ride my water slide, and maybe enjoy some maple donuts when we wake up.
Xoxo,
Ellie
“What, exactly, is your water slide?” he asks.
Oh sweet baby Jesus. I want to ducking die.
“I, um...” I stammer. I cover my eyes with my hand as he slides into Belinda’s vacated chair beside me. “You weren’t supposed to see that card.”
He laughs.
“I just thought I could change your mind about water slides,” I mutter.
“Well if it’s yours...” he says, trailing off. He pulls my hand from over my eyes. “Hey, thanks for everything this week. Your gifts were incredibly thoughtful and totally original.”
I’m grateful for his change of subject as I laugh. “Not that original since you got me the same thing I got you.”
He chuckles. “The man box is awesome, and somehow it pairs exactly with what I got you. This is probably a terrible idea since we work together, but what would you say if I invited you over to my place tomorrow night for dark beer, wine, popcorn, and maybe Fight Club?”
“Change it to Die Hard and you’ve got yourself a date.”
“Deal,” he says, and he sticks out his hand. I giggle as I set mine in his to shake on it, but the laughter ceases pretty quickly when our hands touch. Electricity passes between us, and if hand on hand gives me that reaction, I can’t wait to see what lip on lip (or, even better, body on body) might do.
Guess there’s a chance I’ll find out tomorrow night when friends might turn into something else.
Chapter Five
I’m nervous as I drive over to Todd’s place, and it’s not because of the weather. He texted his address to me this morning, and I spent hours this afternoon on both Zillow and Google Earth stalking him...I mean looking up where he lives so I don’t get lost.
His place is literally two miles from mine. I could have walked, but it’s twenty-four degrees and snowing.
Even if it was seventy and balmy, I wouldn’t have.
We agreed on eight, so I spent the day prepping. Before I left, I tossed a little overnight bag in my car as a just in case, which I’ll leave there unless he invites me to stay the night. I also brought my woman box along even though I was tempted to eat the popcorn all day.
I hate driving in the snow, and even worse is when I have to parallel park on the street in front of his swanky rowhouse. I get out of the car and step right into a puddle of slush, naturally, and then I have to wrestle with the woman box to get it out of my backseat. By the time I slip and slide up his steps to ring his bell, I’m panting and afraid I might tumble right down the stairs from the patch of ice I’m standing on.
He opens the door, and somehow that just makes everything okay. The rush of heat from inside has nothing on how freaking hot he looks. He’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt, so casual compared to his typical work style of black pants and a collared shirt, and he’s wearing socks with no shoes. There’s something sexy about that. He looks relaxed as he reaches out a hand to take the box from me and help me in, and his easy demeanor calms the nerves that’ve been quaking inside me both from the drive in the snow and the thought of what this night could mean for us.
I step inside, and he motions to follow him in. I look around at the house I already saw on Zillow. It looks different in person. He painted since he moved in, obviously, and the décor is both simple and masculine. Everything is dark wood and dark colors, with the occasional surprise pop of Cubbie blue.
We walk through the entry toward the kitchen, where he sets my box on the counter, and I glance over into the family room. Die Hard is already pulled up on the television. He has a stack of empty bowls set out for our popcorn, a Cubs pint glass, a wineglass, and a corkscrew. A fire crackles in the fireplace beneath the television, a blanket rests on one side of the couch, and all in all it looks like he thought of everything.
“So this is what Todd’s house is like,” I murmur as I shimmy out of my coat. He holds out a hand to take it, and he drapes it over one of the kitchen