That Thing Between Eli and Gwen(47)
“We both just got out of pretty serious relationships. This could blow back up in our faces badly. Maybe we should wait longer before doing anything.” Anything more.
“If you know she likes you back, what are you waiting for? The people you both were in relationships with didn’t.”
I didn’t even want to think about it anymore. “Don’t eat all my cereal,” I told him, walking to the door.
“Don’t let her see the stingy part of you for a while—if you actually go for it.” He snorted to himself.
“I already did.” I grinned when his head whipped back to me, and I closed the door.
“Wait, what?” he yelled.
I knew he would follow, so I quickly got on the elevator. Just as it was about to close I heard her voice.
“Please hold! Thank you.” She came in, not even bothering to look up, cell phone in one hand while digging through her purse with the other. “No, I’m going to need double that amount of paint. Yes. Thank you so much. Also, can you get me the same art students as before? You're an angel with six wings, Suzy. Bye.” She hung up, taking a deep breath. “Thanks for holding the—” She stopped, turning toward me.
“You're welcome,” I said just as the doors opened at the ground floor.
“I thought you would already be at the hospital by now,” she said when I let her out first.
“My shift starts in twenty minutes. I’m usually early, but I’ll make it right on time.”
“Is it because of me? I messed up your schedule this morning, didn’t I?”
The reason I was running later than usual was because of her and our morning, but not the way she was thinking. “It’s fine, I promise. Ride with me to the hospital?” I asked her when my driver pulled up.
She looked at the town car, then at me. “You have a driver take you to work every morning?”
“Not every morning. How were you going?”
“The bus.”
“What kind of millionaire uses the bus in this city?” I opened the door for her.
She hesitated. I wasn't sure why.
“Aren’t you sore?”
“True,” she said, getting in.
Nodding to the driver, I took a seat beside her.
“Do you have rules?” she asked, putting on her seatbelt.
“Rules?”
She nodded. “Like not to talk to you at work? Or pretend we aren’t close, or—”
“Who has rules like that?” I knew who already.
She didn’t answer, just glanced out the window.
I brought her face back to me. “I told you my one and only rule this morning: don’t lie. That’s it. If you want to talk to me when I’m not busy, then talk to me. I’m not going to broadcast that we are…a couple, but if people find out, I really don’t care. I’m not Sebastian, and I would hate it if I were being compared to him in your mind.”
“You don’t compare me to Hannah?”
“I don’t think about her. I think about you, just you. That’s why I’m here. Can’t you tell? I grow more attracted to you with each passing second. Catch up.”
“How are you doing it?” she whispered, her eyes dropping to my lips. “Why am I all of a sudden thinking about you like this? We should be going slow, getting to know each other…”
“Maybe it’s because we’ve already been doing that for weeks,” I told her.
“I should still make you work for me, right?”
She is too close. “Fine. I get off at eight. Late dinner? I’ll cook.”
“It’s our first date, then,” she said, taking off her seatbelt as we arrived.
Opening the door for us, I took her hand to help her out and thanked the driver.
She glanced at our hands and smirked, but didn’t say anything.
Only when we were inside the blue and white building did we break apart.
“Let me know before you leave?” I asked.
She nodded, waving. “Looking forward to it, Dr. Davenport,” she replied, heading to the wall.
I watched as she grabbed her headphones from her backpack and placed them over her ears. She danced as she walked like she didn’t care who saw her, just kept bobbing her head.
“Is that the artist your mother brought in?” Dr. Seo asked, coming in on my right. As we watched, she took off her jacket and dropped it to the ground beside her, leaving her in just a tank top and jean shorts.
“Yes—”
“Interesting.” He tilted his head to the side, watching her. “Go ahead, mate. It looks like I need to go introduce myself.”
He stopped when I put my hand on his shoulder.
“What?”
“You can say hello to her, but if you try to go beyond that, you’ll regret it. Enjoy your day of facelifts and silicone breasts.” I turned, starting up the stairs.