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“Thanks for all your help,” Cameron said from his spot on the red couch. “I know your contract ends Monday, but if you ever want more work . . .”
“You want to extend my contract?” Share the office with Wentworth longer?
“If you do.”
An appealing thought. Tempting, even.
But. He scored a hand through his hair. “I’m interested in the work, in general. But I need a break. I want to get out of town, explore a bit.”
“A sabbatical?”
“Six months.” Time to expand his horizons.
Cameron nodded, calculating. “You have to do what’s good for you. The offer stands on your return.”
Then, after procrastinating another half hour, he called Louisa.
The usual intensity of her voice was somewhat diluted.
“Hey,” Elliot said. “You’re sounding . . . better.”
She laughed and hissed, like it had hurt. “I’ve been told to take it easy, so I binged audiobooks all day.”
“Nice.”
“Nicer is that I don’t have to dress up all pretty to be thought beautiful.”
Beautiful.
That was his word.
Elliot swallowed, voice growing husky. “Sounds like you have someone special there.”
“Oh, God. He is amazing, Elliot. He’s taking such good care of me. I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet.”
“That you are.” Elliot trudged into the kitchen, put his phone on speaker, and ripped off a banana from the fruit bowl. Three rough peels, and he took a massive bite.
He was hungry, yes, but eating was more out of a need to do something. He needed a focal point that wouldn’t make it obvious how torn up he was hearing about this. “The luckiest.”
“Are you eating something?”
“Banana.”
Louisa giggled. “You and bananas, Elliot. Gosh, I hope that’s not dinner.”
“And lunch.”
“I thought you were getting better with mealtimes. You’ve been looking less like you needed reminding.”
“Wentworth has been feeding me lunches.”
There was a crackling pause down the line, and then she hummed. “Of course he’s been taking care of you.”
“Like he’s been taking care of you.” The next mouthful was tough to get down.
“Well, he takes care of me . . . not quite in the same way.”
Sexually, she meant.
Elliot couldn’t stomach another bite.
Louisa’s voice grew distant, and she spoke to someone else. “Coming to bed? Feel free to ditch the PJ bottoms.”
Blood drained from Elliot’s face. His hand shook as he set down the banana. So Wentworth had taken him up on the offer to bring Honey to Louisa.
“Hey, Elliot?” Louisa said. “Can we, um, continue this conversation tomorrow?”
Were they about to make love? Right then?
He heard the faint rustle of bedclothes. Elliot prayed Louisa hurried her goodbye, he didn’t want to hear—
Louisa giggled. “Benny!”
“Benny?”
Louisa’s voice funnelled down the line. “Yeah, who did you think I meant?”
“I thought you meant Wentworth!”
“I told Cameron to share the news about me and Benny!”
“Louisa! You’ve been making eyes at Wentworth since he arrived at Ask Austen! You said you were falling for him!”
“That was before I fell. Then I woke up and Benny was there, smiling over me, telling me I was going to be even more perfect.”
Benny’s voice rumbled. “I hadn’t meant to say it quite like that.”
“But you did, and my heart just started pounding so hard.”
“I’m still concerned that was only the adrenalin.”
“Benny! Stop it. You’re amazing. I feel . . . I feel like I’ve never felt before with any man, ever.” Voices wobbled and Elliot was privy to the sound of a kiss. “Wentworth was like . . . a crush. He’s famous, and hot, and yes, he is very nice and I like him—”
“You can stop anytime you like,” Benny hummed.
She laughed. “—but he’s just not right for me. He never really saw me the way Benny sees me.”
“But you said Wentworth takes care of you, but not in the same way as with me.”
“I mean . . . he visits every day—he came by with Honey for a visit this afternoon. He definitely takes care of me. But he certainly doesn’t take better care of me.”
Elliot . . . he could barely process the hundred emotions swinging through him. They all stirred in his belly, flapping ticklishly. Wentworth wasn’t with Louisa.
Elliot conjured up Wentworth’s face, those thick brows, the twinkly navy eyes, the short sexy beard around a heart-throbbing grin.
It didn’t have to mean anything.
But.
It did.
Wentworth was still single. The thought swirled in his mind, in his gut. Wild and wonderful.
“He wasn’t at all upset when I told him I wasn’t interested in him that way anymore,” Louisa said. “In fact, if I were a betting girl—and I am—I’d say he was relieved.”
“Relieved,” Elliot echoed. His palms sweated as he gripped the phone, smiling.
“You sound happy to hear it.”
Yes. He didn’t want to share the truth behind his hope, though. “I mean, Wentworth cares so much for Benny. I’m glad it won’t impact negatively on their relationship.”
“Oh, I talked to him about it,” Benny called out. “Apologised for crushing on Louisa and he, well, he heartily encouraged it.”
