“What’s your address?”
“F-f-fifty Elm s-s-street.” Ellie responded through chattering teeth.
“Don, could you take us to Fifty Elm street?”
“Sure thing.”
“Thank you very much.”
Ellie was puzzled. This was the first time that she ever heard Edric thank anyone. And he sounded so natural and relaxed saying it.
Why doesn’t he say thank you to me? What have I done to get him to hate me?
Edric leaned forward and pulled his jacket off one sleeve at a time. He bundled his jacket up and handed it over to Ellie.
“N-no t-t-thank you. I’m w-w-wet and I d-d-don’t want to r-ruin your c-c-coat.”
“Eleonore. Take the coat. Your chattering is going to give me a headache.”
“But.”
“Dry cleaning is cheap. Silence is priceless. Just take the damn coat, Eleonore.”
Ellie reluctantly took the suit jacket and pulled it against her like a blanket. The suit jacket smelt like fine musk and the interior of the coat was made of silk and felt nice against her skin. It was still warm from his body heat. The warmth made her feel oddly comfortable.
“Don, could you turn up the heat?”
“You got it.”
“Thank you for the jacket, Mr. Kensington. Thank you, Don, for driving.”
Edric looked quite relaxed with his suit jacket off—Ellie saw the faint traces of muscle under his light blue shirt. She then blushed after thinking of her tyrannical boss’s muscular physique. She didn’t think of his physique earlier. The only thought that she had about Edric before then was how to avoid his wrath. But, since he displayed a modicum of kindness, she was finally relaxed enough to see him as something other than a threat. For the first time, she understood why women fawned over the man sitting across from her.
“Now Eleonore, why on Earth were you walking around in the middle of a rain storm at nine o’clock at night when Elm street is five miles away?” Edric asked. His cross tone banished her passing thought of his physical appearance. Her teeth stopped shattering but she still couldn’t stop shaking uncontrollably.
“Since I left for work early this morning and the weather was bad I used my headlights and then I forgot to turn the headlights off and…and when I got off work my car battery died a-and my sister is at work and I know that you don’t want me here in the morning—”
Edric raised his hand up. Ellie closed her mouth and then looked at the ground. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and handed it to his assistant.
“Give me your keys and write down your license plate number and the make and model of your car. It will be fixed by the morning and delivered to you.”
“You don’t have to…”
“I know I don’t have to, Eleonore. Just write down the information and give me your keys.”
“Thank you.” Ellie mumbled as she wrote down her license plate number on the scrap of paper provided to her. She reached over and handed it to her boss along with her car key and then scooted back under warmth of his suit coat.
“If you ever find yourself in a situation like this ever again, don’t be stupid and walk through your shitty neighborhood alone in the middle of the night. Sleep on the couch. Get a cab. Hell, you can even call me and I’ll send a driver out for you. Do literally anything besides what you did.”
Ellie’s eyes widened. I completely overlooked the option of getting a cab…
“Cab…”
“Don’t tell me that you forgot about cabs.”
“It didn’t occur to me.”
Edric scoffed. She had no idea how to respond to that scoff—she just curled up further in the corner of the limo curled up in Edric’s suit coat further like a turtle retreating into its shell. Between the heat from the jacket, the warm air blowing on her, and her exhaustion, she became tired. Very tired. It became more of a strain to keep her eyelids open. Finally, she surrendered to the heat and exhaustion and closed her eyes.
***
Edric looked up from his phone and over to his assistant. He felt a little bad for the young woman huddled up in the corner, shivering and half-asleep clinging to his suit coat with dripping wet hair. He also noticed that she looked strangely beautiful wet and with his suit jacket draped over her. He noticed her delicate features and her long, slender neck. Her white hair, ivory skin, and violet eyes made her look like some kind of angel.
For a split second, he was tempted to do what he normally did to women he thought were attractive: act charming, compliment her, lean forward, smile. After she was wooed, he would trap her underneath his arm, lightly touch her, pull her close, kiss her. Finally, he would suggest she go back to his place.
When he saw Ellie’s eyes close and her head slump down to her chest, he banished the thought. Something about trying to bed her when she seemed so weak and vulnerable seemed wrong—even to him. For some odd reason, he couldn’t disassociate Ellie with her kind and bizarre act of giving up her food to a homeless stranger. That and she seemed too eager to please him. Exploiting her when she’s vulnerable would be wrong. Besides, Edric was strongly against sleeping with his employees.
Ellie’s eyes snapped open and she sat upright. She looked at Edric, smiled weakly, and then looked down at the ground.
The car finally came to a halt. Ellie looked outside the tinted window and saw the small house that she and her sister rented out on the postage-sized lot.
“Thank you, Mr. Kensington.” Ellie handed Edric the jacket. “Thank you, Don.”
“Not a problem!” The voice from the front of the car said.
“Good night, Eleonore.”
Ellie slid out of the car, the cold rain hit her again and she shivered. Right before she entered the house, the young woman turned around and waved at the black town car. When she stepped inside the house, the town car sped off into the night.
***
Ellie stood outside of Edric’s office at eight thirty in the morning with a plate of cookies in hand. She decided to stay up and bake him some cookies, even though Ellie was so tired she could have fallen asleep standing up at that point. Nonetheless, she was determined to thank him in some way.
Even though Ellie was gung-ho about making sweets for Edric, when it finally came time to actually give them to him she felt shy about it.
If it were anyone else, you wouldn’t hesitate to give him the cookies. It’s what you would do for any human being who was nice to you. Don’t be shy about it just because Mr. Kensington is utterly terrifying…
Ellie put her hand on the doorknob but then paused one more time. He’s probably going to think that the cookies are stupid and yell at you and say he doesn’t eat sweets. It will be just like the catering incident. Maybe you should just leave it outside for the rest of his staff on this floor to eat. The young woman shook her head. No, Ellie, you must give him the cookies. He was kind to you, now be kind to him.
She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. She stepped inside and saw Edric working diligently at his desk. Instead of using his laptop, he was using his massive twenty-one-inch computer that Ellie spent hours making sure got delivered to him. He looked deep in thought. He was wearing glasses too. She could see what he was working on from the reflection of the glass behind him. He was coding and using an incredibly small font.
I shouldn’t break his focus. I can just slip out now and leave the cookies outside.
“Eleonore?”
So much for that option.
“Good morning, sir.” Ellie muttered. She looked down at the chocolate chip cookies.
Everyone likes sweets, even CEO’s. His sister ended up liking pizza…
“I have something for you.”
“If it’s paperwork, I can sign it later.”
“Actually, it’s from me.” Ellie said in her quietest voice possible.
Edric lowered his reading glasses from the bridge of his nose to the tip and looked at her standing nervously before him.
Ellie walked over to the edge of her boss’s desk and extended the plate. She looked off to the side and turned bright-red again. “I-I,” she stammered. “I wanted to thank you. For last night. It’s not much but I made you these. They’re a little burnt and they’re probably not very good but I made them from scratch. So, um. I hope you like them and thank you again.” Her voice trailed off. She still couldn’t muster the courage to look at Edric, who was staring at her completely dumb-founded.
Edric took the plate from Ellie’s and placed it on his desk.
“You made this?”
“Yes.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I just wanted to…I’m sorry.” Ellie pulled her hands in front of her face. If she had the courage to look at Edric, she would have noticed that he wasn’t the least bit cross with her at all. He just stood there looking completely dumb-founded.
“Don’t apologize.”
“I’m sorr—okay.”
“Thank you, Eleonore.”
The calm, sincere tone in which Edric spoke made her finally look up at him. He just stared at the cookies. She finally noticed how sad he looked.
“They’re probably not any good. I mean, I’m sure someone’s made you better ones before.” Ellie’s voice trailed off yet again.
“No, Eleonore, they haven’t.” Edric paused and pursed his lips together. “No one’s ever cooked for me before. Besides my hired chefs, of course.”
“That’s so sad.” Right after the words left Ellie’s mouth, she instantly regretted saying them. Her hands shot up over her face. “I’m so sorry.”
Much to her surprise, her boss chuckled wryly and shook his head. “Quite all right.” He removed the plastic sheet from the cookies and took a bite.
“I’m going to get back to work…” Ellie’s voice trailed off. She didn’t want to sit there and wait for him to critique her food. Besides, she felt like she was intruding on one of his private moments, even though she was the one to bring him the sweets in the first place.
“You do that.” Edric replied in an emotionless tone as he looked at his computer.
Thirty-minutes went by. Edric managed to eat three cookies, even though they were burnt on the edges. Ellie forgot all about them. She worked on her work. He worked on his. It was a normal day in the office.
“How late did you stay up making these?”
“Pardon?”
“The cookies, Eleonore. How late were you up baking?”
“I-I don’t know. It didn’t take too long. I don’t remember. I’m sorry.” She stifled a yawn.
“You were tired last night. And then you stayed up.”
“I got a second wind, and I wasn’t that tired.”
“Tired enough to fall asleep in my car.”
He folded his arms and analyzed Ellie. She felt self-conscious once again. Reaching up she touched the dark circles under her eyes. Since her skin was so translucent, it was obvious when she was sleep deprived. Edric frowned and returned to his work. Ellie shrugged and returned to her work.
It seems like I passed inspection this time.
About an hour later, Ellie had a yawn that she couldn’t stifle. The loudness of it even started her and it came from her mouth.
“Go home.”
“Pardon?”
“Go home, Eleonore.”
“But your schedule…”
“You can hardly keep your eyes open. Tired people screw up. I can’t afford that on my schedule—I have a company to run.”
“I won’t make a mistake. You fixed my car and brought me back. I’d feel terrible for leaving you in a bind.”
“Well, then fix my schedule for the day and plan a meeting with the head of the story division for tomorrow night. After you do these two things, go home.”
“But—”
“Eleonore.”
She looked at her boss. He looked so severe. After five seconds of Ellie’s stare, his expression turned to one of perplexion which, naturally made her feel flustered.
“I’ll have these to you within the hour.”
“Good. Then go home.”
“Thank you, Mr. Kensington.”
Edric nodded his head curtly and returned to his work.
Chapter Eight
It was finally time for Cassie’s dreaded date with Charlie Logan, the event that she did not know whether or not she dreaded or looked forward to. Somehow, she knew that she was going to be having sex with the handsome CEO by the end of the night—the lewd stories and the hungry kisses that they shared in the back of his limousine the week before all pointed to sex. And then there was his wandering hand.
The private detective was torn. On one hand, she really liked him. Logan was everything that she wanted in a man. He was funny, down-to-earth, know how to hold his liquor, handsome, rich, successful, older, classy, complementing, attentive, into sports... If Cassie had to write a list of all the qualities she desired of a boyfriend, Logan would meet everything in the list. There was only one problem: he was married and Cassie had standards. She always told herself that she would never be the other woman. Ever. She always thought that she was beyond that somehow.
Maybe I shouldn’t be judgmental. I’m helping someone who’s lonely. Maybe I’ll be the catalyst for him to leave his gold-digging loveless wife. This thought became a mantra to Cassie over the last week.
The private investigator examined all the dresses laid out before her. For their last outing, she opted for a sexier style, but had she assumed that it would just be an innocent flirtation. This time their encounter could actually lead to something and Cassie didn’t know how she felt about that.
The garb that she picked out revealed her feelings about the evening. On one hand, the dress was a turtle-neck that covered her from head to toe. That aspect was conservative. On the other hand, it was skin-tight and highlighted every inch and curve to her body. That aspect was flirty.
Cassie nervously waited in the kitchen for Logan to arrive. She was alone in the house except for Spots. Her sister was over at the soup kitchen, because Cassie had told her that she had a work meeting and that they couldn’t hang out. It wasn’t a complete lie. She did plan to speak with Logan about work.
Finally, the limousine stopped outside and she stepped out of her home and slowly walked over.
The silver fox stepped out of the limo and gave her a hug. The hug had some blatantly sexual undertones to it—he pressed his entire body against hers. She felt goosebumps forming on her skin. The voice in the back of her mind telling her not to sleep with this man was growing quieter and quieter.
Logan took Cassie by the hand and ushered her into the back of the limo.
“You’re not wearing jewelry.”
The red-haired woman brought her hand up to her neck. That was the one detail that she overlooked while getting ready for her date. Jewelry.
“Shit. I forgot.”
“Well, I didn’t.” Logan opened up a jewelry box and revealed a beautiful ruby necklace. “I saw it in the store and it reminded me of you. Everything has been reminding me of you, Cassie.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Just like you.”
The line was so corny but Cassie couldn’t help but to smile. “Thank you.”
“Thank you for being you—fun, beautiful, easy to talk to…”
Cassie leaned forward and planted a passionate kiss on Logan’s lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. The kiss deepened. Cassie knew that she was going to have sex with him that night.
“Let’s go to a hotel after this.”
“Let’s.”
Charlie Logan is everything that I want in a man. I can overlook this one flaw that he has, his wife.
***
Ellie felt a bit less nervous at her job. She still felt like she might get fired at any moment. But she had an inkling that after the cookie incident, something unspoken changed between them.
Edric
snapped at Ellie less frequently than before. Not that they were on decent terms by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn’t try to hurt her feelings with his insults. In Ellie’s mind, that was progress. Periodically he would make a snide remark to her but they seemed hollow and couched in with a favor that he was doing for her. For example, on Monday when he brought in some peppermint tea for her, he said that it was to ‘cut down on her incessant yawning.’ When Edric had his chef bring in an extra meal for lunch, he said that it was ‘because watching her eat only half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and tapioca pudding every day looked pathetic’.
There was one event that Ellie wasn’t looking forward to—Cassie’s return to the office. She had no idea whether or not Edric was amused by her sister’s antics and vibrant personality or if he was irritated by it all. Her boss was as a mystery. One she thought of frequently.
When Cassie arrived at the office on Thursday, she was dressed in a maroon tank top that matched her hair and jean short-shorts—she was taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather that day.
“Ah, Cassie Kent. Just the person I wanted to see.”
Edric spun around from his massive computer and faced her. He took his reading glasses off and put them on the table.
“Maybe you don’t want to see me.”
He sighed. “Still not better?”
“Don’t get me wrong.” Cassie grabbed the spare chair and sat in it backwards—her usual seating style in the office. “It’s slightly better. The plot has improved a bit and I like the addition of the plucky young bard and the eccentric countess—who are totally Owen and Violet, by the way. They made the game slightly better. You only have like, fifteen good characters in the whole game. You need more.”
Edric leaned back in his seat and pressed his hands together. “All right. I’ll take that feedback. I’ll add better characters. Although, what’s wrong with the ones that my story director—who I’m paying a small fortune for—made?”
“They’re stale archetypes. There’s nothing unique about them. At least with the bard and the countess they have something remarkable about them—it makes the players more apt to do their side quests because it seems more interesting than the others.”
A Sibling's Dilemma Page 8
