Page 74 of Elevator Pitch

He approaches with piercing green eyes that appear to look through me. I reach out my hand to greet him in a shake, and he stares at it as he crosses his arms over his chest instead. Then starts littering me with questions about myself. I part my lips to answer when she interjects.

“Don’t interrogate him,” she orders while taking a bite of a chocolate croissant. Her eyes close as she savors it. “He brought me breakfast,” she exclaims with her mouth full.

He glares at me with a raised brow and asks, “How do you know about the sweets?”

“I came by yesterday with cinnamon rolls and she asked me to come back here with more treats. So here I am. Can’t say I recall you being here. I would’ve remembered that.”

His glare is unwavering, but he reaches out his hand for me to shake, introducing himself.

“I’m Audrey’s bodyguard, Eric. I’ll admit I’m not always this rude. That’s Audrey’s job.”

She snorts while eating.

“I’m not rude, I prefer the term assertive.”

He grabs a croissant, eyes widening when he takes a bite.

“Shit,” he says, stunned. “How were those rolls yesterday? Good?”

She nods assuredly and takes a sip of her coffee.

“I think we gotta keep this guy around. He’s spoiling us.”

“If you had stayed asleep, we could have enjoyed these without having to share.”

I reach into the bag and remove a small box, lifting the top to reveal a slice of fresh cream cake.

“Whoa,” they say in unison, causing me to glance up.

Eric opens a drawer; I hear clanking and he returns to his spot with three forks. He gives a suggestive look, to which I nod and they quickly move towards me, dispersing the forks. They each carve into the slice, shove it into their mouths and assess. I glance over at them and he inhales deeply, relaxing his grumpy face and Audrey wears a smile.

“Is there more?”

“Of course,” I say.

Eric damn near knocks her over as he rushes to the other side of the island to retrieve the box.

“You’re sharing with me,” he says to her, leaving no room for argument.

She huffs in response. They dig their forks into a slide of their own.

“I’m glad you are enjoying it. It’s called fresh cream cake. I got them from a Korean bakery on West 32nd St.”

“Cake is my favorite thing in the world. Do you know how to make these by chance? I’d love to learn. Baking keeps me from—” she trails off. “Baking keeps me from harming people.”

Eric starts to laugh and breaks out into a fit of coughs. She reaches for his back and he raises his hand to signal he’s okay, coughing a bit more before grabbing a sip from Audrey’s mug.

“Stubborn ass.”

“I was going to saybullshitbefore I started choking there.”

“Don’t embarrass me in front of company,” she advises.

“I’m certain you threatened him. Am I right?” He looks expectantly at me.

“Well,” I draw out the word. “Yes.”

“And you still came back? Maybe youaregood for Selah. You don’t scare easily.”

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