“I’m hungry.”
“Good.” I climb out of bed and the long-sleeved shirt falls to my knees and the thick socks go up my thighs.
“Surprisingly, this looks pretty fashionable,” I mutter, looking in the mirror.
“It does. You look good in my clothes,” he grunts, turning away from me and walking to the door. I blush, knowing I’m wearing his things.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Um…I don’t know.” He spins on his heels and stops in front of me.
“I’m not sure what you like, but you can have anything you want to eat. It’s still early enough for most restaurants that deliver or I can have my driver pick us up somewhere that doesn’t deliver.”
“I only worked in this area. I didn’t really live over here. I’m about ten miles south, so I’m not sure exactly.”
“Pizza, Chinese, Mexican, Italian?”
“Um…Pizza?”
“Sounds good to me.” He takes my hand and leads me down the stairs. Gently, I loosen my hand from his as we get to the bottom of the steps. Not because it’s not incredible, but because it’s too intense. I want to crawl into his arms and beg him to protect and love me forever like a ridiculous girl with a foolish crush.
“My mom has a nice movie theater or we can chill and watch television in the living room.”
“I’d like to just watch some television.”
“That’s fine. Is there anything you like to watch?”
“Is it lame that I watch the Science channel?”
“Not at all. When I do watch TV, it’s one I flip to often.”
“Cool.”
He pulls up pizza places on his phone and lets me scroll through them. I finally pick one and he places the order. We sit on the sofa and it feels cozy. The air is on because the heat has undoubtedly picked up outside.
“Are you comfortable?” he asks, looking at me as I curl my feet under my bottom.
“Yes,” I answer with a nod. Elijah takes a seat beside me. “Do you want to watch this?” I ask.
“Sure.” I don’t think he’s talking about Expedition Unknown, one of my favorites, but me. I meet his eyes, and he clears his throat. “So about the assistant position….”
“You’ve changed your mind?”
“No. I need you for the next two weeks, but you’re not beholden to it or anything else.” Oh my goodness, is he really hitting on me?
“Yes, I am. I’m sorry. I know you’ve been through a lot and that doesn’t even cover whatever the hell happened to have you end up living in your car, which already sets my teeth on edge.”
“My stepfather and I didn’t see eye-to-eye after my mother ran off with the pool guy.”
“She ran off with someone leaving you with him?”
“Yes, and he only gave me one option: I can stay and be her replacement or I could leave, so I left.”
“He put his filthy hands on you?”
“No. Well, at least not like that. My stepfather wanted to and I’m sure if I had taken him up on the offer, he wouldn’t have hesitated, but that’s disgusting.”
“Did your mom know about his interest?” The tension in his shoulders is visible through his tee-shirt, but for some reason, I don’t think I can lie to this man.
“He said it when she was walking out the door, and she told me it was a sound offer.”
“What kind of mother is that?” he snarls, standing and pacing in front of the sofa.
I reach out and take his hands, trying to calm him down. “We don’t all have your mother, Mr. Callahan.”
He sits down, brushes my hair back away from my face, and whispers, “Elijah.”
“Elijah,” I repeat.
“Good. You’ve got her too.” We lean in closer and then his phone rings. He slams his eyes shut and stands up, walking away from me. “I have to take this.”
I nod and go back to watching Josh Gates as best as I can because now I’m all flustered. Elijah’s been everything I could ever dream of, yet, I’m not the girl he could love forever. He only pities me.
“Sorry, that was work stuff.”
“Work stuff? Shouldn’t you tell me, if you want me to assist?”
“Well, I hadn’t assumed you’d take the spot. Besides, I wanted you to relax for the night. You’ve had it rough, and I was supposed to be relaxing in Greece right now.”
“Why weren’t you?”
“Because someone was sneaking around my mother’s garden and well, I couldn’t leave not knowing if she was safe or not. Then I found the prettiest little nymph instead of trouble.”
“I think I’ve caused you a lot of trouble.”
“No. My mom did by not telling me the truth, but it doesn’t matter either way because I’m right where I want to be.” The bell rings for the front door. “Well, almost. Time for dinner, beautiful and then we’ll get to watching our show.”
Chapter Five
Elijah
The food’s good, but the company is infinitely better that I have no idea what I’m even eating. “Um you have a spot right here,” she says, reaching up with a napkin to wipe my face.