Page 38 of Perfect Imperfections

“You have an HOA?”

“Sadly, yes.”

She chuckled at his despondent look, knowing full well he probably bought this home because it had an HOA to keep home values up. This whole schtick was just to make her feel better about being so out of place. Somehow, he’d sensed her discomfort. It touched her that he was trying to ease it.

“Ellie!”

Charlotte’s squeal of glee was the only warning she got before the tiny girl plowed into her. She grunted, falling against Sullivan as his daughter threw her arms around Ellie’s legs. She really had to remember how strong the small child could be when excited.

“Hi, Charlotte.”

“You came, you came, you really came!”

“Yup. Happy birthday, sweetie.”

Kneeling, she held out the bag in her hands. Charlotte glanced up at her father with big puppy dog eyes.

“Can I open it?”

Sullivan nodded. “Go ahead.”

Charlotte tore into the tissue paper, pulling out the small cardboard box.

“What is it?”

Ellie nodded to the package. “Open it and see.”

Nimble hands opened the flaps of cardboard, reaching into the box to pull out the small elephant necklace and packet of paper inside. On the front of the packet was a picture of an elephant.

“Her name is Dolly. She lives in Africa, but you adopted her.”

Charlotte glanced up from the picture, a puzzled expression on her face. “Adopted?”

“Yup. It means she’s your elephant. You’re going to get pictures of her and stories about how she’s doing. She can’t come and live with you, but you’re helping take care of her in her home, so she’s your elephant.”

Green eyes grew so big Ellie was afraid they just might pop out. Charlotte’s mouth dropped open as she exclaimed, “I have a real-live elephant of my very own?”

“Sure do.”

Squealing, the girl jumped up and down, hugging the picture to her chest. “I have a real-live elephant! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ellie. It’s the bestest present ever!”

She laughed as Charlotte almost toppled her once again with an exuberant hug before running off, shouting to her friends about her new elephant.

“Well, thanks for that,” Sullivan chuckled in her ear, his body pressed up close against hers from his daughter’s forceful excitement pushing them together. “Now anything I give her will pale in comparison.”

A sense of dread dropped in her stomach. Crap! Had she overstepped her bounds? She turned to face him. “Oh, Sullivan. I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I just know how much she loves elephants, and we have this program at the zoo where you can sponsor an animal and so I—”

“Shhhh.” He placed a finger over her mouth. Stopping her apology. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that, Ellie. It’s a wonderful present. Anything that makes my daughter smile like that is…well, thank you. You really are amazing.”

She couldn’t quite make out what he was saying because of all the blood pounding in her ears. Her heart raced from the feel of his hands on her lips. She had the insane urge to open her mouth and suck his finger inside, swirl her tongue around the digit just to taste the salty heaven of his skin.

But she didn’t. Because she was frozen. A frozen mass of quivering need and lust in the middle of a child’s birthday party.

Totally inappropriate, Eleanor.

Someone called Sullivan’s name, and the spell broke. He pulled away to attend to something. She headed to the food table, praying there was something cold to drink because she felt as if she was on fire.

The party continued into the evening. Gifts were opened, cake was had. She actually enjoyed herself. The kids were rambunctious, but mostly sweet, and the adults weren’t as bad as she feared. A few of the women introduced themselves, commenting on her bravery when they discovered she’d been the one to save Charlotte from the penguin pool. They seemed nice enough, but she wasn’t used to socializing in such large crowds or with so many people she didn’t know. Anxiety caused her muscles to jitter. Her nerves rose with every second of conversation. The need to run to solitude overwhelmed her, but she knew it would be rude to disappear in the middle of a party, so she pushed the feelings down.

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