Page 7 of Unexpected You
Just as I predicted, Melody sent back a message less than four minutes later.
ELOISE ROTH?!?!
I can neither confirm nor deny I responded.
She’s big time, Cade. Don’t fuck this up she sent, but it was with a kissing emoji and I knew she was joking about that last part.
Eventually I got out of bed and made myself some breakfast before heading to the gym where I worked a few hours a week managing the front desk. It was a fun job, but the pay was shit and my hours kept getting changed or cut so it wasn’t reliable.
Still, it was fun, and I got to chat and gossip with my regulars and it wasn’t too strenuous. I could sneak my phone when I was bored and read if I wanted to.
My shift ended at eight, and I stopped and picked up takeout on my way back home. Danica was out so the place was blissfully quiet when I got back with my too expensive (but very delicious) organic salad.
I went ahead and ate it standing up in the kitchen and then crashed on the couch with some cookies and a glass of wine mixed with juice because life was too short to drink alcohol that tasted like alcohol.
My book was steamy and my laundry was done. As I was mixing my second drink, I got a message from Hunter that her parents had looked over the NDA and had a few suggestions. I copied and pasted what they said into the email and replied to Eloise before putting my phone on silent. She’d probably write back tomorrow. Eloise didn’t seem like the kind of woman who checked her email outside of work hours, judging by her rigid schedule.
God, she was gorgeous. The kind of polished untouchable beauty that made you blink a few times because you weren’t sure it was real. So intimidating that I wasn’t sure I could function in her presence, but for the right pay? I’d suck it up and try not to look directly at her too often. Like an eclipse. Didn’t want to burn my retinas.
Concentrating on my book grew more difficult as my thoughts about Eloise Roth swirled in circles like water down a drain. Only I couldn’t seem to turn the water off, and the thoughts kept flowing.
My body warmed and I realized I was having…impure thoughts about my potential new boss.
Yeah, that was definitely bad. Very, very bad. Shut that shit down right now. I’d never had lusty thoughts about a boss before and this was definitely not the time to start.
I got up and went to take a cold shower, putting on music as loud as I could stand it to try and drown out the naughty thoughts.
* * *
Eloise got back to me with a new NDA and a request for me to start on the following Monday, which was four days away. That gave me enough time to try and mentally get my shit together, buy a few new outfits, and tell my part-time jobs thanks, but I’m out. I didn’t really have the cash, but I wanted to have a good first day outfit, so I hit my favorite thrift store looking for something nice.
The racks were picked over and the resellers were scouring for something good, but tucked in between a prom dress and a mumu I found an absolutely gorgeous green sheath dress that miraculously was my size. Black strips on the sides made my waist look nipped in and the length hit me perfectly, making my legs look longer than they really were. It was something like fate, trying that dress on and realizing it was practically made for me.
I could wear it with my comfortable black pumps and a cardigan. Hell, maybe I’d even put a brooch on. I had a beautiful gold bird that would definitely work. Something told me that Eloise would like it. Add some gold earrings and I’d be set for my first day. She wanted me to come to her house to look over everything and so she could train me in person. It made sense, but it also was stressing me out. There were so many things that could go wrong, or that I could do wrong, in one day.
So, so many.
I’d had dozens of first days, but this felt like more. More pressure. More anxiety.
Eloise Roth couldn’t know I was a disaster. Or that I thought she was sexy as hell.
* * *
“To Cade!” Hunter cheered as we all raised our glasses at Sapph. Reid raised her water from behind the bar. She was working tonight so she couldn’t hang around, but she toasted and then went back to serving, moving in the limited space with all the grace of a dancer. She’d done ballet until her junior year of college and then quit, but you could still see her training. Every now and then we could convince her to shake it on the dance floor and she put all of us to shame.
I downed my sugary shot that Reid had made special for me and grinned at my friends. They were all dying to know what this latest job was, and I was still refusing to tell them until I’d actually been hired. Besides, hearing their theories was even more fun than telling them. They had bets going on about what it was, and who was I to stand in the way of that? No one had guessed, and Hunter was keeping her mouth shut but kept throwing knowing smirks at me.
“Go dance with someone,” Hunter said in my ear, and I tried to shove off her hand on my shoulder. I didn’t want to do this tonight. I was wound tight about the job already and adding the pressure of trying to flirt and not make a complete fool of myself was something I didn’t want to do.
“No,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’m good.”
Hunter sighed.
“Why don’t you go find someone? You’re single too,” I said, glaring. Hunter was one of those people who liked to fix things to ignore what was going on in her own life. Her life looked pretty damn good from the outside, but she had a mountain of insecurities that she did her best to hide behind a serene facade. Only those who had truly earned her trust got a peak behind the curtain.
She let out a little huff of frustration at me turning the tables on her.
“You know it’s true,” I said, singing the last word.