Page 33 of Hell On Heels
Lottie- Exactly. How are you?
Sway- Busy
Lottie- I can come by and help you.
Sway- No it’s fine. Sorry I’ve gotta go.
Lottie- You sure?
She waited as the seconds ticked by until she knew without a doubt Sway wasn’t going to reach back out. And just as quickly as the messages started, they ended. Dropping her phone into her purse, Lottie picked up her glass and took a sip of the wine.
When her food came, she ate slowly, not because she was savoring it in a romantic way, but because she needed the substance of the meal. Her mind wandered over her work at the clinic. Even there, surrounded by beautiful people and food, part of her was still working through clients in her mind.
She refused to check her phone. Instead, she watched the room the way she watched patients when something felt slightly off but not enough to alarm anyone yet—quiet observation, constant awareness, no panic attached to it. She blamed it on the past, the way she watched and waited for the other shoe to drop.
A couple at the next table leaned in close. A group near the window laughed too loudly, pretending they were enjoying the conversation when clearly, they weren’t. A server moved too fast through a narrow gap between two tables almost bumping into her. Lottie noticed it all. This is what it looked like being alone, she thought.
By the time she finished, her food was half gone, and so was the wine. The city outside had deepened into blue-black stone and light. Waving down the server, she asked for the check. She didn’t linger once she paid the bill and gathered her coat. Slipping on her coat, Lottie picked up her things and stepped back outside. The cool night air wrapped around her like a blanket. The last thing she thought of when she walked into Old Town was being out late.
She had a choice: call a cab or walk home. Looking up and down the sidewalk, she thought about a third option.Razor. No.
“Suck it up, Lottie,” she said out loud and saw when a couple walking past stared at her. Heading to the corner, she saw a taxi already parked waiting on a fair and lifted her hand, flagging it down. When the car rolled up, Lottie opened the door and slidinside. She gave the driver the address for Rousso’s garage and closed the door.
Fifteen minutes later, the cab pulled up outside the garage.
“Miss, are you sure you want out here?” the cabbie asked her.
“Yes. Thank you,” she said. Handing over the money, “have a great night,” she told the driver slipping out of the car and closing the door.
She waited for the car to drive off before heading up the alley to the stairs to her apartment. Once inside, she locked the door and dropped her bags on the kitchen table. Stepping into the kitchen, she pulled a wine glass down and reached for a bottle of wine. Taking both, she headed for a bath, then bed.
Chapter Eighteen
Razor sat in the quiet of his office, staring out the window, the world outside moving in sharp contrast to the stillness inside his head. He couldn’t shake the thought of Lottie; the way she had wormed her way into every corner of his life without him even realizing it. And now, as much as he tried to compartmentalize, he couldn’t ignore the reality that she had become something more than just an employee at the clinic.
She was in his world now…herworld. And maybe, just maybe, there was more to it than he was willing to admit. The information Sherlock found did nothing to sway him from wanting her. Nothing stood out like a beacon screaming against the dark sky as a warning to turn away.
It had been a year since she’d started working at the clinic, and in that time, Razor had seen sides of Lottie that he hadn’t expected. When she’d first walked through the door, she had been like any other rebellious spirit…disheveled, often a little too bold, and at times, a bit too careless. He remembered how she'd sauntered in some mornings looking hungover, her eyes shadowed with the aftermath of late nights that bled into earlymornings. She didn’t talk much about her personal life then, but it was clear enough from the way she carried herself that she was running from something or perhaps runningtosomething.
But that was over now. Over the past year, she’d become a different person in front of him. There was a quiet professionalism about her now, a sharpness that hadn’t been there when she first started. Lottie had taken on more responsibility than anyone had expected, and Razor couldn’t deny the respect he had for her work ethic. She never said no. Not once. Always willing to cover shifts, always offering to pick up extra hours when others called out, always there when he needed her, no questions asked. It was almost like she had thrown herself into her work to avoid whateverelsewas waiting outside.
At first, Razor had thought it was just a phase—something she’d eventually grow out of. But now, a year later, it seemed like her entire world had narrowed to the clinic. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she’d given up on a personal life altogether. She didn’t talk about going out anymore, didn’t mention dates or anything outside of the sterile walls of the clinic. It was almost as if she had erased herself from the world outside.
Razor leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, the weight of his thoughts pressing heavier on him with each passing second. It was as if Lottie had retreated into herself, into her work, and maybe that was the one thing that still tethered her to something. He didn’t know what had happened to her, what had turned her into the person she was now. But he knew one thing for sure—he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The idea of bending his rules, of allowing her to cross the line from employee to something more, wasn’t just tempting. It was becomingnecessary.He knew there was something betweenthem, something deeper than the fleeting moments they shared when their eyes met across the room. He had felt it the night of their first kiss, the way her lips had pressed against his with an urgency that caught him off guard. And he felt it again whenever she was near, when he could smell her perfume in the air, when he could hear the sound of her voice in the quiet.
But then the walls went up.His ruleswere what kept him steady, what kept him grounded. He was a man who controlled his life, his world, and for years, he had told himself that adding a woman into it was nothing but chaos waiting to happen. He couldn’t afford that. Not again. Not after what happened before.
But as he thought about it more, he realized that Lottie had alreadyslippedinto that world. Without him even realizing it, she’d become part of his life in ways he hadn’t expected. She was in the clinic. She was in his daily routine.
And now...She was in his head.
The question was, could he bend those rules to get closer to her? Could he bring her into the fold of his life, into the shadows of the world he’d built? Or would it destroy everything?
He stood up abruptly, his muscles tight with the tension of indecision. This wasn’t just about what he wanted. This was about how far he could push those boundaries before everything started to crack.
Razor thought back to their last conversation, to the way she’d looked at him, the subtle pull between them that neither of them acknowledged openly. He wondered if she even realized what she was doing to him.
