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I winked at Keith and we both smiled.
"Did your boss let you at least take the day off?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Boss is a slave driver."
Keith coughed into his fist and the two of us exchanged smiles again. I looked back at her, my expression solemn.
"Besides, if I want to put food on the table, I have to work, scraped knees or not."
Her expression was priceless. I felt like a cad leading her on that way, but it was only in good fun.
"If I can do anything to make it up to you – pay for your costs at the doctor, whatever, just tell me."
"Nah," I said, impressed with her willingness to make things right. "I'm good. You're too sweet."
Our eyes met and I had a good look at them... Her eyes were green with light brown flecks, her lashes long. I felt a definite surge inside, imagining us together.
"Are you just starting work today?" she asked, apparently trying to be pleasant. "You don't have a delivery bag yet."
"Yeah, I'm just going up to start the day," I said, keeping up with the lie. "Our office is in this building." I grinned.
She smiled back, revealing the cutest dimples. "For a moment, I thought you might sue me the other day."
"Nah," I said and shook my head. "Hazard of riding a bike in Manhattan. I was flying along the lane in between the rows of cars. As a professional, I should have been more careful."
The elevator stopped at the twentieth floor and Keith moved to the front of the elevator. He gave the woman a smile on his way by.
"Take care," he said and we fist-bumped before he got off. "Gotta watch out for those pedestrians. Especially the pretty ones."
"You do," I said. "I'll be on the lookout for sure."
Then the doors closed, leaving me alone with her. When the elevator started once more, I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She was hot with curves visible under her little black dress and pink sweater.
"Nice pencil," I said spying it in her hand – a troll pencil complete with purple hair. "I haven't seen one of those since public school. Where'd you get that?"
She held up the pencil and smiled. "Oh, this? It was all I could find in the bookstore near Grand Central Station. Do you think my boss will like it?"
I laughed, amused at her sense of humor.
"It's choice," I said, taking it from her and turning it around. "I like the purple hair."
"I usually prefer blue hair myself, but this was all I could afford."
"So, they still sell troll pencils?" I said. "I'll have to pay a visit."
"Yeah. It goes perfectly with this," she said and showed me an Iron Man spiral notebook.
I took it from her and examined it. "Oh, man, I would have killed to have one of these when I was growing up. Iron Man?" I whistled and handed it back. "How come you have such good taste in office supplies? We only have the boring type in the stockroom. You knew – yellow pencils, plain paper notepads."
She sighed. "I was robbed today in the subway station. Almost all my worldly possessions gone. But it's my first day at my new job. I have my first meeting with my boss, and I need to take notes."
"Oh, damn," I said, frowning. "You were robbed? What happened?"
She told me about being robbed – an old Slavic lady working with an accomplice to steal her backpack.
"That's too bad," I said, sympathy for her filling me. "It's been a fantastic morning, then."
"Absolutely stellar," she replied with a rueful laugh. "Memorable. One that will live on in infamy. A day I'll tell my children about and they'll tell their children and so on. That is, if I make it out alive."
