Park Avenue Player(26)

“I might be late tonight. I need to do some damage control,” he said. “Can you stay if I work a few hours later than usual?”

“Of course. I have no life.”

“Is that true, or are you being sarcastic? I haven’t figured out how to tell with you yet.”

I smiled. “No, it’s true. I wish I was being sarcastic.”

He hesitated. “Why don’t you have a life? I’m guessing men asking you out isn’t the issue.”

I arched a brow. “Are you saying you think I’m attractive, Hollis?”

“We both know you are, so cut the shit and answer my question.”

I had to work at hiding my smile. “I’m on a very long, self-imposed man strike.”

“How long is very long?”

I bit my bottom lip. “Going on two years now.”

Hollis’s eyes widened. “You haven’t had…” He shook his head. “Never mind. I need to go.” He started to walk away.

“Hollis!” I yelled.

He turned back and looked at me.

“Say goodbye.”

He shook his head. “Goodbye, pain in my ass.”





Chapter 13




* * *





Hollis




It was almost midnight.

I hadn’t meant to work this late. Even though Elodie had told me it wasn’t a problem and to stay as late as I needed, I didn’t want to take advantage. But the West Coast clients needed some schmoozing, and my staff had all stayed for damage control, too.

My apartment was quiet. It was damn pleasant to walk in and not hear Anna’s name squawked at me. I tossed my keys on the table and went looking for Elodie. The living room TV was on, but the sound had been muted, and there were subtitles flashing on the bottom of the screen. Elodie was out cold, lying on the couch a few feet away. I grabbed the remote and went to flick off the TV, but the show caught my attention. A long-haired Fabio-looking guy was unbuttoning his shirt when a woman with a shitload of cleavage on display walked in.

What’s this now?

Words popped up at the bottom of the screen as the woman marched over to the dude, saying something: “Merhaba tatl?m.”

What the hell?

Was she watching a foreign soap opera or something? That’s what this shit looked like. I once had a client from Turkey, and I could’ve sworn merhaba was hello in Turkish. The woman who’d walked in on Fabio two seconds ago already had her tits pushed up against him.

I chuckled to myself and hit the Off button. Elodie was definitely different. I had no idea what to expect from her one minute to the next. Turning, I watched her breathe in and out a few times as she slept. She really was gorgeous. Relaxed as she snoozed, her features were soft and feminine. Earlier, her hair had been tied back, but now a piece of her thick blond mane had come loose and rested across her cheek. I had the craziest urge to push it back off her face. Her shirt was disheveled and pulled to one side, exposing a delicate collarbone and smooth, fair skin. I swallowed. Damn. While a part of me wanted to fix her hair, an equally strong part of me wanted to sink my teeth into that unmarked skin—leave bite marks where people could see them. It was fucked up, and I salivated, thinking, two years. Two years that beautiful body hadn’t been touched.

I scrubbed my hands over my face and walked over to the couch to wake her.

“Elodie,” I whispered.

She didn’t budge. So I tapped her shoulder. “Elodie?”

Her eyes fluttered open, and she stretched her arms up over her head. Her shirt rode up with the motion and exposed her midriff. I couldn’t help myself. I hadn’t been with a woman in a while, and being around Elodie made me lose my damn composure. Her stomach was just so smooth and flat, and her navel, an innie, showed off a sparkly diamond. God, I wanted to take that thing between my teeth and give it a good tug.

Shaking my head, I forced my eyes to look anywhere but at the damn nanny. I cleared my throat. “Sorry I’m so late.”

“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.