Eloise

After Christian and I had breakfast, we headed back to our rooms to pack all our things so we could check out. After leaving our bags with the hotel until we were ready to go to the airport, we stepped onto the rainy streets of Chicago and Christian opened the oversized black umbrella.

“I can’t believe they only had one left,” I spoke.

“I’m sure a lot of people had the same idea we did when they saw the rain outside. I’m happy this was the last one. It’ll keep me closer to you.” He winked.

I couldn’t help but smile as I laid my head on his shoulder. We shopped for a couple of hours, and even though it was a dreary cool day out, it turned out to be one of the best days of my life. We tried on clothes we would never buy just to be silly and took an obscene number of selfies to remember our time in Chicago. Because we had a huge breakfast, neither one of us was very hungry, so we ended up getting a couple of hot dogs from a street vendor and eating them under an overhang and out of the rain.

“You’re a cheap date. I think I like you.” Christian smiled.

I nudged his shoulder with mine. “I think I like you too. Thanks for the hotdog.”

He leaned over and kissed my lips. I couldn’t recall a time I was any happier. Once we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags and then it was off to the airport. On the plane ride home, Christian did some work on his laptop while I planned the videos I was going to film for the week.

“I decided to take a break from photography for a while,” I spoke as I glanced at Christian.

“Really? Why?”

“My passion right now is with my blog and helping women with their relationship issues. The only thing I have going on next week are the edits for the Chanel photos. I’m not going to accept any more work for probably about a month.”

“Can you afford not to take on photography jobs?” he asked.

“Yes.” I smiled. “I can afford it.”

“Then do what makes you happy.” He placed his hand on mine.

As soon as we landed, my phone dinged with a text message from Natalie.

“Are you New York bound yet? I’m back from Hawaii and was hoping we could have a drink or three. I need to talk to you.”

“Just landed. I should be home in about an hour. Everything okay?”

“I don’t know. I need your advice about Nathan.”

“Okay. I’ll text you when I’m close to home.”

“Thanks. I’ll bring the wine.”

“Everything okay?” Christian asked.

“Yeah. That was Natalie. She’s coming over when I get home. She needs advice about Nathan.”

“Is that her boyfriend or husband?”

“Some guy she just met in Hawaii. He lives on Long Island.”

Christian had a car waiting at the airport to take us home. When the driver pulled up to my building, Christian got out of the car, grabbed my luggage, and walked me to my apartment. After setting my luggage down in the foyer, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

“I had a great time in Chicago and I think I’m going to miss you tonight.”

“I had a great time too. Thank you for everything. And I think I’m going to miss you too.” I smiled.

His lips tenderly brushed against mine and it was turning into a passionate kiss until there was knock at my door.

“I’ll text you later.” He placed his hands on each side of my face and kissed me one last time.

“I look forward to it.”

I opened the door and let Natalie in.

“Oh. Hi, Christian.” She smiled.

“Hello, Natalie. How was Hawaii?”

“Beautiful. How was Chicago?”

“Beautiful.” He winked at her.

As soon as he left, I shut the door and took the bottle of wine from Natalie’s hand.

“So what was he doing up here?” she asked.

“He helped me with my luggage.” I grinned.

“You’re glowing. What’s going on?”

“We’re sort of seeing each other,” I spoke as I took down two wine glasses.

“As in dating?” Her brow arched.

“I suppose.”

“You slept with him again.” She smirked.

“I did. A few times.” I grinned like a little girl on Christmas morning.

“And you’re okay with dating him? Why the sudden change in attitude?”

“He’s a great guy, Natalie, and everything I’m looking for. But enough about me and Christian. What’s going on?”

“Nathan hasn’t returned any of my text messages since he’s been home.”

“Not one of them?” I asked.

“No,” she replied as she downed her glass of wine. “I’m not used to this. I’m usually the one who doesn’t text back. I really like him, Eloise, and I thought he liked me too. For fuck sakes, I slept with him.”

“Whatever you do, don’t text him again. Why was he in Hawaii?”

“Business trip,” she replied.

“And he’s never been married?”

“He said no.”

“How about a girlfriend?”

“He said he hasn’t had one in a long time.”

“It’s possible he does have a girlfriend here and she didn’t go with him because it was a business trip.”

“That little fucker. I swear to god, if that’s true...” Her brows furrowed.

She reached inside her purse and pulled out her phone.

“Oh. He just sent me a text message.” She grinned.

“What does it say?”

“He said he’s sorry he didn’t respond but work has been crazy since he got back and he’s been practically working 24/7. He wants to take me out tomorrow night.”

“On a Monday?” I narrowed my eye at her.

“Better than not at all.” She smiled. “I’m sure he misses me.”

“I’m sure he does,” I spoke to make her feel better.

The truth was, something wasn’t sitting right with me and this Nathan guy. Nobody is that busy to take ten seconds to reply to a text message. If things were as great in Hawaii as she said they were, he wouldn’t have ignored her. Red flag number one.

When she left, I took my luggage to my room and sat down on the edge of my bed and sent a text message to Mobile Man.

“Hi. I’m back!”

About an hour later, he replied, which was unusual for him.

“Hi. Welcome home. I’m heading to bed. Catch ya later?”

“Sure. Catch ya later.”

I sat there and stared at the text message, thinking to myself that he seemed off. Just as I was about to text him and ask if everything was okay, I received a text from Christian.

“Hi. Is it bad to say that I miss you already?”

“Hi. I miss you too.”

“Look out your window.”

I gave his text message a confused look, got up from my bed, and looked out my bedroom window, only to find Christian standing on the sidewalk in front of my building with a small bag in his hand. Opening the window with a smile, I yelled, “What are you doing?”

“Coming back to see you. That’s if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. Come on up.”

Excitement barreled through me as I ran to the door and opened it, waiting for him to step off the elevator. This was crazy. My feelings were crazy. I was so into him that I couldn’t see straight, and the fact that he came back only after just leaving a couple of hours ago meant that he was really into me too.

The elevator dinged, and as soon as he stepped off, I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him.

“Whoa.” He chuckled. “I’m happy I came over.”

“Me too.” I kissed his lips.

We walked back to my apartment and I immediately offered him a glass of wine.

“So you’re spending the night?” I bit down on my bottom lip and the corners of my mouth slightly curved upwards into a bashful smile.

“If you’ll have me, yes.”

“I will definitely have you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.