Page 6 of The Billionaire and the Maid

Shrugging, I take a sip of coffee to give myself a moment to consider her question. How is it going? Well, I haven’t run into Chase Marino again, so that’s…good. I don’t have to smell his cologne or view his six-pack after he works out or wish I was that girl in the photo.

“Hello, earth to Ella?” Gus says as he waves his hand in front of my face.

I set my mug down. “It’s fine,” I manage.

Gus rolls his eyes. “Fine? What does that even mean?”

Greta pats Gus on the shoulder. “It means, it’s fine,” she says with a laugh.

I look over at Gus. “How do you think it is? I’m cleaning. I’m the maid. It pays the bills. And it’s letting me get the degree that I want. So, yeah, it’sfine.”

“Well, I can cheers to that. I can’t wait for you to get this degree, so you don’t have to clean any longer.” He pauses and looks over at Greta. “I mean…she has talents beyond toilet cleaning.”

Greta gives him a pointed look. “First, Gus, there’s nothing wrong with cleaning. I’ve done it for years. It’s an honorable and important profession. Second, I agree. Our Ella needs to be doing more than cleaning toilets, amongst other things because cleaning isn’t her true calling.”

“I promise, I will be doing other things, soon,” I say, trying to manifest my future.

Gus leans in toward me. “So, Chase Marino, is he as hot as everyone says? I’ve never seen him up close.”

I nearly spit out the sip of coffee I just took. “He’s, uh, yeah, I guess.” I feel my cheeks pinken. “I’ve only seen him once.”

“Oh? And was he smokin’ hot?”

I giggle. “I suppose. I mean, he does have like a full six-pack. Or maybe eight? Wait. How many muscles are down there?” I ask as I glance at my belly.

Gus pats my hand. “We need to take this party over to the restaurant. I need a drink before you describe exactly what those abs look like.”

I bite my lip. Gus just bought me drinks a few days ago, and that was celebratory. He can’t possibly be offering to pay again, and this coffee was almost five dollars. I do mental math, but Gus just gets up and holds out his elbow.

“Come on. If you describe abs, I’ll buy you a glass of wine,” he insists.

I glance back at Greta, and she waves her hand toward the door. “As much as I’d love to hear about abs, I’m meeting a potential client in thirty minutes. You two enjoy,” she insists with a warm smile. I turn back and walk over to her, wrapping her in a hug as she stands.

“Thanks, Fairy Gretamother,” I whisper.

She laughs. “Anytime, sweetie.”

I give Elisha a wave and head back over to Gus. We link arms and begin the two-block walk to Max’s restaurant.

Max is there tonight and pulls me into a hug, giving me a cheek kiss before I’m even through the threshold. He holds the door open for us. “Come in, come in. It’s freezing out there,” he says.

“We’re just at the bar tonight, Max,” Gus explains as we walk toward the sleek black bar along the far side of the room and take our usual stools.

“You two enjoy. Try the drink special, Kevin came up with it,” he says, mentioning his new bartender, a younger guy who moved to Storyview Falls a few months ago.

“Will do,” we respond simultaneously.

“Jinx,” we state.

“You’re such a dork,” I say with a giggle as I hang my purse on the hook under the bar.

“You wouldn’t have it any other way,” he states. He holds up a finger. “Kevin, two specials.”

Kevin nods and gets to work, while Gus turns back to me. “Now, abs. I need details.”

The next two hours turn into Gus peppering me with questions about Chase as if I’m some sort of Chase Marino expert.

“There’s really nothing else to say,” I finally declare. “Seriously, I only see his apartment once a week. It’s not that exciting.”

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