Page 18 of Some Like It Hot

Perfect. We can have a private place to talk.

“Yes, right now.” Nathan pauses, then rolls his eyes. “You can do that afterward,” he says heavily.

I can’t help it, I smirk.

Finally, Nathan hangs up. “I don’t know why I keep that kid on staff.”

“He’s going to get her?” I ask.

“As long as he doesn’t forget or get lost between where he is and where she’s sitting,” Nathan says dryly.

“Thanks.”

“You want to tell me what this is about? How do you know Elise?”

I narrow my eyes. “How do you know Elise?”

“Elise is a friend of Danielle’s. She works part time for Crew’s sister, Luna.”

That makes me frown. “What does Luna do?”

“She owns a bakery.”

She quit working for me at a very high paying, comfortable executive assistant job with fantastic benefits, to go work for a bakery?

“So how do you know her?” Nathan asks again.

“She used to work for me. She was my assistant’s assistant.”

“And why do you need to talk to her?”

I take a breath and blow it out. I study my cousin. He’s a very good guy. He’s also madly in love, managing a complicated but clearly real and fulfilling relationship with three other adult humans, and he just became a father. Maybe he’ll understand this.

“I wanted to ask her out when she quit and walked out of my life, disappearing without a trace,” I tell him. “After I kissed her.”

Nathan just blinks at me for about five seconds. “I see,” he finally says.

“I haven’t seen or talked to her in fourteen months. I just want to know that she didn’t quit her job because I crossed a line.”

There is a knock at the door to the suite and Nathan looks toward the door, then back to me. “Well, looks like here’s your chance.”

My heart thumps hard with anticipation. We had undeniable chemistry, me and Elise.

“Come in,” Nathan calls.

The door swings open and a guy in a big furry dog suit, minus the head, leans in. The man in the suit is not at all what I expected. He’s young, early to mid-twenties, with blond, shaggy hair, a scraggly beard, and a somewhat goofy grin that somehow manages to look nervous at the same time.

“Mr. Armstrong? Elise is here.”

Nathan nods. “Come on in Elise.”

The mascot steps back, and she moves into the room.

She’s looking at the mascot and reaches up to pat his cheek. “Thanks, Wade. And seriously, that’s the last time for the kiss cam. That’s three games in a row that you’ve come for me.”

The grin the kid gives her is definitely not nervous. It’s big and full of affection. “You’re such a good sport. And the social media account is now all about us going out, you know.”

I frown as she laughs. “I know. We have to stop encouraging them.”

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