Backdraft…
I took back every fucking curse word, bitch, and gripe I’d uttered dragging my ass up forty-four stories worth of fucking stairs.
Blaze and I were from different houses, but it took more than one house to canvas every occupied apartment or condo that this building had, with over seventy-six goddamn floors. I’d let Blaze have the list, I hadn’t even thought to check for her name… Lillian.
Like I would ever forget it.
Blaze wasn’t a dumbass and could see there was something telegraphing between me and the woman. He kept his mouth shut, and I didn’t know whether I wanted to kiss him or curse him.
“What can I do for you gentleman?” she asked politely.
“Oh, nothing,” I said, caught off-guard by the question, really just bowled over by how beautiful she was. My memory hadn’t done her justice. She looked amused and I realized I was acting like a star-struck idiot.
“I’m confused, if there isn’t a fire, then what are you doing here?” she asked.
“Safety protocol, ma’am. Your building has a contract with the city,” Blaze explained, but she didn’t move her eyes off of mine.
“Oh,” she said, simply.
“You doing okay?” I asked softly and I wasn’t asking as a matter of safety protocol. She leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb and took a sip out of what was probably not her first glass of wine, and, if I had to guess, wouldn’t be her last tonight, either.
“As well as can be expected,” she said, with a rueful smile.
“Sorry to ask, ma’am…” Blaze said politely with an ‘aw shucks’ tone. “I wouldn’t happen to be able to use your facilities, would I? It’s been an awfully long climb and there hasn’t exactly been an opportunity.”
“Absolutely, sure, go ahead.” She stepped aside to let him through and he handed me the clipboard. He shone his light at her delicately painted toes; she had one foot crossed over the other beneath the hem of her satin nightgown and robe, like a child caught out of bed with her hand in the cookie jar. It was adorable, and I guess adorable was maybe what I heartily needed a dose of after Tori. The fucking bitch.
Blaze went down her hall and disappeared into her bathroom, shutting the door so it was just me and her.
“I never got your name,” she said softly and I smiled.
“Friends call me Backdraft,” I said and she held out her hand. I took it gently and shook it. Could she be any cuter?
“Lillian, Lillian Banks.”
“Nice to meet you again, Lil.”
“You too, Backdraft.” She blushed in my headlamp over the way I shortened her name and laughed slightly over the unusual awkwardness of mine and I smiled.
“Emmet, if you prefer something a little more normal,” I said. “Emmet Calder.”
“Oh! No, if Backdraft is the name you prefer, than that is what I shall call you. It wouldn’t feel right otherwise.”
She’s sweet. Not entitled, I thought. Definitely rich, and totally not a bitch. I liked what I was seeing.
I let her small, soft hand go and she took it back. Silence engulfed us and I felt the need to say something, anything before Blaze got back, so I blurted the first thing that came to mind.
“Been thinking about you. You know, since that night.”
“Oh! Um, me too…”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I ever properly thanked you… I’m sorry if I didn’t. I mean, I don’t remember saying ‘Thank you’.”
I took the opportunity that presented itself and said, “You can, you know… Thank me.”
She looked startled and I laughed, I hadn’t meant it that way, but she’d suddenly turned me into some kind of awkward teenage boy that didn’t know what to say about anything. I swallowed and tried to backpedal.
“I didn’t mean for that to come out near as creepy as it just did. I only meant that I’d um, I’d really like to take you out to dinner, or for a drink, or something.”
She smiled bravely and looked me up and down before saying, “As long as you promise that you don’t have a wife or a girlfriend… I, um… I could stand to get out of the apartment for a while.”
I looked behind her and said, “I always kind of wondered what a place like this would rent for.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head, “I just called it an apartment again, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, I um, I bought it before the building was even finished.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.” She blushed and named off a figure.
I gave a long, low whistle. “Wow.”
And I’d just asked her out. Go me. This woman was way out of my league… Except she’d said yes… what does that mean?
Well, not like I would know until I got to know her, and the only way to get to know her would be to take her out, so...
She was looking at me as if she was trying to decide something, and I gave a shrug and asked, “Did you ever get to try the food at the Ten-Thirteen?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Oh, shit, no, I’m sorry. The Cormorant. The place where we met the first time. We call it the 10-13.”
“Oh. No.” She shook her head. “Why do you call it that?”
“It’s a nickname, a couple of reasons for it.” I didn’t back down. “Would love to tell you over some food or a drink there, say on Saturday night?” I knew I was pushing it, but I really, really wanted her to say ‘Yes’ already.
She bit her bottom lip slightly and finally nodded, asking, “What time?”
“Around six?”
“Okay, I’ll meet you there at six.”
I smiled, “Sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”
She smiled back and it made her go from beautiful to stunning. She said, “I’ll take a car, no big deal.”
“Okay, The Cormorant on Saturday at six.”
“I’ll be there,” she said softly as Blaze had come back out of her bathroom and was coming up the hall of her condo towards us. She stepped aside and let him by.
“Have a good night, Ms. Banks,” I said with a wink and Blaze smiled.
“Yes, thank you so much for letting me use your restroom.”
She smiled graciously and said, “You’re welcome. I’ll, uh, see you then, Backdraft,” before closing the door.
We stepped off, walking a little bit up the corridor before he said, “Well? ‘See you then?’ Come on, man, don’t make me beg for it.”
“Saturday at six at the Ten-Thirteen.”
“Nice!” he hissed and held out a fist.
“Yeah, well, you know… we’ll see.” I knocked my fist into his and sighed, and we kept moving.
I couldn’t stop thinking about those gorgeous, stormy eyes of hers. She’d probably been tipsy to agree to go out with me, but for some reason I would take it. I was curious. I saw a matched pain in her that I still felt pretty keenly. I didn’t think I was looking for a relationship right now, but a friendship? Sure.
Okay, to be honest, I was kicking myself and demanding to know what the fuck I’d been thinking. I was nervous, which was completely goddamn ridiculous. I tried to thrust every thought of her out of my head as we finished our assigned floors, but at the same time, I was suddenly grateful that I’d drawn the short straw of having been on tonight.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wondered, hadn’t hoped against hope, that’d I’d be the one lucky enough to knock on her door. Apartment 4403. Well, condo… but they were the same damn thing really.
Lillian Banks.
It felt good to have a full name, too. Now, I just had to hope again. Hope that she wouldn’t stand me up and that I would get the chance to learn more.
“Bro, get your head off the girl, and back in the game. I don’t want to pay out to those two assclowns.” We’d bet we’d get our floors done before Cowan and Rizzo from Blaze’s house.
I looked up and grinned at Blaze, “Yeah, sorry.”
He laughed, “Don’t blame you. She’s hot, seems nice…” he trailed off and I nodded some.
“Different from Torrid, that’s for sure.” I said it so he didn’t have to.
“Yeah. You need that,” he said, sounding relieved. I figured he was dying to make the observation.
“Yeah,” I agreed, my thoughts far away and back on the woman. I thought Lillian maybe needed different, too. The sadness in those eyes of hers was still kind of haunting me.