Free The Arrangement by Bethany-Kris

when I’m close by. I suppose she was so excited to finally see you again, my father, too, though he doesn’t leave the upstairs.”
    “Stop rambling. I want to stay in here. I felt safer the moment I knew you were close, but that …” she murmured, pointing at the gun on the couch cushion, “needs to stay in the drawer or something, okay? I’ll keep sleeping in here; I bet you’ll feel better with me close, too.”
    “With me,” he clarified. The husky, suggestive tone behind the words had an immediate effect on Viviana as her pupils dilated and her fingers tightened their hold on his. “Because this room is the only one besides my office and the basement that has responding motion sensors to the whole house. The others are floor by floor. I’m not sleeping on that couch for one more night, Vine; it makes my back ache.”
    Throwing him a cheeky grin over her shoulder as she scooped up the clothes off the bed, Viviana said, “We’ll see how it goes.”
    Anton’s face darkened, want and lust suddenly thrumming deep like the race in his pulse. Eyes narrowed, and taking a step closer to Viviana, he loved how she shivered. “I like lace, satin, and silk. Something that feels nice under my hands and I can tear right off without much trouble. Anything short enough to show those legs of yours off, and heels in every fucking color, hmm? Keep that in mind when Ivan brings over your cards and a new laptop later in the week.”
    Her mouth fell slack. “But …”
    “Keep it in mind,” he repeated thickly.
    • • •
    The kitchen looked like a hurricane had passed through. With empty meat and fresh vegetable packages strewn across the counters, pans dirtied from having been used earlier, and no one in sight, Viviana wondered where the food had gone.
    Anton seemed to pick up on her confusion. “Rocco is fed a natural raw and cooked diet. He doesn’t eat kibble; it’s not as healthy. It’s a good balance, keeps him happy, his coat looking nicer, and he doesn’t eat nearly as much as a dog fed on a dry-only diet as he gets sated faster.”
    “That seems like a lot of work.”
    He shrugged, picking up the empty packages and opening the garbage to dispose of them. “Sure, but it’s worth the results. He’s never sick, he’s more aware, and of course the most obvious, he’s healthier.”
    “He sounds spoiled,” she teased.
    Dishes, pans, and utensils were tossed into a stainless steel dishwasher. She helped in silence, noticing all the shades were drawn throughout the room. With dark, cherry oak cupboards, black granite, stainless steel appliances, and grey tiled floors, the space was modern and comfortable with a table that could seat a dozen people in its high-back, leather chairs.
    “Far from it,” he finally replied. Then, a quiet beep sounded from a panel on the wall above the light switch. Nodding at the panel, Anton said, “Clarissa is bringing him inside from the backyard. He’ll let her enter first, but if it were me—or you—he would make his way in ahead of us to check the space out and make sure it was empty. Always let him do that, no matter if you feel it’s ridiculous or not. That’s a part of Rocco’s job, not allowing him to do it confuses him. He’ll always alert you if it isn’t safe.”
    “Does he ever … I don’t know, have time off or just a day where he gets to be a normal dog?”
    Anton looked up from the paper he’d picked up from the table. “Why?”
    “Well, he is a dog, Anton. He should get to act like one, I suppose. You don’t agree?”
    “No, I do, but for the time being he has to be on high-alert for me. He can hear things we can’t, smell things that are long faded, or search you out in a scenario where I possibly couldn’t. When he takes his walk to the small park about a mile away, he gets some time to burn off energy, play with other dogs, or whatever else he needs to blow off steam.”
    “Do you ever take him out?”
    The newspaper was forgone back to