Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Chapter 27
* * *
Hollis
“Can I help you, sir?”
A clerk caught me in the act of rubbing a pair of silk panties along my cheek. Yeah. That isn’t fucked up. Seriously, what had my life come to?
I’d gone to a high-end lingerie store to make good on my promise. I hadn’t originally planned to use my face as a testing mechanism. I’d just gotten carried away, imagining Elodie in them.
“No, thank you.”
“Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Uh...soft panties, particularly thongs,” I said in a low voice.
She walked to the other corner of the room. I followed her, briefly looking over my shoulder.
The woman opened a drawer and took out a lavender silk thong before handing it to me. “This is definitely our softest material.”
Threading it through my fingers, I said, “I’ll take one in every color.”
She leaned in and whispered, “Are they for you?”
Caught off guard, I said, “For me?”
“Yeah. You know, some men actually like to wear them on the downlow.”
She thinks I’m a cross-dresser?
“No. They’re for my...” I hesitated.
What the hell was Elodie to me? She wasn’t my girlfriend, but she was more than a friend or a casual fuck.
“They’re for my nanny.” I laughed at the word I’d ultimately settled on. Well, it was the truth, I suppose.
“Your nanny?”
“Yes.” I laughed. “A gift.”
“Well, she’s a very lucky girl. I used to nanny for a couple on the Upper West Side. I certainly never got fancy underwear.”
She put together a rainbow pile of thongs and carried them over to the register. She wrapped them in tissue paper and stuffed them into a pink bag.
Looking down at my credit card, she said, “Well, Mr. LaCroix, I hope your nanny enjoys her soft panties.”
“Oh, we will.” I smiled.
***
That afternoon, after I returned from my impromptu Sunday lingerie jaunt, Hailey called me from her neighbor friend’s apartment. She was supposed to be spending the day with Kelsie and sleeping over. It was the first time I’d ever specifically asked her to check with a friend to see if she could spend the night. What can I say? I was desperate to be with Elodie.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Change of plans tonight. I can’t sleep over at Kelsie’s anymore.”
Shit. “Why not?”
“Kelsie’s aunt went into labor. They have to drive to New Jersey.”
Well, there goes my babysitting. I was supposed to pick Elodie up at seven. I’d made reservations at the restaurant she wanted to go to in the Mandarin Hotel and arranged for a carriage ride afterward. Hailey, of course, wasn’t supposed to know. Now what? I wasn’t going to be able to find a sitter on such short notice. I chuckled to myself. Maybe if you weren’t dating the damn sitter, Hollis, you wouldn’t have this problem. Anyway, I’d been looking forward to seeing Elodie all day. I didn’t want to have to wait till next weekend.
“What time are you coming back?”
“They’re leaving soon. Probably in about fifteen minutes.”
I sighed. “Okay, kiddo. See you soon.”
Letting out a frustrated breath, I picked up the phone and dialed Elodie.
She picked up. “Hey.”
My tone seemed less than happy. “Hey.”
She could sense something was off. “What’s wrong?”
“So…I have a little problem.”
“Are you standing me up?”
“Fuck, no.”
“What happened?”
“I have Hailey tonight. Her plans fell through.”
“I thought she was sleeping over at Kelsie’s.”
“She was. But they had a family emergency. So she’s on her way back in a few minutes.”
Elodie blew a breath into the phone. “Shit. Okay. Well, that sucks. But it is what it is.”
Think. “I know you said you didn’t want Hailey to know anything. I think that’s wise…but I still really want to see you.”
“Well, what choice do we have?” She sighed. “We can’t.”
I rubbed my chin. “Maybe we can.”
“How?”
“Can you come to the city?”
“Of course, but she’s going to suspect something if I come over on a Sunday.”
I wracked my brain for a solution. “I’ll take her out somewhere. You can show up and pretend you just happened to run into us. I’ll take her shopping to get stuff to make dinner here. We need to go shopping anyway. When she sees you, I know she’ll beg you to come back home with us.”
“I’ve been telling her I want to check out the new gourmet place downtown, Victor’s Market,” she said. “Maybe I can have an intense urge for pickled artichokes that prompted me to board a train to the city on a lazy Sunday?”
“Perfect. Whatever. She’ll buy it if we make it look coincidental. How soon can you be here?”
“Ninety minutes?”
***
I spotted her before Hailey did. Elodie had a shopping basket hanging from her wrist as she perused the bread aisle. Her long, blond hair was tied into a low ponytail. Her little ears were exposed, and they looked bitable.
I wanted to bite her fucking ears now? Jesus. This woman made me lose my mind.