Chapter 9

Drayer

I sat there for a moment, confused at what had happened. One-minute, Ella and I had been totally gelling and the next, she was rushing out like I had passed the worst gas right next to her. At first, I thought I would just let her go, but then something told me to go after her and ask what I had done that bothered her so much.

I caught up with her right outside the door, the cold wind cutting through my dress shirt like it wasn’t even there.

“Hey!” I called, almost wondering if she would keep walking. But she didn’t. Instead, she turned to me with a pained expression. “Are you okay? Why are you leaving?”

“Just tired,” she answered passively, her eyes flicking away from me.

“Aw, and you were going to book it without saying anything to me?” I tried to sound playful instead of concerned or hurt, but I didn’t think I pulled it off too well. “Did I do something wrong?”

At that, her sour expression broke and turned into one of actual surprise. “Oh, my goodness, no. No! You didn’t do anything.”

I don’t know what possessed me, but I took a step toward her. Perhaps it was cheesy, but she looked like some sort of mystical princess, plum-lipped and pale skinned against the black velvet of the night while the alabaster snow fell all around us. “That’s good. Because I would hate to think I had done something to bother you.”

“You don’t bother me,” she answered quietly, taking a step toward me as well. “You don’t bother me at all. And that’s the issue.”

“Why is it an issue?” Closer. I could feel something building between us, and it just seemed so inevitable, so why fight it at all?

“Because you should bother me,” her voice was barely more than a whisper now, but even that was enough to set my entire body on fire. God, I wanted her so badly. It didn’t seem humanly possible. “I need to stay away from you, but I can’t.”

“You don’t need to do anything,” I answered. “But what I would like to do is kiss you right now.”

For the slightest of seconds, she looked like she was going to turn away and that was going to be that, but suddenly she was on her toes and pressing her lips against mine.

The world ground to a halt, and the cold just didn’t seem that cold anymore. Every bit of my body surged with celebration, and my arms wrapped around her belted waist.

I couldn’t believe it. What I had dreamed of for at least two weeks was happening, and it was every bit as perfect as I had imagined.

When we parted, I was still on cloud nine, and I said what might have been the stupidest thing I’d said in a while. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the day I met you.”

Wow, way to sound stalkery. That was not the best way to put the moves on a lady.

“I’m sorry,” she said, resting her head against my chest. “I’ve just got some issues from my ex, to put it lightly.”

“I understand,” I said, lightly running my hand through her short hair. She had forgotten to put her hat back on in her haste to leave. That was no good, we couldn’t have her catching cold. “But I would never treat you poorly. I would never try to hurt you.”

“Thank you.”

But even as she let me hold her, I could feel she had some reservations. The last thing I wanted to do was pressure her, so I took a step away and looked her in the eyes.

“Hey, if you’re tired, how about I get you a cab?”

“That’d be really expensi—”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, cutting off that worry before she could get it out. “With all this overtime, I’m making money hand over fist. Let me do this for you, just as a friend. And I don’t expect anything back from this. This is one coworker looking out for another.”

“Well, all right.”

“Good. Maybe we can stand in the foyer while we wait?”

Her face softened, and she gave me the most beautiful smile. “Sure, I’d like that.”

“Great. Let me just call a cab now.”

I pulled my phone out but remembered to open the door for her as we entered. Surprisingly, the phone only rang a couple of times, and then someone picked up immediately. Within a couple of minutes, someone was on their way.

I looked to Ella, who was standing a few feet away from me. I wanted to reach out to her and press her to me once again, but I felt like I should take it slow. The girl had just told me she had a lot of issues from her ex, and that could be any number of things ranging from him being a douche all the way to him physically hitting her.

That thought made my blood boil, and I did my best not to tense. The thought of someone ever laying hands on Ella was rage-inducing, and if that was the case, I would happily hand her ex his own ass several times over.

“You okay over there?”

“Yeah,” I said, reminding myself to cool down. “Just a little cold.”

“You should go get your coat. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here.”

“You sure?” I asked. I was almost afraid that the moment I turned my back, she would disappear like a puff of smoke.

“Yeah, I am.”

I gave her a nod and quickly rushed off to grab some protection against the cold. It gave me enough time to shove away the thought of an abusive ex, and by the time I returned, I was in a much better state.

And miraculously, Ella was still there. I almost heaved a sigh of relief but caught myself in time. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t trust her.

“There,” she said, eyeing me over. “Is that better?”

“Yeah,” I said. We started up a conversation, but I barely got a sentence out before I got a text that the cabbie was here. “Come on, let me walk you out.”

I offered my arm and was pretty stoked when she took it. Carefully, we picked through the snow and ice until we reached the yellow car.

I didn’t even give her a hug as we parted so I could open the door, but I did give her arm a gentle squeeze. Ella smiled as she slid in, but before I could shut the door, she caught my hand.

“Would you like to get in?”