AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It will be,” I agree.
She walks out the door, waving. “See you later, Nils.”
I give her a little wave back. “Yeah, bye. See you tonight.”
She leaves, and the house feels empty. I never cared or noticed how quiet it is around here in the past. But Ellie has such life to her. She has a way of filling the entire room with her presence and positive energy.
Letting out a sigh, I pick up my bags and take them upstairs. It’s time to not only put my shit away, but also to table any further thoughts of Ellie.
As the day passes, I’m moderately successful in not thinking too much about the woman I’m sharing my house with. I must confess, though, that when I do spend some time out by the pool, I keep imagining her lounging next to me, clad in a skimpy bikini that matches her turquoise eyes.
I wonder if she has one in that color.
I should ask her when she gets home, which should be any minute now.
Yeah, like that would be a good idea, perv.
I focus instead on the time. It’s after six, and as I promised Ellie, I’m hungry—like really fucking starving. I skipped dinner, and the thought of a nice cheesy pizza has my stomach growling.
We have practice tomorrow morning, so I’ll easily burn off all the excess carbs and calories. Plus, I got in a light workout in my home gym about an hour ago.
I’m now showered and up in my bedroom, pulling a black tee over my head and zipping up my jeans.
As I pad out into the hall in my bare feet, I hear the beeping sound of the alarm being disarmed downstairs.
Yes! Ellie is home!
Quit getting so excited about her, dude. You’re worse than some teenage kid with a crush.
I try to squash my enthusiasm, but as I start down the stairs, I accept that I obviously do indeed have a crush on Ellie. And it’s a big one at that. Hopefully, it’ll go away at some point and we can just be good friends.
That’s a relationship Arden would approve of.
And I’ll win my bet with Finn for sure, then.
I’m smiling at the thought of victory when I reach the base of the stairs.
Ellie, peering over at me with a smile of her own, quips in a teasing tone, “Well, it’s not quite the ‘welcome home’ I gave you this morning, but a smile is always nice. Did you miss me?”
“Actually, I did,” I just flat-out admit. “It was too damn quiet around here all day.”
Clearly pleased with my admission, her smile widens. “Aww,” she coos, “I think you just made my day, Nils.”
As I rest my hand on the wooden newel post, I raise a brow and ask, “How was work? Was it rough…or not too bad?”
She shrugs. “It was all right. Not too hectic, but busy enough that I pulled in some decent tips. Still, I’m definitely looking forward to chilling tonight.”
Hmm, if she wants to work, that’s great. But I don’t want her thinking she needs to pay me anything. Even though we discussed it before, I feel compelled to bring it up again.
“Hey, Ellie,” I say.
“Yeah?”
“You remember how we talked about you not owing me any rent or anything like that for staying here, right?”
Shifting from one foot to the other, she says, “Yes, I remember.”
“Well…” I blow out a breath. “I meant that. I truly don’t want anything.”
