Page 38 of Tears of Ink
I don’t want it to. I can’t allow myself to think that way about him. He’s a pay check, an opportunity. Not someone I should obsess about and crave until I get what I want and walk away without a backwards glance.
The sun’s rays land on his face as he smiles. He truly is beautiful.
“You’re still hired.” He takes my empty espresso carton, sliding it into his own empty one.
“Thank you.” I mean it. He could have so easily have told me the job was no longer mine.
He grins. “Thank you.”
“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Small talk’s never been a skill I’ve possessed.
“I’m off to work now.”
“What do you do?” We walk the scorching pavement back towards the flat. I don’t really want to go back up the stairs.
He shrugs again. “Just stuff.” His face is tight.
“Are you a drug baron?”
Laughing, Elijah shakes his head. “Nope.”
“Pimp?”
He bursts a shout of laughter and it makes my heart jump. Stop it, Faith. “No.” His eyes dance and I’m mesmerised. He’s your boss. “Although I apologise sincerely for being so dull.”
The door to the flat is right here, but I’m hovering. “You’d better go.”
“I had.” Hesitation runs between us until he breaks it. “Would you like me to help you box up the studio? Assuming you don’t have anyone else to ask and have to give it back to the University?”
How does he know I don’t have anyone else to ask? My only other London friend is on my Shit List.
“That would be nice.”
I don’t really care about the studio. I just want to spend more time with him.
And that fact alone is the most dangerous thing I’ve contemplated in a long time.
He goes to walk away. “Dinner on me, tonight?”
“Tonight?”
“Do you have other plans?”
“Well, no.”
He grins. “As I thought.”
My eyes narrow to slits. “Rude.”
“Hey, don’t you be rude, I’m your boss.”
A bloom of a chuckle bursts out of my mouth. “Sorry, Boss.”
This is dangerous flirting.
I like the Elijah Fairclough who brings pastries and coffee. He’s far from the man in the expensive suit with a pensive face.
“Have a good day,” he calls as he gets to the corner of the street, and I’m still stood watching him walk away.
