Page 44 of Breathless With Her

“I’ve got tissues to clean this up,” I said quickly.

“Okay. And then can we go to your house? Or should we go to mine? Because I don’t think we’re finished yet.”

I cupped her face, running my thumb over her cheek.

“No, Erin. We’re not done by a long shot.”

As soon as I said the words, I hoped I wasn’t wrong. I hoped I wouldn’t hurt us both. But I had a feeling there wouldn’t be any easy answers no matter what happened. For either of us.

Chapter 9

Erin

* * *

Horror.

Absolute horror.

That’s what I faced as soon as I took my first step into my kitchen.

Dear. God.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

My hands shook as I tried to take in what was in front of me, my mouth going completely dry. I swore I had to be seeing things. Ihadto be seeing things.

“Oh my God,” I whispered and then pulled myself out of whatever hysteria I was slipping into. I could not freak out. But I really wanted to freak the fuck out just then.

It had been raining all evening, to the point where there had been flash flooding in the area. I was very lucky that my house was on a slight hill so I didn’t have to worry as much as some other people. At least, at my home.

But at my place of business? Oh my God.

The back of my kitchen was flooded. It looked as if a lake had poured in, and I could barely breathe.

No, I didn’t think I was actually breathing.

I rubbed my hand over my chest, trying to calm whatever was going on inside me, but I swore I could hear my heart beating so rapidly in my ears, it was like an echo that would never end.

I looked up at the ceiling and tried to formulate a plan. The recessed ceiling had been torn away in chunks where the water dripped in, and it looked as if it had been pouring in at one point.

This wasn’t a pipe. No, it was from the roof itself. My building was only one story with nothing on top of it. So, whatever had come in through the roof had happened from the storm itself. Or that, combined with wear from over the years.

And the deluge happened right on all of my materials.

And the worst part? It wasn’t just in the kitchen area.

As soon as I saw the two inches of water on the floor and all over my pristine counters and everything else, I screamed, turned off the power, and ran back to check the fridge. The cake that I had spent hours of my life on, the one that was more important than anything to me at that moment because of the clients and the wedding that was happening the next day, was in there.

But what I was looking at just then…

It didn’t resemble a cake.

It didn’t resemble anything.

“Oh my God,” I repeated, my hands shaking.

Somehow, part of the fridge itself had caved in, even though it was stainless steel and metal and had layers of insulation. But the flood itself had dented it, so a stream of water had dripped in, right on my cake.

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