“Ashton,” I whisper under my breath, grateful for the rescue. I scramble to answer. “Hey. Yep. Coming up now.” I don’t even wait for a full sentence from her before I bolt out of the laundry room like it’s on fire.
Back in my apartment, I collapse on the couch, phone still pressed to my ear.
“He justbargedin! Like jogged in, all sweaty and serious, and then started undressing like I wasn’t even there! And I was just… crouching there. Frozen. Like a pervy deer in headlights.”
Ashton is wheezing with laughter on the other end. “Wait,what was he wearing?”
“Pretty much nothing now,” I hiss. “He’s basically half-naked doing delicates like he’s in a GQ spread.”
I hear a knock at my door. I peek through the peephole.
It’s him.
I panic. “He’s here! I gotta go.”
I hang up and open the door, trying to act like a normal human woman who didn’t just run away from a shirtless man like a cartoon skunk.
Nathan stands there, holding up my laundry basket.
“I think you forgot this.”
“Thank you,” I say, grabbing it like it’s on fire, only to freeze when I glance down.
Right on top of the pile?
A pair of my briefs.
Lion King briefs.
And printed across the butt in bold, unforgiving letters?
Hakuna My Tatas.
I want to dissolve into the floor.
I snatch the basket from his hands with another mumbled, “Thanks,” and shut the door in his face.
Not my proudest moment.
But maybe, just maybe… it was his if the laughter that’s echoing down the hall is any indicator.
It’s not a complete loss, no. In fact, maybe this is a win. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh.
Chapter 8
Ella
I’m sitting at my desk in the back of the bakery flipping through mail, when I get to an envelope that is thicker than the others.
Not a bill. Not a supplier invoice. Not a menu proof or some coupon disguised as mail. This one is heavy. Expensive-feeling. The kind of paper that already assumes it’s going to get its way.
I don’t open it right away.
I’m behind the counter, morning light coming in through the front windows, the shop still quiet. The smell of sugar and coffee hasn’t fully settled yet. I slit it open with my nail and pull out a single sheet of crisp, too-white paper.
OFFER TO PURCHASE – CONFIDENTIAL
I skim.
