Page 12 of When Annika Met Thom

Thom nodded once, unsurprised. It wasn’t his fault and she knew it. She just needed to vent. He understood that.

Her eyes narrowed. “You know who she is.”

Thom shrugged. It wasn’t his job to deliver the bad news. “Leo said he’d call you.”

Her eyes flashed and he couldn’t tell whether she was mad at him or Leo. Then she looked around, suddenly defeated, and heaved a sigh.

Even that got to him.

He surrendered.

Thom opened the door wider in invitation, unable to help himself. “I’ll be back in twenty. Use the phone in the kitchen to call him again. He’ll think it’s me.” And when Leo found out otherwise, he’d insist that Annika stay at the apartment because he’d already paid the rent and Thom would be living with her for two weeks.

But it was the only decent thing to do. Where would she stay with a pet ferret? Nowhere on this island, even if she could afford it.

Thom had lost the battle but not the war.

Yet.

It was tough to care about that when relief lit Annika’s eyes and brought her to her feet. She was radiant now, her eyes almost glowing, her lips starting to curve in a smile.

Thom stared.

She offered her hand again, eyes alight. “You’re Thom, right?”

“Thom,” he agreed, then led Cerberus toward the stairs. One more time, he ducked her outstretched hand. “Just keep the weasel in its cage,” he advised then took his dog to the park without risking a backward glance.

If they’d touched, it would have been all over.

And she was going to be sleeping on the couch.

It might not be enough.

No doubt about it: his luck had gone to shit again.

Two

Keep the weasel in its cage.

What kind of a person could piss Annika off, even in the act of doing something nice for her? Ferrets and weasels weren’t the same, although they were related. Weasels weren’t domesticated and ferrets had been bred as domestic pets for over two thousand years. People were so stupid!

Apparently, Leo had told her the truth about Thom’s intellectual abilities.

Or lack thereof.

She hauled her suitcase and Percival’s cage into the main room of the tiny apartment. Her simmering annoyance gave her extra strength. She flicked the door shut so it slammed. She did leave Percival in his cage, even though he clearly needed to run. She had to check things out first.

A woman had answered Leo’s phone. Who was she?

She had a voice like red velvet, that was for sure. Annika had heard of women purring, but had never heard anyone do it so well. Her voice was definitely sensuous.

That was worrisome.

How close would someone have to be to be able to answer Leo’s phone?

Then she chided herself for being suspicious and unfair. After all, Annika had known that she and Leo were meant to be together since that first day of kindergarten. They were kindred spirits. They finished each other’s sentences. The intellectual and emotional bond was infinitely more important than the physical one. He was going to be a doctor. She was an engineer and already had a good job. The future was theirs and it looked great.

Everything was going to be just fine.

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