“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Good, because Jimmy ordered more.”
My heart plummets down to my gut and the gooey, warm feeling from Elijah vanishes. “What?”
“He ordered more. I saw it on the delivery sheets.”
“But I… I already have too much. There aren’t enough subscribers to pawn these all off on. Why the hell would he order more when he was just complaining that they don’t sell?”
“Beats me, but I wanted to give you a heads up.” The elevator dings and Victoria steps back inside. “Sorry, babe.”
“Thanks. See you later.” I wave as the doors close, then turn and retrace my steps back to my office. The impending arrival of even more Onyx bracelets distracts me from Elijah for a few hours, but by the time I’ve caught up on countless emails about the content change within the January subscription box, a couple of dozen cancellations, and countless phone calls telling me what a bad business I’m running, Elijah seeps back into my thoughts.
Victoria is right, unfortunately. Something about Elijah just turns my insides to goo in a way I haven’t felt since the night we ran into each other at the convention. It was the first time anyone had made me feel like the center of the universe, and it was an addictive feeling. So much so that I got his number and ended up too shy to call until I had to tell him about my pregnancy.
His wife answering really dampened all those feelings.
Until now.
Alone in my office, surrounded by paperwork and countless boxes to pack by hand, my mind wanders.
What did the wink mean? Is he interested? Am I interested? Can I really take the risk of attempting to get close to him while hiding the bombshell that he’s the father of my child, on top of dealing with the guilt that I helped him cheat on his wife? And if he cheated on her then, surely, he’d cheat on me?
There are so many unanswered questions around Elijah and what he’s doing here, and my mind battles back and forth between what I want to do and what I should do. At the end of the day, none of it matters if I’m about to be out of a job.
If only he weren’t so fucking hot.
The day gets away from me and by the time five o’clock rolls around, I’m not even close to being done.
“Coming for drinks?” Victoria asks as she sways into my office.
“I can’t.”
“Because of Nick?”
“No.” My pen falls to the desk and I rub at my temples, gazing up at her. “He’s on a playdate leading to a sleepover, so I’m actually child-free tonight.”
“So… drinks?”
“I can’t. I’m so behind on orders because we lost a week to the burst pipe. Mark’s out sick with the flu, so I’m assembling these boxes by myself. There’s so much to do and not enough time.”
“Let me help.” Surprisingly, she sounds like she means it. She walks deeper into my office and glances around. “I pack stuff in the store all the time. It can’t be that different. I’ll stay and help.”
“You already have other people waiting for drinks, though, don’t you?”
“No,” Victoria answers quickly, then she nods. “Yeah… but I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”
“I’ll be fine. Honestly, teaching you everything will take too much time. Not that I’m not grateful for the offer.”
“Hmm. Okay. Well, text me when you leave, okay? I’ll need peace of mind that you haven’t become caught under another pipe or a pile of boxes.” She kisses the air twice. “Goodnight!”
“Goodnight.”
I should return to work, but Victoria’s comment ignites another fantasy in my mind. The day Elijah arrived and saved me from those falling floor tiles was hot. Beyond hot, actually. He didn’t even think before he lunged into the water and shoved me out of the way. Closing my eyes, the sensation of his strong hands on my arms and the warmth from his torso combine with the scent of his cologne earlier, and tension bleeds through my gut.
Think of Nick.
Of money.
