“He knows about immortals. Why doesn’t he realize we’re having shared dreams?” she asked with bewilderment.
“From what I’ve read from his mind, while he does know about shared dreams, and did wonder at one point if that was what he was experiencing, in the end he decided not.”
“Why?” Ildaria asked with surprise.
“Because he doesn’t feel like you are really there,” Sofia said gently, and when Ildaria’s confusion showed in her expression, she explained, “You’re letting him have his way in the dreams. The settings come from his thoughts, as does what happens. You never take control yourself, you just kind of go along for the ride. That’s probably because you’re not all that experienced,” she added quickly. “But whatever the case, it’s convinced him that he’s just having these dream fantasies about you on his own, and they’re so powerful and incessant that he’s beginning to feel like a perv.” She let that sink in and then said, “While Marguerite was concerned about how he might react to finding out he’s a possible life mate to you, and I did too, I think at this point he’d be relieved that he isn’t just gaining an unhealthy obsession with you.”
They were both silent for a moment as Ildaria considered that and then Sofia said, “Come on then, go throw on some clothes and we’ll head out to find you sexy outfits and books to help you seduce G.G. You can eat your sandwich in the car.”
Even Ildaria was surprised when she slid docilely off her chair and headed for the bedroom without argument. But she had to do something or G.G. would fly off to England. If he did, she could lose him altogether. Ildaria couldn’t afford to follow him right away, and he was mortal. Accidents happened. She needed to step up her game, and she had no idea how to do that. She needed help.
Seven
Ildaria glanced at the dashboard clock as she pulled into her parking spot, surprised to see that it was only 2 p.m. She and Sofia hadn’t been shopping long. Well, actually, Sofia was still at the mall. She said she had some things to get and would Uber it home. Ildaria had offered to wait, but Sofia had insisted she head home. She wanted her to get to work reading “the instructive books” she’d chosen and “get an idea” of what she needed to do to seduce G.G.
“Instructive books,” Ildaria muttered, reaching over to grab the two bags on the passenger’s seat. One held half a dozen romance novels and the other, a see-through nightie, all of which Sofia had picked and purchased for her. Getting seduction advice from romance novels was ridiculous enough, but the nightie . . . ? It wasn’t her style, but Sofia had guaranteed it would drive G.G. mad. Ildaria wasn’t so sure herself. She might as well stand around naked as wear the sheer white nightgown. It looked like it had been made from a bride’s veil, and to her mind was as obvious as that Fuck me sign Sofia had mentioned.
In fact, maybe wearing a sign would be good, Ildaria thought as she opened her door and slid out, dragging the bags with her. At least, with a sign, he couldn’t misunderstand what she—
“Ms. Pimienta?”
Ildaria paused to eye the approaching man who had spoken. He was coming from a dark sedan parked next to G.G.’s pickup. Which she would have noticed if she hadn’t been distracted checking the time and thinking about the seduction paraphernalia she’d brought home with her. Honestly, she’d spent nearly two centuries in a hyper state of awareness, always double and triple checking any area she entered or moved through. Now, suddenly she was flouncing about like an idiot, not looking around at all. This was how a girl got dead . . . or harassed by the FBI, she thought as she recognized the man.
His name was Jack Barr. He was the FBI agent she’d saved from a pack of gang members in Montana. Which had put the FBI on her tail there.
But as far as she knew the FBI hadn’t got anywhere close to figuring out who she was or tracking her down in Montana. How the devil had the man found her here?
She didn’t ask. Instead, while she normally avoided it, Ildaria read his mind . . . and nearly blushed at his thoughts. The man was terribly excited. He was sure he’d found his “angel” at last. Fortunately, he didn’t think of her that way because he knew her real first name, he just thought of her as “his angel.” It seemed he’d been obsessed with finding her since she’d saved him some months ago. He was also the impetus behind the FBI’s hunt for her in Montana which had caught Lucian’s attention.
Ildaria wasn’t sure whether to thank him for that or not. On the one hand, it appeared he was the reason she’d been dragged out of Montana and lost a term’s worth of courses. On the other hand, he was the reason she’d been dragged out of Montana and brought here to meet her life mate. Which was another problem in itself. But the kind of problem every immortal wished for. Although, most would rather have an easy go of claiming their life mate than she appeared to have before her.
“Ms. Pimienta, my name is Agent Jack Barr. I’m—”
Ildaria cut him off right there, and continued to read his mind. Irritation flickered through her as she realized he’d found her through the video of her saving the student who had nearly been raped. Unfortunately, Lucian wasn’t the only one to spot that video. It seemed when she’d disappeared from the scene in Montana, Jack Barr hadn’t believed she’d simply stopped helping people. He’d thought perhaps she’d moved because things had got hot there. He’d started looking for similar incidents elsewhere and Toronto had popped up on his radar. He’d seen the video of her tossing around that would-be rapist who had been twice her size, and had been positive she was his “angel.”
Her name, however, had not been on the video that was now floating around the networks. But since that incident had happened on campus, as had most of the incidents in Montana, he’d looked for a student, professor, or employee who had moved from one university to the other.
Much to her surprise, her name wasn’t the only one to pop up; two others had transferred up from Montana this summer. Jack had got the contact numbers and addresses for each of them from the university, and was going through the admittedly short list, interviewing them one after the other. He’d interviewed the first two yesterday. Ildaria was last because he’d had trouble finding an address for her until he’d approached the university today and flirted shamelessly with a student helping out in the registrar’s office to get her to look up the address.
Luckily for him, Ildaria had made sure to give the university her new address the day she’d moved into her new apartment. She hadn’t wanted to miss any notices, or the information packets about her courses. And so here he was, about to try to get her to confess she was the vigilante he’d become so obsessed with.
Ildaria had no idea how he planned to do it, mainly because he had no idea either. He had no jurisdiction in Canada, but was hoping she didn’t know that and that the very name FBI would be enough to scare her into confessing. Worse yet, while he was supposed to track her down for the FBI, he was really doing it for himself and had no intention of turning her over to his bosses . . . unless she rejected him. Then he’d give his boss the information he had on her and leave it to him to get her charged and extradited for her vigilante activities back in Montana.
More than a little irritated that her assistance, and actually saving the man’s life, was being paid back this way, Ildaria had no qualms about sliding into his mind and taking control of him. She quickly rearranged his memories of this meeting, put it into his mind that he was positive she couldn’t be his “angel,” eased his desire to find said “angel” and then sent him back to his car with the mindset to let go of his fruitless hunt, return to the head office, and move on to his next case.
She watched him drive out of the parking lot, worrying about any other possible repercussions from that video. Lucian had seen it and dragged her here. Jack Barr had found her because of it. What if Juan or one of his people saw it? Would she have to go on the run again?
Mouth tightening, Ildaria closed and locked her car door then headed inside, quite sure she wouldn’t be reading her “homework” now.
Ildaria was wrong. After pacing and fretting uselessly for half an hour, she actually snatched up one of the books Sofia had insisted on getting just to escape her worries for a bit. It had actually worked. The stories were engrossing and worked beautifully at taking her away from her own life for a bit. Ildaria managed to read all of one, and half of a second book before she had to stop to get ready for work.
She was actually looking forward to continuing with the stories after work. But not for any seduction advice they offered. There wasn’t really much help regarding that. It seemed to her that the sex in the books was situational, rather than a matter of seduction. The women didn’t wear risqué outfits, or spout suggestive lines to lure the men. It just kind of happened. But, she still wanted to finish reading the one she was halfway through, and then move on to the other books. Because, much to her surprise, she was actually enjoying them. The one she’d finished and the one she’d started weren’t at all the bodice rippers she’d expected. The stories were full of adventure and action, with heroines that were strong and intelligent, not helpless creatures needing rescuing. They fought alongside the men in the stories, saving themselves and occasionally even saving their male counterparts. She was enjoying them, and anything that took her mind off Juan and the possibility of his finding her was a welcome diversion.
Of course, her worries about G.G. leaving and Juan finding her returned the moment she put the second book down and began to get ready for work. And it continued to weigh on her mind as she worked, but Ildaria was no closer to coming up with a solution to either problem by the time her eight hours of office work were done.
Since keeping G.G. from leaving was the larger concern in her mind, she continued to ponder the problem as she took H.D. up to her apartment to wait for G.G. to collect him.
Maybe if she quit working for him, she thought. Then G.G. would have no reason to flee and she could come to the club as a customer and . . . what? The what was the problem. She still had no idea how to handle the situation. Could she even afford to come here without a job? Not to mention, she’d be homeless. The apartments were for employees; if she quit she’d have to find somewhere else to live.