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My head jerked slightly, and my swallow got stuck in my throat. “I’m—” It was on the tip of my tongue to fight him, but he wasn’t wrong. I had people. Davida or Raymond would have helped, but I hadn’t asked. Deep down, I knew Elliot would have helped me too.
“You’re right. It’s really difficult to open the door after my first village let me down.”
He reached across the seat and squeezed my hand. “That won’t happen this time.”
Climbing out of the car, Elliot held his hand out and helped me out of the car, smoothing my sleeves down my arms.
“You don’t have to cover your tattoos.”
I tugged on a cuff, noting he’d gotten out of talking about his unyielding ambition by turning the tables on me. “It’s habit. Besides, I don’t own any short-sleeved tops appropriate for the office.”
He looked me over for a long, drawn-out moment then nodded once. “We’ll go shopping this weekend.”
My brows shot up. Before I could question who exactly “we” was, he turned on his heel, starting for the entrance. I scampered to catch up with him, shoving shopping out of my mind for now.
There’d been a lot of progress with the Rockford building since the last time I’d been here. With the slowdown in the technology sector, Denver’s office real estate market had experienced a downturn. Around a quarter of the city’s office space was vacant, not just because of fewer jobs but the shifting workplace culture. More workers were going remote, leaving offices half filled. Unlike Donald Rockford, Elliot was well aware of this. When he’d come into possession of the building, he’d hired a team to rethink the entire tower.
The top ten floors were now apartments, both corporate and long-term rentals. The roof held a bar and café open to the public, with a viewing platform that would draw in tourist dollars.
There were still offices, but several floors were designed to be shared workspace for companies who had no use for entire blocks for their employees.
On top of those changes, he’d brought in experts Weston used to make this building as environmentally sound and energy efficient as possible, which was a draw to many businesses—and because Elliot was hopelessly devoted to efficiency.
Elliot wasn’t the only developer making these changes, but he was on the cutting edge in Denver. His buildings had very few vacancies, and Rockford currently had a wait list.
We rode the elevator to the observation deck, accompanied by the project manager and lead designer. Elliot and I separated when he went to speak with them and the head contractor, so I wandered, checking out the view.
I leaned over the clear Lucite barrier, peering down at the ground below, and my stomach dropped like a lead balloon. Backing up, I pressed my hand to my middle and took a deep breath.
A deep chuckle sent me whirling around and heat shot to my cheeks when I realized I’d been watched. A man in a hard hat, crisp button-down shirt, and charcoal pants stood behind me, his crooked grin bringing crinkles around his eyes in a flattering way.
“Heights not your thing?” he asked.
“No, I’m fine with heights. I probably shouldn’t have leaned over the edge, though.”
“Those intrusive thoughts getting to you?”
I burst out laughing. “I wasn’t tempted to jump. It was a wave of vertigo that got to me.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “If you thought I was going to jump, you probably should have tried to stop me instead of laughing.”
He walked closer, still grinning. “I was pretty sure you weren’t gonna go for it. Plus, I’d been enjoying the view too much to be a hero.”
It took me a second to understand what he meant—and he wasn’t talking about the skyline. This man meant he’d been checking out my ass.
My hands flew to my flaming cheeks. “You said the quiet part out loud, sir.”
He held his hand out. “I’m Gavin, and I’m all about saying the quiet part out loud.”
I shook his hand. “Kit. And I regularly burst into flames when I’m embarrassed, so maybe cool it with the bluntness.”
“All right, kitten. You’re too pretty to burn to ashes, so I’ll try to rein myself in, but I make no promises.”
This man was blatantly, unmistakably flirting with me, and I barely knew what to do with myself. It had been ages since anyone had come on to me. Massively pregnant, then lugging around a baby in a car seat could be quite the deterrent.
I wasn’t in the market to date, but I wasn’t opposed to being flirted with, especially now when I didn’t really love the way I looked.
“Thank you. Also, it’s just Kit, Gavinator.”
His eyes flared with amusement. “Would you believe Gavinator was my frat nickname?”
