’t hurt anyone if they tried. They’re practically kittens at this point.”
Tallulah gives me a self-satisfied smirk before tapping the dog’s behinds. “Go, attack!”
In a split second, the dogs rush forward, straight at Julio. My pulse quickens as they growl, threatening to lose their shit if he so much as makes one wrong move.
“What are you waiting for?” Tallulah demands in full-on brat mode. “Bite him.”
Hades sniffs Julio’s hands, but Zeus is faster and growls, barks and then jumps on Julio. I’m proud of how well the man is trained as he still doesn’t react, just narrows his eyes at the beast. He doesn’t even stop the attack. He’s so loyal to me. Zeus leaves a gaping wound on his hand before yawning and returning to Tallulah’s side.
I’m not shocked by my guard’s reaction - he’s been trained to deal with worse. I’m more shocked the domesticated pups have this in them. Perhaps there’s more to them after all, and they’re not just useless little puppies like I thought in the beginning.
“That’s what you get,” Tallulah says with a sly smirk. “If you fuck with me, I’ll unleash them on you again.”
“Julio, go clean that shit up,” I mutter, waving a dismissive hand at him. “Sorry about my little brat. She’s yet to be tamed properly.”
Julio gives me a grateful nod before disappearing to see our in-house medic. I face Tallulah with an amused smile, wondering how far she’d be willing to push me and Julio both. She surprises me every day.
“You need to get your attitude under control,” I tell her in a low growl. “Otherwise it’s going to get you in a world of trouble.”
“My middle name is trouble,” she laughs. “Besides, you like it when I’m a little bratty.”
“You’ve developed an attitude this year. I’m going to have to beat it out of you.”
Her smile fades and she stares me down intently, probably wondering just how badly I’m willing to hurt her to get what I want.
“I’ll see you later, angel. Work on your anger management. You’re losing control.”
***
I’m in my office later that day. Even I have to admit things are going well. We’ve not received any death threats regarding Tallulah since the gallery opening. I’m thinking our little problem might go away on its own. Perhaps my nemesis has given up after so many unsuccessful attempts on Tallulah’s life. I’d be pleased if that were the case. I have other things to worry about besides Tallulah’s safety, though that will always be my priority no matter what.