Page 10 of The Angel and the Agent

Is there no pleasing you,woman?

Pretty sure youknow how good you look, no extra flattery from me needed,she replied and he smiled.

Maybe not needed,but always appreciated,he typed.

You look so good I…oops,my battery’s dying. Later.

Ethan tuckedhis phone back in his pocket with a smile that didn’t go away for most of the day.

Later, he met her at the park with the designated cupcakes. It had been a long, boring, stressful day of meetings, but all that faded away when he saw her standing beneath the statue, waiting patiently for him.

“Did you bring them?” she asked as he approached.

He held the bakery box so she could see it. “Where are my clothes?”

“You’ll get them when the time is right,” she said.

He tucked the box back against his chest. “Then maybe you won’t get these.”

She held her phone aloft, her thumb in the middle of the screen. “One signal from me, and your clothes get it.”

He thought she was joking, but, knowing her as he was beginning to, he wouldn’t put it past her to follow through and torch his wardrobe. He handed her the bakery box. She opened it and inhaled. “Thank you.”

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to buy the cupcakes yourself?”

“Yes, but where’s the fun in that?” she asked. “I’ll see you.” She turned to go, but he caught her wrist and yanked her back.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to go, I have a thing.”

“Now?” he asked. “I just got here.”

She checked the time on her phone. “I can give you ten minutes.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” he said. They sat on a bench. She opened the box and held out it out to him.

“Cupcake?”

Shrugging, he took one and she took the other. “So, how was your day?” she asked, clinking her cupcake against his in a toast before peeling off the wrapper to eat it.

“It was a day.” Now that he was here, sitting on a bench with her and eating cupcakes while the sun shone and birds chirped, he had trouble remembering what had been so bad about his day. ”How was yours?”

“Super. I’m officially off probation now,” she said.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“It means I can start making real money without having to give most of it to the salon. It means I can acquire my own clients without being assigned whoever comes up in the queue. It means more chance for advancement, for establishment, for permanency. The chance for better hours, having more autonomy over my schedule.”

“It kind of sounds like all your dreams are coming true,” he said.

“Pretty much,” she agreed, smiling happily as she licked a dab of frosting off her fingers.

Ethan got caught up for a minute staring at her. She was incredibly beautiful, but it was more than an outward appearance that attracted him. She shimmered with confidence and good cheer. She might only be twenty two, but she knew who she was and where she was going, something that made her exceptionally appealing.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked when he remained mutely holding the cupcake. Snapping to attention, he peeled the wrapper and devoured it, and then stared at his messy, frosting covered fingers.

Amelia withdrew a tissue from her purse and, instead of handing it to him, leaned closer and wiped his fingers, cleaninghim as if he were a little boy. When she was finished with his fingers, she wiped his lips and, smiling, patted his cheek.

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