Servicing the Target (Masters of the Shadowlands #10)(37)

“Is this your dog? He’s gorgeous.” She held her hand out.

“Yep, that’s Bronx.”

With a well-loved dog’s confidence, the retriever trotted over, tail waving gracefully. When the dog informed her that they were now best of buddies, she stole herself a quick snuggle.

Rising, she saw Ben watching her with a half-smile and a bit of envy. The man obviously wanted his own hug.

Anne cleared her throat. “Can you—”

“Eeeks!” Sally’s shriek came from the kitchen.

Anne ran in, Ben behind her, close enough that when she jumped back, she hit his solid frame. A huge flying cockroach, half the size of her hand, was crawling across the counter. Oh, God. She tried to back up farther. Get it away!

“Ben.” She pointed to the ghastly black palmetto bug with a shaky hand. “Please.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He swung into action.

As he disposed of the creature, Anne retreated into the dining area.

Sally followed. “Christ on a cockroach, did you see the size of that monster?”

“Nothing that size should be allowed to have wings.” Anne’s heart rate hadn’t slowed.

“I’m so sorry me and Uzuri and Rainie tried to scare you with fake bugs last spring.” Sally put an arm around Anne’s waist. “Talk about karmic justice. That thing almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I know the feeling,” Anne said in a dry voice. When she’d opened her locker at the Shadowlands and seen bugs everywhere… Well. It had taken her far too long to realize they were rubber.

A minute later, their defender returned. Hair pulled back in a rough tie, broad shoulders military straight, expression bland…and his tiger-colored eyes were dancing with laughter.

“Thank you, Ben,” Anne said. “Nicely done.”

“I swear, that’s the only reason God put males on this earth—for bug disposal,” Sally said.

Anne considered, her gaze still caught in Ben’s. “They might have a…few…other reasons.”

His eyes warmed.

“Yeah. I made the mistake of saying that to Vance and he told Galen and they spent an entire night demonstrating. Reason after reason after reason.” Sally sounded positively disgruntled. “I couldn’t even get out of bed the next morning.”

Anne’s lips twitched.

Being a clever lad, Ben didn’t say anything, but his gaze stayed on Anne’s in a way that said he’d be delighted to perform his own demonstration.

The temptation was far too appealing. She shook her head. “Ben, can you help Linda get the living room arranged, please?”

Rather than looking irritated, he came to token attention. “Be my pleasure, Ma’am.”

Hearing Anne’s request, Linda waved him into the room and pointed to a chair. “That chair should sit over there, Ben.” She indicated the far corner. “And the media stand goes against that wall.”

“Yeah,” Ben muttered. “I told Dan that.”

Anne grinned. He had a good eye—and Dan didn’t. What a nice reminder that a person shouldn’t be judged by outward appearance.

Her phone beeped and displayed a text from Nolan. She lifted her voice. “People, the old apartment is empty, and the last load is on the way.”

Cheers came from the various rooms.

Anne checked on the bathroom crew. Although disgusted by the stench, the boys were working energetically.

One glanced at her. “And my mama said my room was a pigsty—she ain’t seen nothing.”

The next truck arrived, and Sam started bringing in the load. Silver-gray hair, pale blue eyes, darkly tanned, the rancher might be in his fifties, but he carried the oak dresser as if it weighed no more than a toothpick.

Ben would be as tough, no matter how old he got.

In the bedroom, Anne found Beth waiting and sipping her coffee.

As Sam set the dresser down, Anne told him, “Beth is in charge of this room. She’ll tell you where to put the furniture.”

Beth gave the notorious Shadowlands sadist a nervous look. She’d been married to a truly abusive sadist. Since meeting Nolan, she’d overcome many of her fears, but Anne had noticed that male sadists still made her a bit wary when her Dom wasn’t present.

This would be an excellent time for her to work on that.

Sam’s glance at Anne held amusement, but when he looked at Beth, his face was gentle. He said in his roughly graveled voice, “Didn’t bring my whip, missy. Instruct away.”

Neither one of them missed Beth’s relieved sigh.

Good enough. Smiling, Anne headed to the kitchen, passing Holt on the way in with a bedside stand.

The kitchen was coming along nicely. Sally had the dish cupboards almost filled. Gabi was organizing the canned goods.

“You two move really fast,” Anne said.

“Isn’t this great?” Sally bounced on her toes. “Uzuri thought she’d have to rent a motel room for tonight.”

“We’re going to have everything done even before the others arrive,” Gabi said.

“The others?” Anne tossed her coffee cup into the giant box labeled “garbage.”

“The ones who couldn’t get here early.” Sally set a cup onto a shelf. “Master Z was going to come and maybe bring Jessica and Sophia, depending on how they felt.”