Page 31 of I Can't Even

Ellodie Solaire was a knockout.

She had it all.

Movement out of the corner of my eye had me twisting my head, and I narrowed my eyes as I saw a fancy man in a suit get out and lean against his car.

Was he waiting for someone?

Not liking how he was just leaning there waiting for something, I got out of the cruiser and locked it, heading inside.

When I got in there, it was to find a couple of men crowded close to the bathroom, pretending to be infatuated with tire pressure gauges.

And, because I wasn’t born yesterday, I posted up right outside the bathroom door, causing the men to scatter.

I gritted my teeth and listened as the toilet in the bathroom flushed, then water turned on.

Ellodie came out moments later, drying her hands with a paper towel.

“I had to wash my hands, you know?” she asked. “Then, when I was doing that, I had this huge urge to pee. Running water does that to me. So, I had to go to the bathroom. Then I had to rewash my hands.”

I shrugged. “It happens.”

“It does,” she confirmed as she fell into step beside me, oblivious to the men who were watching her like a hawk. “What are you doing inside?”

“Waiting for you,” I admitted as I pushed through the door and held it open for her, while simultaneously taking a glance around.

Suit guy was now filling up his car, but he wasn’t hiding the fact that he was interested in Ellodie.

“You know him?”

Ellodie frowned and started looking around, causing my stomach to clench in worry.

How had she not clocked all the people looking at her?

She was in a serial killer’s sights, for Christ’s sake.

She needed to pay better attention.

She also needed to get a one-on-one guide on how to keep herself alive.

“Oh, yeah. Actually, I do. That’s a doctor from the hospital,” she said as she ignored him and continued to the passenger side door of the cruiser.

I got there first and opened it, and a funny look crossed her face.

I closed the door on that look, then rounded the hood and caught the fancy suit doctor watching me.

I gave him a chin lift and wondered if he had a thing for Ellodie.

Unlucky for him, she was mine.

She just didn’t know it yet.

“I was just thinking today that chivalry was dead,” she said quietly when I dropped inside. “I don’t think a man who wasn’t related to me has ever opened my door before.”

“Really?” I asked. “You’ve lived in Texas for how long?”

It took less than a minute to get to the Chinese place, and soon we were bailing out of the cruiser once again to head inside.

“Really,” she confirmed. “I go on a lot of dates, too.” She shook her head, her fingers playing with the hem of her dress. “I’ve been here for going on nine years now. I started college at UTD—University of Texas at Dallas. Then I started work at Dallas Memorial. I had to work in critical care—the ER or ICU—for a year before I could go back to get my DNP degree. Now I’m about six months away from finishing.”

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