"I think you're perfect exactly the way you are," Ellie says the words that are dangling from the tip of my tongue. "There's one thing I think we need to talk about, though."
"What?" Gretel barks, her hands leaping to Leila's shoulders. "Don't tell her that you like her nose."
"I like it better than your nose, Gretel." I turn toward her, raising a brow. "I like the last nose you had better than this one too. The one before that not so much."
She shoots me a look that says shut the fuck up, or it might be fuck me. Either way, it's not happening.
"Did your Mommy pay for anything for you today, Leila?"
Ellie's voice is soothing and calm. Gretel stands in silence as Leila shakes her head from side-to-side. "Not for me. She bought all those things in the bag for herself."
"Did you bring any of your own money with you today?"
Leila giggles, her hand darting to cover her mouth. "I don't have money. I have to earn it, and I don't like chores."
Like mother, like daughter.
"I can see that you have something in your pocket." Ellie points to the left pocket of Leila's skirt. "It looks like a tube of mascara. Is that what it is?"
Leila looks back at Gretel before her eyes settle on Ellie. "Yes. It's mascara. I want it."
"If you want to take something home from the store, you need to pay for it." Ellie's gaze slides over Gretel's face before she looks at Leila again. "Sometimes it's hard to resist taking whatever we want, but we have to earn money to pay for those things."
"Mommy says she earns every dime she spends listening to Daddy talk."
Ellie sighs, her hand darting out in front of her. "Can I have the mascara back?"
"I guess," Leila whispers as she tugs it out of her pocket. "Daddy says I can't wear makeup until I'm twenty."
"Your father can say what he wants, but I set that rule." Gretel snatches the mascara from Ellie's palm. "Mommy will buy you this, princess, and anything else you want."
Ellie's jaw drops as Gretel grabs Leila's hand and they walk away.
"That woman makes me crazy," she whispers as she watches Leila's face light up at the lipstick counter. "What lesson is she teaching her daughter?"
"One she'll hopefully regret one day." I exhale roughly. "I'm sorry I missed your call earlier. I was in the middle of something."
"No problem." She looks toward the entrance of the store, her eyes tracking a customer who just walked in. "I get it. You're a busy man."
"We need to talk, Ellie." I take a deep breath, trying to steady my voice." I have a meeting soon. Can you come up to my office at two?"
Her eyes drop to the plain white watch on her left wrist. "Is it business or personal?"
"You work for Crew," I point out. "It's about last night."
She looks at my hands, her teeth scraping at her bottom lip. "I'd like to talk about that too."
"I'll see you at two o'clock sharp." That's only four hours from now. Four fucking hours for me to figure out how to tell this gorgeous woman that I'm not the man she thinks I am.
"I might be a little late." Her gaze drifts to where a group of customers has gathered around a perfume display. "I'm having lunch with Liam at one fifteen, but I'll be sure to come up to your office as soon as I'm done. I need to get back to work now."
She tosses me a look, but unlike Gretel's there is no ambiguity in Ellie's hidden message. It clearly says your loss, jerk. Your fucking loss is Wolf's gain.
Well, shit.
***
"Ellie Madden wants to talk to you," Eda announces as she blocks my path when I step off the elevator and approach my office door.