“Text me when you get home, Brown Eyes.”
He reached out and opened my car door.
“Eli, I?—”
He didn’t let me finish. He kissed me quickly to stop my words.
“Not tonight, Grier. I’m not making the same mistakes again.” He sighed and shook his head. “That came out wrong. Being with you has never been a mistake. I just don’t want to rush back into things until you know you can trust me.”
I couldn’t argue. I liked that he wanted to rebuild my trust in him. As much as I wanted to believe that he was serious when he said he wanted to become my family, there was a voice in my head telling me to be careful. The only problem was that I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to silence that little voice. I’d been disappointed and let down too many times in my life. Too many promises broken. Too many hurts. Not done by Elijah, but by others.
“I want to trust you,” I said.
“But?”
“I have a lot of trouble trusting anyone. Especially if they have hurt me in the past,” I admitted.
He did say he wanted to hear my thoughts, even if they weren’t positive. My blunt words weren’t meant to be a test, but they still were regardless.
He didn’t even blink. “Then, I have my work cut out for me.” He kissed me again and opened my car door. “Don’t forget to text me when you get home.”
I had no idea what to say. His response wasn’t what I expected. I found myself in the driver’s seat of my car and he shut the door. He stepped up onto the sidewalk and watched me until I started the vehicle and backed out of the spot.
After I drove away, my phone chimed, but I didn’t check it until I stopped at a red light down the street. As soon as I read the message, I smiled.
Elijah: Don’t forget to text me when you get home.
A laugh escaped me. It was the first time in a long time that someone wanted to know I got home safely. Well, someone other than my girlfriends.
Grier: I will.
Chapter Seventeen
That day was the first of many like it over the next two weeks.
Every morning that I worked at the gallery, Elijah brought in coffee for me. He always brought one for Davide, too. A couple of mornings he also brought pastries from the bakery around the corner, the same one that Davide had bought the mini desserts from when Elijah ditched me.
Things were touch and go last week when Seth showed up one afternoon with coffee and treats. He was true to his word because things weren’t weird at all. At least not between us. However, I worried that Elijah was going to blow a gasket when he and Davide came out of the back office and found Seth and I chatting. While he wasn’t an outright asshole, he was definitely…grumpy. His thunderous expression faded slightly when Seth gave him one of the four lattes he brought, explaining that Davide had shared he was working in the gallery now. Seth even brought him a double chocolate chip fudge cookie as wide as his palm. I know I would have lost any and all ill will after the first bite of that treat. Elijah managed to hang on to his grumpy expression until he finished the cookie.
Despite his crotchety behavior during Seth’s visit, Elijah was dead set on showing me that he wasn’t going to treat me the way he had before. He took me to dinner two more nights that week. On the evenings we didn’t go out to eat, he called me after dinner, and we talked. Sometimes for an hour. Sometimes for much longer. He sent flowers to my apartment on the weekend, with little notes about how much he missed me.
I never had a boyfriend in high school, but I was almost certain this was how high school romances went. It was sweet and romantic. And Elijah was succeeding in his goal to prove himself to me. I felt cared for. Seen. Maybe even loved.
We weren’t going to be able to spend much time together this week though because I was gearing up for Lucy’s showing. She was bringing her photographs to be framed this week, and we were going to discuss my plans for the layout of her show. Davide had already approved my ideas, so I just needed Lucy’s okay.
I was more than a little nervous about it because, as much as she loved me (and I loved her), she could be extremely picky when it came to her art. I knew she had gotten into with Davide on more than one occasion, mostly from the stories she told. When I brought that up to my boss, he shrugged and said she wasn’t really that bad. Then, he’d shot Elijah a side eye and said he’d worked with worse. Elijah, who’d been listening to our conversation, just chuckled and kept his eyes on the computer screen in front of him.
Lucy had brought a few photos over to give me an idea of the composition and theme she’d chosen for this collection. As soon as I saw the haunting photos, I knew that thick, yet simple black frames would be perfect. They complemented the style of the photos without overwhelming them.
I only hoped Lucy agreed.
I was in the back room of the gallery, counting the frames that had been delivered that morning. I’d ordered extra frames just in case some arrived damaged or were broken during the set up. My concentration was so intense that I didn’t hear the door open behind me. Or the footsteps on the concrete floor.
I had no idea I wasn’t alone until two hands slid around my waist and pulled me back into a hard chest. All the self-defense lessons I’d taken in college deserted me. I didn’t even scream. I yelped like a kicked puppy and threw my notebook up in the air.
Recognition hit me less than a second later because Elijah always smelled like a combination of his body wash and deodorant. It wasn’t a strong scent, but I found it irresistible anyway.
“It’s just me, Brown Eyes.”
