Page 14 of Some Like It Hot

In fact, I think I’ll let her discover it on her own so I don’t get a fist in the face from her boyfriend, who is fucking huge. Not that I couldn’t hold my own with him, but I can’t fight back when I’m on duty.

But once I take her hand and help her up onto the floor, the dress is covering more. She immediately tugs it up further, which is good because I don’t want Wyatt to get a view of a nip slip. From what I understand from talk around the station, he gets to see plenty of bare breasts very regularly. He doesn’t need to see this woman’s too.

“You good?” I ask her.

She nods, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and tossing dark curls over her shoulder. “Holy shit. That was a workout.” She swivels her hips like they’re stiff and she needs to loosen them up.

I’m almost fucking speechless. Is she a burlesque dancer? Because that would not surprise me at all.

She turns. “Blake, do you need help?”

His answer is a grunt.

He clears the floor, her purse in his hand.

“Thank you.” She retrieves it from him before he’s climbed out of the car. “Where’s my phone?”

“In your purse.”

“And my… never mind.” She makes a “whoopsie” face and grins.

He doesn’t grin back. “In my pocket.”

Once he’s out, I gesture for them to move away from the door. “You sure you’re okay?”

“We’re fine.”

I retrieve the ladder and then step back to let Wyatt secure the gate restrictor again.

The sexy woman named Elise goes to the panel on the wall and hits the up button.

“The power is out for all the elevators,” I tell her. “Give us five more minutes and they’ll be back up and running.”

“Where the hell are you going?” the guy named Blake asks her.

“To the party. It’s almost midnight. I desperately need a cocktail.” She says this like it’s obvious.

Clearly it is to her and not to him.

“I’m going home,” he says, wincing a little as he takes a step toward the lobby.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” He stares at her.

She stares at him.

Trying not to inadvertently be involved in their personal business, I busy myself with radioing Matt now that Wyatt has the hoistway door closed again. “All clear. Power can be restored.”

Blake leans over and tucks Elise’s hair behind her ear. “Goodnight, Elise. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year, Blake.” She doesn’t sound angry, she just sounds a little mystified.

I’m mystified too. I wouldn’t care if she wanted to party all damn night before going home with me. I’d wait out last call and enjoy showing her off on my arm in the process. And what fucking guy leaves his woman to get herself home? On New Year’s Eve, of all nights, when car services and cabs are impossible to get and the train is chock full of drunks?

An asshole, that’s who.

He heads toward the lobby and she untucks the piece of hair he put behind her ear. She adjusts her dress again and gives me a smile. “Champagne for one, then.”

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