Page 39 of Room Service
“Good morning, Elise,” he rumbles. Christ, his voice alone is like a fucking sin.
“I’m going to be late if I don’t get going,” I say, shifting on the spot.
“Of course.” He nods, and a feeling of disappointment hits me.
“I’ll, uh, see you around?” I question, because this feels weird. Like there’s been another shift between us that I’m unaware of.
He says nothing as I thank him for last night and then disappear out of the door, going to the lifts and pressing the call button.
I feel my face flush, embarrassment overwhelming me. But then my body goes on high alert as I feel him behind me. I pray for the lift to hurry up and get here, but the dial at the top tells me it’s stuck on floor five. Of course it is.
“Elise,” he whispers, his lips by my ear and his body heat making me want to fucking melt on the spot.
“Don’t, Dorien,” I say, albeit unconvincingly. Something isn’t right, and I can’t shake the feeling that I am going to end up being irreparably damaged by him.
The lift starts to move, slowly making its way to me, and when the doors open, I step forward, just needing to be away from him. Such a contrast to last night. Such a shame, too, because last night was everything I never knew I needed.
I move my hand to the side and press the button for the ground floor, and I don’t turn back around until the doors close, but I know he was stood there, waiting, watching. I could feel his eyes boring into my back.
* * *
“You look like shit,” Celeste remarks as she drops down in the seat across from me, her lunchbox landing with a thud on the table.
“Gee, thanks,” I sarcastically respond while I roll my eyes and continue to try and eat the food in front of me. I’m not hungry in the slightest, but I need to keep my energy up for the rest of the day, not to mention the energy I probably burned off last night while I was fucking my boss. I stifle the groan that wants to escape me.
“What happened?” she asks, because she knows where I was last night—of course she does, seeing as I now crash at her place and all.
I drop my fork to the plate, letting it clatter, and I put my head in my hands. “I can’t do this, Celeste. I never should have gone there last night.”
“Did he hurt you?” She speaks quietly, because we work with some nosey fuckers who are milling around the place, and for that, I’m grateful. She would never want to air my private life, and vice versa.
“No, he did quite the opposite,” I admit, and drop my hands from my face to look at her. “He made me feel like I was the only woman in the world. I’ve never known pleasure like it, and fuck me, I can’t let myself…” I stop short of admitting what I’ve been trying to push out of my mind all day.
“Oh my god… you’ve fallen for him?” Celeste questions, her eyes a little wider than before.
“No, that’s stupid.”
“Is it?” she enquires, one eyebrow raised.
“Of course it is. No one can fall for someone that quickly.”
“Can’t they?”
“What is this? A bloody inquisition?”
Celeste chuckles, but I fail to see the humour. “You know I’m right.” A smile tips one side of her mouth.
“No way, definitely not.” She can’t be right. I won’t allow her to be right.
“You keep telling yourself that, Elise, but I can see right through you, and you’ve got it for our boss man real bad.”
“Shut up,” I scold her, which just makes her laugh a little harder. “This isn’t funny, Celeste.”
“If you don’t laugh, you’ll be eaten up by your goddamn feelings, so just let it be what it is.”
“How do you make everything sound so simple?” I ask.
“It is a gift,” she replies, holding her hands out either side of her, like the goddamn ray of sunshine she is.
