by Marie Hall
“I always knew he would be.” Her grin wobbled, her vision suddenly blurred, and she wiped at her nose swiftly. “Anyway, it’s late, and I have work early in the morning so I should probably go.”
Chastity sighed. “Yeah, I figured you might. I just wanted to say I miss you lots. You still planning to come back this summer?”
A few weeks ago the answer would have absolutely been a yes, but now, everything was just so confusing. It wasn’t like she was going home only to see Julian, and it wasn’t fair to her parents to not go home just because she wasn’t sure what kind of a reception she’d get from him, but she’d never really been good at holding it together where he was concerned.
“I don’t know, it just depends on if I can get the time off of work. I love you. Kiss Luke for me, okay?”
Chastity said her goodbyes and then they were off. Elisa had to drag her body away from the desk to her bed, feeling weary and more exhausted than she had in years.
Coming to Dublin had seemed like the right thing to do, she loved her job, she loved her friends, but none of it was keeping her happy.
Rolling into bed, she did what she’d done for the past several months. She sniffed Julian’s pillow. The one he always slept on whenever he came for a visit. He’d taken to dousing his cologne on it before he would leave, claiming that by the time it faded he’d be back and able to do it again.
But it was fading quickly and he wasn’t coming out this summer.
She could barely smell the warmth and spiciness of it, and sometimes she could swear she’d even forgotten what his scent of mint and soap smelled like. She was losing him, or she’d lost him, she wasn’t sure which.
Either way, Elisa was miserable.
Chapter 17
Elisa glanced at Meredith over her laptop screen at work the next morning. “Hey you, got a favor to ask.”
Meredith lifted a lavender brow. “And just what might that be, luv?”
Grimacing, she gave her friend woebegone eyes. “My mother’s shipped me a stack of boxes, and by stack I mean stacks. Each box is probably going to weigh about twenty pounds, or umm…” She blinked doing the math in her head. “One point four stones—I think that’s right.”
“One in a half stones? Bloody hell, Elisa, have you never heard of an e-reader?”
She laughed. “Leave me alone. It’s just two boxes, but there’s no way I can move those up my apartment stairs and I don’t want to have to pay to do it—”
“And what makes you think I could, eh? Do I look like the a girl who plays around with weights?”
Meredith, dressed in black tights and a bold red and white-striped knee length dress, did not in fact look capable of lifting much over five pounds.
She sighed. “Well, I figured between the two of us we could make it happen.”
“Or you know,” Callum’s deep voice broke into their conversation, “you could ask me. I’ve nothing to do today.” He stepped into their room wearing a large, sexy grin.
Elisa’s heart beat a rapid tattoo in her chest.
Meredith bit her bottom lip and had a devilish glint in her eyes as she said, “Hm. I think yes, suddenly I seem to have found the time after all.” She winked and with a laugh, flitted from the room like a drunken, little butterfly.
Elisa rubbed her arm. “Thanks, Callum, but seriously I’m sure Mere and I can handle it.”
“Aye. I’m sure you could.”
Her stomach bottomed out every time his accent came out. His voice was actually very refined and cultured, she wondered if sometimes he did that on purpose just to get a rise out of her. Taking a deep breath, she pretended to fiddle around with her laptop, willing the heat in her veins to slow down a little.
“But I do believe that if I don’t go, neither will your little helper.” He winked.
She had to fight to keep her mouth closed and not hang open like a fish out of water. The man completely threw off her equilibrium.
“What time should I be there?”
Forced to look up at him, she steeled her nerves and gave him a small smile she hoped would pass for gratefulness and not anxiety and said, “Six. If that works for you.”
“It does. I’ll bring some beer, you order the pizzas.”
She frowned. There’d been no intention of this turning into an all-night thing, but he was already out the door and Tobias came waddling in a moment later asking her to jog over to collections for him.
Sighing, she got back to work.
That night she had a belly full of nerves. Meredith had cancelled on her at the last minute, claiming that her brother had planned an unexpected visit and was waiting for her to pick him up at the airport. Judging by her tone of voice and the multitude of invectives she’d let loose, Elisa was inclined to believe her friend was none too happy about her sudden change of plans.
The night air was brisk and a little chilly as a storm cloud rolled in. Elisa stared at the boxes on the sidewalk, wishing her mother hadn’t sent the stupid things and placed her in this type of situation. The carrier had looked perplexed when she’d instructed he should leave those enormous boxes on the sidewalk—he’d been willing to take them up.
For an exorbitant fee, of course. She rolled her eyes.
Hugging her arms to her body, she waited for Callum to arrive. He did so about ten minutes later, and, just as he’d promised, he had a case of beers with him.
Walking directly up to her, he wrapped her into a warm hug that smelled strongly of good clean soap and cologne. Thrown off by his show of affection, she awkwardly patted his back.
“Hey,” she said after a second.
“Hey,” he repeated. “Where’s the fae?”
Chuckling, she tipped her chin in the direction of the airport. “Brother called last minute, said he needed to be picked up from the airport, so, unfortunately, it’s just the two of us.”
“Well.” His unusually light brown eyes gleamed. “I wouldn’t say it was unfortunate.”
“Oh,” she said dumbly, because she had no clue what to say to that. Was he flirting with her? It seemed like it. But they worked together and interoffice romances were pretty much forbidden. He’d know that, of course, so maybe this was just Callum’s way. Some guys were horrible flirts; in fact, she knew two of them very intimately.
Feeling slightly better by that thought, she took the beer from him.
“And these are the boxes?” he asked, shrugging out of his cardigan and handing it to her too.
He wore a fitted black shirt beneath that sculpted beautifully to his chest. There could be no doubt that the man had once modeled; he looked like some airbrushed god straight out of the pages of Vogue.
Several women, young and old, turned to stare at the two of them. Elisa’s cheeks heated, though she wasn’t sure why. Hefting the cardigan so that it lay over her shoulder, she nodded.
“Yup. If you just give me a second to put these down upstairs, I’ll come back down and help you with them.”
“Elisa,” he snickered, “I’ve no need of help, just guide me to your door is all.”
“But they’re heavy.”
With a wink, he knelt and lifted the enormous box like it weighed no more than a feather. And for a quick second she found herself hypnotized by the flex of his smooth, tanned, bulging biceps.
“Typically I wouldn’t mind the ogling, but this is heavy.” His lip twitched.
“Oh God, yeah.” She jerked, turned on her heel and raced up the stairs. She couldn’t believe she’d been caught staring like that.
Of course she’d just left a box hanging out on the sidewalk all by itself, tempting anyone to take it if they wanted, but that was the least of her worries right now.
Opening her door, she held it out for him. Callum was breathing just a little heavy when he walked through. Setting it down in the middle of her flat, he then turned and walked back downstairs to lug up the second box.
He returned about ten minutes later, and, apart from a little sheen of sweat on hi
s brow, looked no worse for wear.
Sitting down on her couch a second later, he sighed. “Bloody hell, woman, you do love your books.”
Laughing, and feeling some of the tension easing up between them, she shrugged. “Of course. I doubt I’d be working in this job if I didn’t.”
Elisa eyed the cheese pizza on her counter. She’d ordered it when she’d still thought Meredith would be showing up, it seemed silly to kick him out when there was no way she could finish off a whole pizza by herself.
The root of her entire problem with Callum was that she felt guilty because of Julian. Not that she planned to do anything with Callum. Men and women could be friends, if the relationship was well defined from the beginning.
Rather than being scared of him, maybe she just needed to get to know him better. Maybe if she did she’d find her silly little crush would cease to be.
Squaring her shoulders, she turned back to him.
Callum was sitting up, with one of his hands dangling between his thighs, looking at her in such a way that she was pretty sure he knew exactly what she’d been thinking.
“Elisa?”
He said her name like a question. But she heard not just one question behind it, but several.
Should I go?
Are you okay?
Is there more?
Giving him a big, brave smile, she pointed to the pizza and beer. “You hungry?”
Laugh lines framed the corners of his eyes and mouth as he said, “I’m famished. Haven’t eaten all day.”
“Yeah, so I suppose you don’t count the entire bag of grapes and that bit of turkey sandwich you stole from Meredith as food then?”
Snorting, he ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I did forget about that.”
“Hm.” Shaking her head, feeling a million times better, she grabbed two paper plates, slid a slice of pizza onto each of them, and then, taking two beers, went to join him.
“Thank you.” His fingers grazed hers as he took the plate and drink.
Stomach curling with fronds of heat, she nodded mutely.
But Callum seemed determined not to let the conversation get tense and stilted again.
“So how are you enjoying Trinity?”
Taking a delicate bite of her pizza, she nodded. “I like it a lot. In fact, I love it. It’s everything I’d hoped it would be.”
Crossing his leg over his lap, he smiled. “I’m glad to hear you say it. It’s always nice to work in a place you love. Doesn’t quite feel like work then.”
He took a big man-bite of his slice, chasing it with a swallow of beer.
“You’ve always confused me, Callum. You were a big name in the modeling industry…”
He groaned. “I wondered when we’d get around to that part of my life.”
Taking a tentative sip of her beer, she gave him a wondering look. “You can’t tell me that that wasn’t exciting too? You got to see the world and meet all the prettiest people and—”
Snorting, he shook his head. “Travel the world, I’ll give you that. But even at its most fun, it’s wearying. To always live out of suitcases, to have to deal with the stress of that lifestyle and the people that live in it. To be so in demand that your life is not your own.” He shook his head. “Trust me when I say, it’s highly overrated. As to meeting the prettiest people—”
His brown eyes gleamed with a look she recognized clearly, because she’d often seen it burn through Julian’s eyes. Feeling like her skin would suddenly combust, Elisa cleared her throat and scooted just a little farther away from him.
He must have noticed, because he gave his head a little shake and took another bite out of his pizza.
Throat tight with nerves, she said, “So you threw it all away to pursue your true passion. Books.” Elisa laughed as she said it, but his look was totally serious as he nodded.
“I’m a man of great passions, Elisa. I know what I want, and modeling wasn’t it. That was merely a means to an end. I had massive college bills to pay off and that was the easiest way for me to do it, but it was never my intention to remain there.”
“Must have caused quite a media circus. Mr. Golden Abs turning down millions to pursue his true love of academia.”
His lips twitched. “Doesn’t happen often, I’ll grant you that. But, I think you’ll find the stereotypes that live in that world are often quite exaggerated.”
“Well, you have me there, Callum. Though I never was the type of girl who bought into the myth that all models are dumb.”
“No.” He looked at her intently as he said it. “No, I don’t suppose you would be.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip, forcing herself to break eye contact with him. Staring at Callum for too long felt a lot like looking into the sun, not something anyone wanted to do for any amount of time.
“You know my hobbies.” He smiled. “What are yours? Although I suppose you’ve as much of a passion for the written word as I do.” He stared pointedly at the boxes on her floor.
Laughing, she said, “Guilty as charged. But I was also a competitive swimmer.”
“Aye?”
There went that shivery burr again. The man was totally doing it on purpose. “Will you stop that?” She took a giant pull of her beer.
“Stop what?” He gave her a look that said he knew exactly what she was talking about.
“Being so…” She flicked her wrist at him. “Being so you.”
“Me?” He chuckled, a deep-bodied sound that shivered through her flesh and made her blood sing. “But okay.” He nodded gallantly. “I’ll stop.”
“Thank you.”
“As to your swimming.” He took another bite of his pizza, finishing it.
“It was no big deal. Well, okay, I guess it was kind of a big deal. It paid for my college.”
His brows rose. “That’s a big deal indeed. Just how good were you?”
“Good enough that an Olympic scout came out to see me.” She sighed.
“Wow.” He actually looked impressed, which made her feel good. “I take it by your sigh you didn’t make it?”
Lips thinning, she sighed again. “No, the sigh is because I’ll never know if I was good enough or not. I suffered a really terrible injury the week before and wasn’t able to swim the race.”
“He couldn’t come back later?”
“Sometimes we only get one change at things.” As she said it, her voice lowered and her memories veered not toward Clive Amsler, but Julian.
Drifting off she stared at the wall, wondering what he was doing right now.
“Well then.” Callum clapped his hands on his jeans, startling her and making her jump in her seat. “I should go.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him to stay, but nothing good could come from him staying longer.
“Okay, thanks for helping me with the boxes. I don’t think I could have done it myself.”
Chuckling, he stood and made for the door. Grabbing his cardigan, he slipped it on and then stood in the open door staring at her for a long, intense few seconds.
“Callum?” It was her turn to ask questions just with his name.
Screwing up his face, he patted her shoulder. “I…uh…well.” He sighed and then gave her a tight smile. “I’ll see you later, Elisa.”
Nodding, she waved goodbye and stood there watching him go silently. He never turned back to stare at her, but she sensed that if she so much as cleared her throat he’d be back up the stairs in a heartbeat.
“Oh my God,” she whispered when she knew he was well out of earshot, “what the hell is happening to me?”
~*~
“Okay, okay.” Meredith held up her shot glass. Her lavender hair was now longer, hanging in a shaggy bob around her long jawline. “My turn.” She glanced over at Elisa and winked, her brightly painted lips turned up into a half smile. “Either you A, tell us how you’d rather die, or B, you take the shot.”
“Die? How morbid are you?” Angelica sniffed and rubbed at her nos
e, fluttering a hand over her slicked bun.
Meredith stuck out her tongue and downed her shot of whiskey aggressively before pouring out another one. “Then take the shot, ‘Gelica.”
Tobias chuckled, shoving his glasses back up his nose. Normally he wore contacts, because he always said that if he didn’t he looked a lot like a nerdy hobbit, but Elisa found him more charming with his tweed jacket and thick framed glasses on than off. He looked just like how a proper Keeper should.
Elisa grinned. The gang had been at Turk’s only an hour, but already most of them were drunk off their asses. At one point Meredith had even tried to crawl up on the bar to dance.
It’d taken both Elisa and Callum to drag her down from there.
A foot kicked at Elisa’s underneath the table. She glanced up to see Callum’s glimmering brown eyes smiling down at her. “So what say you, Elisa, how would you rather die, inquiring minds wish to know.” His shot glass played along his full bottom lip.
Stomach fizzing with a case of nerves at his sudden playfulness, and the fact that she hadn’t had a thing to eat today—other than half of Meredith’s chicken sandwich at lunch—she shook her head, tucking a curl of hair behind her ear.
“Jaysus,” Mere snorted. “It’s not that hard, duckling, here let me show you. If I had my way I’d rather die in the arms of my lover as we drank from a bottle of poison. Together. Forever…” She clutched at her chest.
“Good God,” Tobias groaned. “Why am I not surprised you’d prefer a Shakespearean end?”
Rolling her eyes, she gave him a pointed look. “Well then, if my death is not sufficient for you, how would you go?”
“I’ll likely meet my end in the loo, after a violent and very painful bout of—”
“Do you mind?” Angelica turned in her seat to glare at him, and then eyed her amber-colored whiskey with a wrinkled nose.
Tobias chuckled heartily, and, with a shrug, downed his shot anyway.
It’d taken Elisa months to figure out the slang in Ireland. WC, she’d learned, was short for “water closet,” also known as the loo, also known as a bathroom. At least to Americans anyway, they’d teased her mercilessly that a bathroom should have a bath in it and that they never could understand Yanks and their backward ways.
