hooves drew Joanna’s attention to the hallway flowing into the vestibule from her right. Before Joanna could brace herself, a huge black and gray mottled thing came bounding into the foyer, streaking past her to Rio.
“Some watchdog you are.” The beast rose on hind legs, massive front paws propped on Rio’s chest. “Get down, Gabby.”
This was Gabby, the mysterious roommate?
Rio slid the box and dog to the floor then shucked off his jacket and hung it over the banister. He scratched the head of the monstrosity with heavy jowls and pointy ears. “Gabby, this is Joanna. Joanna, my roommate, Gabby.”
Joanna wasn’t sure whether to be really angry or really relieved. “Very funny. I thought you meant you lived with—”
“A woman. I know, but I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about residing with an overgrown lapdog.” Rio tried to affect little-boy innocence with a shrug, but it was lost on Joanna due to his toxic smile, the snug fit of his longsleeved white thermal shirt and soft, washed jeans that molded him in all the right places, leaving no doubt he was all man.
She looked down at the dog, whose tongue hung out one side of her mouth, her head cocked as if totally enthralled by her master. Joanna couldn’t blame her. The doctor made her want to pant and fawn, but she sure as heck wouldn’t do that.
Joanna clutched the hangers to her chest when Gabby cautiously moved to sniff her feet. At least the dog’s tail was wagging, a good thing, Joanna decided, considering the size of the canine’s teeth.
Uncertain what to do next, Joanna said, “Hey, Gabby.”
As if totally disinterested in Joanna’s greeting, the dog turned her attention back to her master with a look that could best be described as love-struck.
“I found her on the side of the road about three years ago,” Rio said, scratching Gabby behind the ears. “She was starved, I think maybe even beaten. It took me a year to get her to trust me and not to cower.”
Obviously Rio Madrid made it a habit to pick up distressed females. “She looks healthy now. And big.”
“She’s a big baby.” Rio pointed at the floor. “Stay.” Gabby tucked her tail between her legs and stretched out on the black Oriental rug at the foot of the stairs, her head resting on crossed paws.
Joanna suspected that many females, regardless of their species, would gladly drop to the ground in answer to his command. Not this female. Joanna was stronger than that. At least she hoped so, although at times she greatly questioned her strength in his presence. Especially now.
Rio gestured toward the staircase. “You, Ms. Blake, may come with me.”
Joanna silently followed behind him trying hard to avert her gaze from the roll of his narrow hips as he took the stairs with a long stride. Even when they arrived on the second floor, she couldn’t seem to stop looking, imagining, remembering the night he’d kissed her, the night he’d taken off his shirt at her apartment. And that tattoo. Below that tattoo…
“My bedroom’s down there.” Rio pointed to his left.
“Really?” Joanna’s voice sounded high-pitched and scratchy.
“Yeah. Do you want to see it?”
She didn’t dare. “Maybe later.” Maybe never, if she knew what was best for her.
He gestured in the opposite direction. “There’re two baths and three other smaller rooms at the other end.”
“What’s in those other rooms?”
“Not much. One’s my office, the other two have a few odds and ends, but no real furniture to speak of.”
“Oh. So where am I staying?”
“Right this way.” He crossed the hall and opened a door that led to another stairwell enclosed by narrow walls. “Be careful,” he said over one shoulder as he began to climb the steps. “It’s pretty steep.”
Joanna made sure to concentrate on her footing, not Rio Madrid’s finer points, as she scaled the stairs. She’d hate to have to explain that she’d taken a tumble while shamelessly staring at his butt.
At the top of the staircase, he opened another door and stepped inside the room. Joanna could only gape once she entered behind him. The whole area was swathed in sunlight spilling from the triple windows. The four-poster white canopy, covered in a frilly spread dotted with lilacs, the antique-white dresser, the immaculate hardwood floors with scattered throw rugs, looked like something from Victorian times. A matching lilaccolored chaise set below one window served as an invitation, a place to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. Or with a lover on a lazy Sunday afternoon. She swallowed hard.
“Wow.” It was all Joanna could manage at the moment. The room was almost twice as big as her old apartment, and no comparison as far as comfort was concerned. Never in her wildest imaginings had she envisioned this lovely place.
Rio laced his hands at his nape, his gorgeous face shining with satisfaction. “Yeah, it’s nice. Not exactly my kind of decor, but I didn’t have the heart to change anything. It has a personality all its own.”
Joanna couldn’t agree more. She walked to the bed and ran one hand down the post. “It’s wonderful.”
He pushed open another door and leaned against the wall next to it. “The bathroom’s right here. It’s not very big, and it only has a tub. An old claw-footed tub, but it’s been restored. If you’d rather take a shower, you can use one of the second-floor bathrooms, or you could use mine. It’s big.”
Joanna locked on to his sensual smile. The image of showering with Rio Madrid arrived in great detail, including fogged-up glass from heavy breathing, not steam. Slick bodies, roving hands…
Good heavens. She didn’t need to think about that now. Or ever. “Is there somewhere I can hang these?”
He pointed behind her. “In the closet.”
She turned. “A closet? That’s great. I haven’t had one of those in a while.” She hadn’t had a lover in a while, either, a fact apparent every time Rio Madrid walked into the room.
After hanging her things in the moderate-size closet, she faced him again. “I guess I’ll go get the rest of the boxes and bring them up.”
“I’ll do it in a minute. Care for some lunch?”
“Sure. I thought I’d go to the store and pick up a few groceries.”
He pushed away from the wall. “I had my housekeeper do that yesterday.”
“You have a housekeeper?”
“Yeah. I can’t keep this place clean by myself, nor do I want to. She comes in twice a week, during the day.”
“I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
His grin resurfaced. “So your idea of heaven is a housekeeper?”
Joanna strolled to the bed and dropped onto the edge. “One of my ideas.” Laughing, she fell back and sank
