He enveloped me in an embrace. He gently cupped my face before ever so lightly letting our lips connect. The world stopped as we stood there, connected by the thinnest of delicate tissue. When he pulled back, I fluttered a bit. Breaking off the kiss must be what it feels like for a fish yanked out of water. For a second, I couldn’t imagine breathing on my own.
“Good night, Erika,” He turned and started strolling down the street. As he left, he started whistling the overture toThe Naughty List. I watched him walk away. I lost track of time. Suddenly, I felt so small and cold standing on the sidewalk, so I forced myself into the warmth of my building.
I nodded at the overnight guard and floated over to the elevator bank. I pushed the button and waited for it to get there. When the elevator opened, I looked up to see Kirk standing in front of me with a load of laundry in his hands.
“You’re up late,” I said, getting into the elevator.
“Whoa,” he said. “You look amazing tonight.”
“Why, thank you, I beamed. My agent, Brice—I don’t think you’ve met him yet—set me up with this Icelandic giant who took me out for a late-night dinner.”
Kirk’s face fell slightly, but he quickly masked whatever he was feeling. “Well, from the way you’re beaming, I’m guessing this one went better than the others?”
“Most definitely,” I said, and let out a contented sigh. “What about you? Why are you up so late?” I asked again.
“I made the mistake of taking a nap when I got home. I slept till 11:00 p.m. I had gotten nothing done before the nap, so I decided to play catch up. And I figured the laundry facilities would be empty at this time of night.”
“Were they?”
“Were they what?”
“Empty?”
“Oh, yeah…they were empty. Well, not completely empty. Someone else was in and out, but that was it.”
The elevator opened on their floor, and I motioned for Kirk to leave first since he was carrying the clothes basket. All I had was my purse.
“Well, I hope you can get back to sleep,” I told Kirk as I got to my door.
“Me too,” he replied. I turned the key in my lock and was about to push the door open when Kirk added, “I’m thrilled this date worked out for you. You deserve a piece of happiness.”
I turned to respond, but he was already in his apartment. I pushed open my door and found a slightly upset Bootsy waiting for me.
“I know. I’m late. Just let me get changed, and we can snuggle before bed. How does that sound?”
Apparently, it sounded fine to him because he turned around and headed right into the bedroom. I flipped on the lights and found him lying in the middle of the bed with his tail flopping, looking at me as he groomed one of his paws.
I got off my clothes and took one more look at myself in the mirror. I had to admit, Santa’s little dressing, makeup, and hair helpers had done an amazing job with me tonight. I needed to get them a gift basket or something.
I washed my face and got into my pajamas. I grabbed my phone, which was on my dresser, and walked back into the living room to put it on its charger. Since I hadn’t done that in a few hours, I looked at the texts.
Brice:How was the date?
Erika:Benedikt is amazing. I think we’ll be seeing more of each other.
I had a text from a number I didn’t recognize, so I opened it.
Unknown:Erika, Rebekka Eldridge. I got your cell phone from your personnel file. We need to talk to you in the morning. I hope you can be in by 8:30.
I rolled my eyes and looked at the clock. I could get about six hours of sleep. After plugging in the phone and setting the alarm clock, I crawled into bed to cuddle with Bootsy. I barely had Bootsy snuggled beside me before drifting into a pleasant sleep.
Chapter 22
Whenthealarmwentoff, I ran through a yoga series to wake up my body. Then I showered, dressed, fed Bootsy, and was out of the apartment by 8:10, so I had plenty of time to walk to the theater and grab a coffee at Hello, Coffee! on the way. I showed up at the theater and wasn’t surprised that the facility was so quiet at this early hour.
I rode the escalator up to the orchestra level entrance. I was surprised to find Jeremy McCartan pacing the floor when I got there. He looked over at me as I stepped off the escalator.
“Erika,” he said. “Do you know what this is about?”
