by Durand, Anna
I sprint toward the stairs but stop at the door. Even if I can run down nineteen flights, I'll never get there before the elevator, before Elena leaves.
Raisa finds me standing at the stairwell door, staring at it. "That was your new lover, wasn't it?"
She doesn't sound irritated. Instead, I sense compassion in her voice. I can't help looking at her.
"Whoever she is, you don't need her," Raisa tells me, taking my hand. "Give me another chance. I'll be different this time, better, more what you need."
I know she's not making a pun when she tells me she wants another chance. She honestly believes I might take her back.
"You lost me a long time ago," I say. "It's too late. Move on, Raisa, please."
Her eyes grow large, lending her face an innocence and pain I haven't witnessed since the day I told her I was moving out of our apartment.
Christ, I don't want to hurt her. But this can't go on, Raisa scheming to win me back while I try to romance Elena. Maybe Elena's right, and we should declare our relationship to Raisa. I need to talk to Elena first.
"I'm sorry," I tell her. "I have to go. It's for the best."
And I swear fate is on my side when I run for the elevator and get there at the instant the doors slide open. An older couple exits the car. I hurry inside and punch the button for the lobby.
Half an hour later, after enduring a long taxi ride amid a traffic jam, I finally stand outside the door to Elena's apartment. I pray she's here. Though I'd checked the hotel restaurant and the bar, I hadn't found her there. She must have come home.
I knock.
A moment later, the door opens---and Elena gapes at me.
She's still wearing that dress, the green number with a low neckline, the one that molds to every curve on her body.
"Hi," she says, still seeming surprised and confused.
"May I come in? I want to explain what you saw."
"Raisa was trying to seduce you, right? I figured that one out already." Elena motions for me to enter. "My apartment isn't swanky, like your hotel, but it's comfortable."
"I'm not a snob."
"Yeah, I know." She hunches her shoulders. "Sorry I ran away, but I kind of freaked when I saw Raisa."
"No worries. I finally got the chance to run after a woman."
I walk into the apartment, taking in the small but very puffy sofa and two puffy recliners. Multi-layered white curtains frame the windows, beyond which I catch a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline glittering with lights. This building is far enough away from that view to be relatively affordable. As affordable as anything gets in New York.
Elena is barefoot.
My attention stalls on her dainty toes and the lavender nail polish on them.
She wanders into the kitchen. A bar separates it from the living room.
I follow her while she opens the refrigerator and pulls out a bottle of beer. "Want one?"
"Love one. Thanks." I take the bottle she offers, watching while she grabs one for herself. "Could we sit down? I was on foot for the last two blocks. Traffic was terrible."
She leads me to the sofa and sits down, patting the cushion beside her. "Relax, I know Raisa surprised you with that kiss. It was obvious."
I drop onto the sofa a little too roughly, making it jump. "Sorry, I'm exhausted from the walk."
She sets her beer on the coffee table. "Two blocks wipes you out? How did you ever survive in New York the first time?"
"A talk with Raisa always leaves me exhausted. Besides, I had to give up on the taxi and run to get here."
"Run?" Elena's brows knit together over her adorable nose. "What was the rush?"
"To find you." I take a sip of my beer, then set the bottle on the table. I angle toward her and take her hand in both of mine. "I was afraid you jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought I was reconciling with Raisa. I'm not, by the way."
"Never thought that." She shuts her eyes for a moment, then looks at me again. "I feel horrible. Raisa is clearly still in love with you, and I promised to help her win you back, then I went and slept with you instead."
"She had no right to make you do that for her."
"I know, but she won't give up. This afternoon, I went to the break room to get some coffee, and I saw Raisa there. She didn't see me. She was crying again, Chance. Crying. Raisa."
What am I meant to do about that? I don't want to hurt Raisa, but I've clearly failed to hammer it into her brain that we will never be a couple again. "I don't love her anymore. I want to be with you, Elena, and that unfortunately means I have to hurt Raisa. No way around that."
"Yeah, I know." Elena lays her other hand over mine. "I guess we have to accept that Raisa will be upset. But I really think we need to tell her about us."
"I don't think that's a good idea, not yet. Let's wait and see if this thing between us is really going somewhere."
"No, please, we have to tell her. And if she fires me, oh well. I'm sure they need paralegals in Siberia."
"You don't need to run that far away. Come with me to Chicago."
Elena lays her palm on my cheek. "That's sweet, but we barely know each other."
"We can change that." I turn my face into her palm and kiss it. "Raisa can't fire you for following the firm's rules about coworkers dating. I'm an attorney, Elena. I'll help you sue her for wrongful termination if she does fire you. But first, I'll try again to talk sense into her. It might work."
"Maybe," Elena says, sounding as unconvinced as she looks. "We're taking a risk either way."
"We are. But you should've said you're taking a chance. I'd jump on that offer."
"Oh, but I knew you'd do that." She taps her finger on my lips. "Not giving you any ammunition to use in seducing me."
"Why not? That's why I came here."
She shakes her head. "No, it's not. You came here because Raisa upset you, and you need comforting."
"Do I get some, then?"
"Absolutely." She leans in, her breaths teasing my lips. "How do you like the dress?"
"I love it." I can't disguise the hunger in my voice, because I am starved for her. I feasted on that body two nights ago, but I need more. "Where's the bedroom?"
She hooks a thumb over her shoulder. "Down the hall."
"Too far." I consider the small sofa and calculate whether I can fit on it lying down. The answer is no. "It's either you on my lap here, or both of us on the floor."
Laughing softly, her face alight with joy and lust, she straddles my lap.
I slip my hands under her dress, skating them up her thighs to her arse. "You've got knickers on."
"Mm-hm." Her tongue peeks out between her lips while she focuses on undoing my tie. "Thought it might be fun to let you rip them off."
"It will be. Enormously." I hook my fingers inside her knickers and yank, but they don't rip. I try again, yanking harder, but still can't break the bloody things. "There's a slight problem with your plan. Your underwear seems to be woven from steel fibers."
She laughs again, tossing my tie halfway across the room. It lands on one of the recliners. "Oh come on, Chance. You don't give up that easily, do you?"
I love her this way, uninhibited, laughing, playing with me. She's adorable and beautiful and sweet and sexy. The fact she has a sharp mind behind all that feminine loveliness makes her even more enticing.
And she's right. I don't give up that easily.
Since I can't tear the blasted underwear off her, I pick her up by the waist and lay her down on the sofa beside me. I make quick work of getting rid of those knickers, flinging them across the room so they get caught in a ruffled layer of one of the curtains. The pale-blue lace panties stand out against the white curtains.
"There," I say, setting her on my lap again. "Please continue."
Elena flashes me a naughty smile while she begins unbuttoning my shirt. "It's like Christmas morning, unwrapping you."
The door bursts open.
We both swing our heads around to look at the man who's lugging a huge suitcase into the apartment. Head down, he grunts when he lifts the suitcase to get it over the threshold.
"Hey, Ellie," he says without glancing up. "I know I'm home early. Cancun was---"
The man lifts his head and spots us. His expression goes blank.
Elena leaps off my lap. "Kyle, what are you doing here? Your trip was supposed to be ten days."
"Yeah, but like I was about to say, Cancun was awesome until the hurricane hit." Elena's brother drags his suitcase to the bar. "We got out just in time. I dropped Amelia off at her place."
Elena fusses with her dress, which only makes her look more guilty.
Kyle wanders over to us, stopping at the end of the sofa. His gaze flicks to the blue knickers hanging from the curtain and then narrows on me. But he's squinting at Elena when he says, "Who's the dude making time with my sister on the sofa?"
I get up and offer him my hand. "Chance Dixon. Elena and I work together."
"Uh-huh." Kyle shakes my hand. "How come Ellie didn't mention you to me? We talked and texted since I left for Cancun."
Elena wraps her arm around mine. "Chance and I met after you left. I didn't tell you about him because this is so new, and we're not sure if it'll go anywhere."
"I get it." Kyle's mouth twists into a sarcastic smile. "I leave you alone for a few days, and you hook up with the first British guy you meet. It's cool."
"Are you being snotty, or are you really okay with this? I can't tell."
Kyle laughs. "Come on, Elena, we're all grown-ups here. Do the nasty with whoever you want, as long as it makes you happy."
I wish my ex-wife had the same mature attitude.
Elena hugs her brother. "Thank you, sweetie. I'm glad you're okay with this, because I really like Chance. A lot."
My lips tighten into a smile, and I make no effort to stop it. Elena likes me a lot. My smile broadens. She likes me.
So much for being a mature adult.
"Don't mind me," Kyle says. "I'm gonna drag my stuff into my room and crash. Unpacking can wait till tomorrow."
He does exactly that, hauling his suitcase down the hallway.
Elena and I watch, and I wonder what my odds are for seducing her tonight---with her brother in the apartment.
At the door to his room, Kyle pauses to smirk at us. "Make as much noise as you want. I'm so bushed I'll be dead to the world the second my head hits the pillow." He nods at me. "Nice to meet you, Chance."
"Pleasure meeting you too, Kyle."
He goes into his room and shuts the door.
I turn to Elena. "Where is your room?"
"Right across the hall from Kyle's."
"What are the odds you'll let me fuck you tonight?"
She grins. "One hundred percent, you lucky dog."
The woman I adore dashes down the hallway, waving for me to follow.
And I run after her.
Everything else can wait until tomorrow.
Chapter Twelve
Elena
This time, the morning after a night with Chance is a lot more fun. I don't worry about showing up to work wearing an inappropriately fancy and sexy dress, because we're in my apartment. When I ask Chance if he needs to rush home to change clothes, he says, "I don't give a toss what anyone thinks of my clothes, and besides, I'm living across the street from the office." Okay, fair point. He can rush up to his hotel room to change. And if he's late, I doubt Raisa will care. She wants him back and reaming him for being tardy won't win him over.
After a round of fun wake-up sex, Chance wants to take a shower with me, like we'd done the morning after our big date in his hotel suite. I'm all for repeating that experience, but there's a problem. The shower is only slightly bigger than I am. Kyle barely fits in it by himself, so I know Chance and I have no, um, chance of squeezing in there together. This apartment does not have a tub. Chance is disappointed but agrees that the two of us getting sardined in the shower will only result in a 911 call and an embarrassing use of the Jaws of Life.
We reach a compromise. He stands outside the shower watching me get clean, then I watch him do the same. He's even hotter when he's wet. The water rolls down his body, outlining every muscle and making his hair glisten. When he tips his head back to rinse his hair, running his fingers through it, I get tingly all over. But when he slathers sudsy body wash all over himself, I'm pretty sure he does it slowly on purpose to give me an incredible view of his soapy bod. I want to climb in there and bathe him with my tongue.
I won't fit. Damn.
But post-shower sex is awesome.
When we finally walk into the kitchen, Kyle is already there whipping up pancakes and bacon.
"Morning," he says. "You guys sure take a long time to get showered and dressed. Kinda noisy about it too."
He gives me a smug smile.
I roll my eyes.
Chance and I perch on stools on the other side of the bar from Kyle. I can't resist laying my hand on Chance's thigh and feeling him up. The bar hides what I'm doing from Kyle's view, not that I think he'll care if he sees it. Kyle has wanted me to get a new boyfriend for almost a year, ever since the last one dumped me for a dog groomer. Apparently, wiping poodles' asses is sexier than being a paralegal. Who knew?
I give Chance's thigh a squeeze.
He rests his hand on the back of my stool and leans in to kiss me. It's a sweet kiss, nothing naughty about it. I suppose he's being polite, holding back in front of my brother, but I like the kiss. Sometimes simplicity is the sexiest thing.
Kyle flips a pancake. It sails through the air only to smack down right where it started, only now its cooked side faces up. My brother is an expert pancake flipper, and I've always envied him that talent. I can't flip a burger without it sticking to the griddle.
"Very impressive," Chance tells Kyle. "You're quite the cook, aren't you?"
"Nah." Kyle flips another pancake, since he has four of them on the griddle. "I can do basic stuff like pancakes and fried eggs." He points his spatula at me. "Elena's the real master chef around here."
"Don't listen to a word my brother says," I tell Chance. "He's a massive liar. I'm no better at cooking than he is. Kyle's trying to make you think I'm amazing so you'll be horribly disappointed when I finally cook for you. Little brothers are obnoxious that way."
Chance kisses my cheek. "I doubt Kyle is exaggerating your skills, but I know what younger siblings can be like. I have two of them."
"What? How come you haven't mentioned them before?"
He shrugs. "Never came up in conversation."
"But I told you about Kyle over lunch the other day."
"True." He scratches his jaw, eying me sideways. "I suppose I should've said something then, but I love listening to you talk."
Kyle bursts out with the phoniest guffaw I've ever heard. "Damn, you've got it bad. Don't you, Brit boy?"
I aim an exaggerated scowl at him. "Be nice. Chance is my boyfriend, so don't be obnoxious."
"Boyfriend?" Kyle looks smug again, but his closed-mouth smile is aimed at Chance this time. "If you're dating my sister, that means I get to razz you big time. Know anything about NASCAR?"
"I've heard the term," Chance says, "but that's about all. It's car racing, isn't it?"
"Yep." Kyle grins with wicked glee. "Let me tell you all about it."
Kyle proceeds to recite every moment of the last NASCAR race while Chance pretends to listen when he's really massaging my thigh. I have no doubt he's not hearing a word of Kyle's monologue. My brother doesn't care if nobody's listening. He can babble away about stock car racing for hours.
After that, Chance and I head to the office via taxicab. During the drive, we discuss Raisa.
"I'm thinking we should wait," I say, "before telling her about us. I thought about it a lot while I was dreaming, and I realized you're right. We need to make sure this thing between
us is going somewhere before we go public."
"You thought about it while you were dreaming?"
"Uh-huh." I glance at him sideways. "Don't you do that? Work out problems in your dreams?"
"Not really." He lets his head fall back against the seat. "I'm glad you've seen it my way. We only met twelve days ago, after all. It makes sense to get to know each other better before outing ourselves. That would also give Raisa more time to accept she can't win me back."
"So we're agreed? Keep it on the down low for now?"
"Yes."
I realize what he said and have to ask, "You've been keeping track of how many days we've known each other?"
"That's right. Every day with you is worth counting." He kisses me, long and slow and sexy as hell. "Sneaking around could be exciting."
The way he says those words, with his voice a smoky murmur, excites the hell out of me.
I nibble on his lower lip. "How long do you think we need to wait?"
"Two weeks. If I'm not head over heels in love with you by then, it'll never happen."
His statement sounds innocuous, his tone so casual, that I think it must mean something different in British. I stare at him, my pulse suddenly throbbing faster, and wonder if he means what it sounds like he means. Does he think he's falling for me? Or that he might very soon?
I like him a lot, more than I've liked anyone in a long time. But could I fall for him?
Deciding I might be reading too much into what he said, I change the subject. "Tell me about your siblings."
"I have two brothers, both younger. I'll be seeing them---" He shuts his eyes, groaning. "I forgot. I'm flying home next weekend, leaving Friday afternoon."
"Guess it pays to be the boss's ex. You started work last week, and Raisa's letting you take off early next Friday?" I shake my head. "She'd rip me a new one if I asked for ten more minutes on my lunch break."
"I'd planned this trip months ago. When Raisa asked me to work for her temporarily, I said yes with the condition that I don't have to give up my holiday."
