AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Elodie
Repeat after me.
I will not flirt.
I will not say naughty things.
I won’t even think about sex.
A few dozen mental reminders on the walk over and my mind is completely innocent. Yes, Angel Elodie is in the house, turning on the block of The Escape, walking up the steps, crossing the courtyard and smiling.
That neon sign looks so good.
Gage is here, positioning it just so. His shirt rides up, revealing a sliver of his toned, trim abs. My pulse pounds, and I take a moment to savor the view. Sure, I saw him shirtless the night of our date. But that only made me want more.
Now I’m getting a tease again, and the devil is shoving the angel to the back of the line. With his arms stretched up, his ink is in my crosshairs and I can’t look away. I am officially a tattoo girl. I want to touch them. Trace them. Kiss them. “What’s all the ink for?” I ask as I reach him.
With a casual glance back at me, he flashes a smile, then glances down at his arm as if he’s just noticed the artwork climbing from his wrist up his forearm, a lotus in the center. “All sorts of things,” he says, a little playful. He didn’t get the do not flirt memo, or perhaps he’s tossed it in the trash can.
After checking the sign’s secure, he lowers his arms, then points to the fine black linework of the lotus on his right forearm. “This one is for?—”
“Change!”
The bright, soprano voice comes out of nowhere. I whip my head in the direction of a girl with twin brown braids and bright green eyes heading toward us. “Like when bad things happen and it reminds you that you can be stronger,” the girl adds coming from the direction of the lobby and probably the restrooms.
I’m instantly charmed. “I love that. I believe that. Do you…Eliza?” I ask, since she’s got to be Gage’s daughter.
“Yes. I’m Eliza. And I believe it because the other week, I wanted another chocolate bar, but my dad didn’t give me one, so that was a bad thing. But my uncles Zane and Maddox got me an ice cream sundae with that chocolate freeze-y hard shell instead.”
I laugh at the lotus of an eleven-year-old’s life, and at the analogy that doesn’t quite add up. “Confession: I love chocolate freeze-y hard shells.”
“Me too,” Gage says, then runs a hand down her hair. “Eliza, this is Elodie, my business partner.”
“Your fiancée,” she corrects, nudging him with an elbow, not surreptitiously at all.
With a grateful smile, he says, “Yes. My fiancée. And Elodie, this is Eliza, my chocolate-loving daughter.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say, sticking out a hand.
Eliza takes it, giving me a firm handshake. “I looked you up before your date. And I thought you were super fancy, and my dad is not. But that’s okay. Not everyone has to be fancy.”
“That is very, very true,” I say.
“I’m here helping today,” she says, then stage whispers, “Don’t let him trick you into thinking he hung the sign. I did.”
I turn toward the pink words in neon. They’re right next to the door, a bright, bold, romantic invitation. “You did a great job.”
“It arrived early,” Gage explained. “I wasn’t expecting it till tomorrow. But Loretta called as I was picking up Eliza, so we came over here together.”
“I didn’t come over for the sign,” Eliza corrects. “I came for the chocolate since I can’t be here on opening night.”
I nod sadly. “That’s true. You’d have to be twenty-one.”
She sighs, the aggrieved sound of a child’s disappointment. “Yeah. But maybe you can open one for kids?”
“Do it,” a familiar voice calls from behind me. I spin around at the sound of Amanda. I didn’t know she was coming here. She’s with her friend Ally, and they’re giving serious twin vibes, with both of them in cropped tops and hoodies sloping off their shoulders, Amanda’s revealing pale skin, Ally’s showing olive skin.
“What are you doing here?” I ask curiously.
