“I’ll give you a hundred bucks to make sure it’s still a nice ride when I get back to it,” I tell him.
He laughs, and I notice that he surprisingly has all of his teeth.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. You’re good,” he says, waving his hand away.
I pull out a hundred-dollar bill anyway. “Make sure no one else bothers it.”
He looks at my outstretched hand for a moment, but he’s smarter than to turn away money when it lands on his lap like this.
“And spend that on a room for the night. It’s fucking freezing out here,” I tell him.
Brielle didn’t give me her apartment number, only confirming the address, so I enter the building and head straight for the mailboxes. It only takes me a second to find one that says Collins/Wells. Apartment 4D.
I glance around for the elevator, unsurprised to find there isn’t one.
After the three flights of stairs, I find the apartment with 4D stuck to the door with stickers and knock.
Feet stomp around on the other side of the door, and I can hear people talking, almost clear enough to make out what they’re saying, but not quite.
The door is pulled open in front of me, and my mouth goes dry.
Brielle is standing in the doorway, trying to block me from seeing inside. Except I am much taller than her and can easily peek over her shoulder.
A Black woman is standing behind her, her eyes doing an obvious sweep over me from head to toe.
“Damn, girl. I thought you said this was a work thing?”
“Hols,” Brielle hisses at her roommate. “It is. He’s just my… uh… ride.”
“Let’s hope so,” she says, her eyes dancing with mischief.
The corner of my mouth twitches, but I school my features, looking back to Brielle.
She looks stunning. The red dress she’s wearing is molded against her curves, the heart-shaped neckline showing off the swell of her breasts. Thin straps hold the dress up on her otherwise bare shoulders, and an image of me pulling that strap down her arm appears sharply inmy mind. She isn’t tall by any stretch of imagination, but somehow, in this dress, her legs look endlessly long, the dress barely coming to her mid-thigh.
How did I not notice how beautiful she is when we were in the office?
I noted that she had a pretty face, full lips in a bow shape, button nose. But the woman standing before me… she’s the kind of stop-your-heart beauty that I’ve rarely ever seen. The kind that, if I saw her across a crowded room, I would make my way over to her with every intention of taking her home.
But she’s not a stranger across the room. She’s my employee.
“You were supposed to text,” she huffs.
Her adorable annoyance pulls me out of my wandering stare.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
“Yeah, I just need my purse.”
She grabs a small black bag with a long strap and drapes it over her shoulder, making her way toward the door.
“What about your coat?”
She looks down at her outfit. “It doesn’t really go with the dress.”
Who gives a fuck if it goes together? It’s twelve degrees outside, and she’s barely wearing any clothes as it is.
I scowl at her, refusing to move from the doorway when she tries to get past me.
