“It’s fine.” She gave me a goofy grin and sat up, pushing that lock of hair off her face as she rose. “I love getting paid to sleep.”
“I’m going to call you an Uber. I don’t want you taking the trains this late.”
“Okay. Thanks. I need to use the bathroom first.”
Elodie walked out of the room, and I used all my strength to keep my head down and focus on calling her car, not look at her ass.
When she came back, I was still standing in the living room. “Your car will be here in three minutes.”
“Oh wow. I better get downstairs then.”
She walked around the apartment, collecting her things.
“Everything go okay tonight?”
“Yes, fine. We ate and started a series on Netflix. Pretty uneventful. Hailey went to bed at nine, but I checked in on her an hour later, and she was still awake. I think she’s all pumped up about the last day of school tomorrow.”
I nodded. “I’m sure.”
Elodie grabbed her purse from the couch and slung it over her body so it rested diagonally across her front. I was behind her and had intended to walk her to the front door. But after a few steps she abruptly stopped, turned around, and grabbed one of my arms.
Before I knew what the fuck was going on, I was flipped into the air and laid out on my back on the floor. The wind was knocked out of me with the umpf of my landing.
“What the fuck!”
Elodie leaned over me, flaunting a gigantic smile, and offered a hand. “This afternoon you laughed when I said I could’ve brought you down. Now you won’t doubt my abilities anymore.”
“Seriously? You could have broken my neck.”
“I made sure you were on the rug and went gently.”
I pushed her hand away and got up by myself, dusting my pants as I stood. “That’s gently? Where the hell did you learn to do that?”
“I told you, self-defense classes.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m guessing you’ve used that move once or twice?”
She grinned. “That was actually the first time I did it outside of class. And I’m so freaking glad it worked.”
She’d just knocked my manhood down a few rungs, and I’d probably be sore as shit for a week, yet I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You just elevated yourself from a figurative pain in my ass to a literal one. Get out.”
She opened the front door and turned back with a wink. “Night, Hollsy. Sweet dreams. And try not to dream too much about sparkly bellybuttons.”***The following day, Elodie called me at work just as I was going into a meeting with an important client.
I answered, “What’s up?”
She corrected me. “Hello, Elodie. How are you?”
“Hello, Elodie. How are you? What do you want?”
“Would you have any objection to Hailey and I attending an end-of-the-year party at one of her friend’s houses in Connecticut after school gets out today? I guess Megan’s parents have a second house in Greenwich, and since it’s so warm today, they invited a few girls over for a pool party.”
I scratched my head. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“We’re hitching a ride with them since I took the train in again today. So you’ll have to come pick us up in Connecticut tonight. Is that okay?”
I sighed. “As long as I’m not required to be there by a certain time. I don’t know when I’ll get out of here. Not to mention, Friday night traffic heading out of the city is going to be a nightmare.”
“That should be fine. We’ll just hang out until you get there.”
“Okay then, text me the address.”
“You sound kind of out of breath. Are you sure I didn’t interrupt one of your noontime rendezvous?”
Her comment made my pulse race a little. Any implication of sex reminded me how hard up I was.
“I’m out of breath because you’re making me late for a meeting.”
Except now for some reason I was imagining Elodie splayed out on my desk naked. Maybe that contributed to my breathing a little, too.***A couple of hours later, my meeting was still going when Elodie called again. I almost let it go to voicemail, but then I remembered she and Hailey were traveling to Connecticut. I worried maybe something had happened.
I held my index finger up and left the room to take the call.
Speaking low, I picked up. “Everything okay?”
“Yes. We actually just arrived. But there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“Dr. Gottlieb’s office called. Huey recovered faster than they expected. They want us to pick him up and take him home today. I’m here with Hailey, so I can’t go get him.”
“Can’t he spend the night there? I can get him in the morning.”
“I asked that, but they were insistent that we pick him up now. Something about a shortage of space.”
“Crap.” I ran my hand through my hair. “So, I’m supposed to go pick up Huey, bring him all the way back to my place, then jet out to Connecticut?”