Page 9 of The Hook Up
He didn’t phrase it as a question and didn’t give her a chance to argue as he hustled out to her station wagon and grabbed four more of the pink crates. They weren’t terribly heavy, and he thought maybe he heard something buzzing in one of them.
“You’re the best.” Ellie took a turn at holding the door then fell into step beside him as he headed down the hall. “This kind of thing is so much easier with two people.”
“That’s what Miriam told me. She said you might need a hand.”
Was it his imagination, or did her cheeks pinken just a little when he said that?
“Only if you’re willing,” she said. “You definitely don’t have to stick around or anything.”
He laughed and led her around a corner and down the hall toward the conference room. “I wasn’t planning to hang out and shop for fuzzy handcuffs, but I can at least help you get set up.”
“I appreciate it. Would you mind if I stuck a few signs in the hallway out there to point the way to the room?”
“Be my guest.” Ty flipped on the lights, bathing the bright red conference table in a warm amber glow. The table had been Miriam’s idea, and it had seemed a little bold to Ty at the start. Now, watching Ellie unpack boxes of lotion and feather ticklers, the bold hue seemed fitting.
Ty glanced away, not sure he wanted to see what else was in those boxes. He was more than a little turned on in the presence of a sexy single mom, which was a bad idea on so many levels.
“What else can I do to help?” he asked.
“Would you mind giving me a hand with that smaller table over there? I’d like to move it to the front of the room and lay out a few of the products.”
“No problem.”
They worked together in companionable silence, shuffling tables and moving boxes and hauling in more stuff. She was surprisingly strong, waving off his offer to help heft a large, oblong box. She hummed while she worked, a soft, lilting melody that made Ty long for lullabies he’d never heard as a kid. He caught a whiff of oranges and wondered if it was her shampoo or her breakfast. Either way, something about it soothed him.
As Ellie began unpacking one of the pink crates, Ty thought maybe he should avert his gaze.
“Holy cow.” He stared as his urge to be discreet got shoved aside by his urge to know what the hell some of this stuff was. “I had no idea there was this much variety in fake penises.”
“Impressive, huh?” Ellie held up a green plastic object that could be an oversize zucchini. Ty took a step back.
“That’s one word for it.” He cleared his throat. “Looks like you’re just about set up here, so I’ll go ahead and get out of your?—”
“Oh, goody! Aman!”
Ty turned as four women filed into the room. They wore huge smiles and colorful leggings with sweaters. Three of them held bottles of wine, and the fourth gripped an impressive column of clear plastic glasses.
A petite, pale redhead in jeans at the back of the pack caught Ty’s gaze on the wine and gave him a reassuring smile.“Don’t worry,” she said as she hoisted her bottle of Chardonnay. “We took an Uber here, so no one’s driving.”
A stunning Black woman strode through the door looking like Halle Berry with a plate of brownies. “Stacy and Charlotte and Joanne are right behind us in a taxi,” she announced, surveying the room. As her gaze landed on Ty, she broke into a Cheshire cat smile. “Oooh, what do we have here?” She eyed Ty up and down before turning to Ellie. “I didn’t know there’d be men at this party.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Ellie said. “Ty was just helping me get set up, but he’s on his way out.”
“Worry?” A blonde in the corner laughed as she poured herself a generous glass of red wine. “Honey, you think anyone’s worried about having a hot guy in the room?”
A pretty brunette began setting out paper plates printed with a man’s naked torso. “Pretty sure every single one of us has been to sex toy parties before,” she said. “But I’m betting nobody’s done one with a sexy male spokesmodel.”
“Hear, hear!” shouted a petite Asian woman who would probably need a step stool to look Ty in the eye. “Might be fun to get a guy’s perspective for a change.”
Ellie glanced at Ty with a nervous expression. He shrugged, not sure whether he should be putting up a fight or offering to stick around. If it meant he got to be with Ellie for the evening, the latter might not be so bad.
“Is he going to take off his shirt?”
Ty glanced away from Ellie to see a grandmotherly- looking woman staring at him with undisguised eagerness. “Because I was at a bachelorette party a few weeks ago, and a man showed up pretending to be a pizza delivery guy and then he took his clothes off.”
“That’s not the plan,” Ellie assured her. “We don’t usually involve men at all in Madame Butterfly parties.”
Ty turned his attention back to Ellie, admiring the way she took charge of the room. Somehow she managed to be soft and sweet and authoritative all at once. Maybe it was a mom thing.
