Page 16 of Ms Perfectly Fine
“Don’t mention it,” he said, like it was nothing. “Consider it a peace offering.”
“You don’t get to call for peace when you started the war,” she retorted, knowing he was merely trying to get on her good side.
“Suit yourself. I look forward to the next battle.” Elijah saluted before heading into his room, sliding the doors to the kitchen closed behind him.
“You shouldn’t be,” she said, staring at the closed door.If he wants to play pranks, then it’s only fair I return the favour.
Taking the pizza, she noticed lights on in the conservatory. She walked over to the glass doors and noticed that a new green couch had been added, along with a glass coffee table. The stone wall was decorated with strings of new fairy lights. A fresh floral smell met her senses, and she admired the brightly coloured hanging plants.They are pretty,she admitted. She loved flowers, but she didn’t have the time to maintain them; it was the same reason she didn’t have a pet.
It was so quiet that she was almost fooled into thinking that Elijah had left the house. She went to his door and considered thanking him for making the conservatory look so pretty, but she didn’t want to encourage him to stay, so she headed upstairs.
She’d planned to have a bath, but she didn’t have the energy to wait for the tub to fill. Instead, she stripped off her soaking, chilled clothes and stepped into the shower. Under the sound of the water, she let the heat soak into her muscles. Rubbing the tension from her shoulders from hours of playing, she vowed not to let Elijah continue to get under her skin. Then she thought of his hands rubbing her shoulders, the warmth radiating off him in the hall, and she opened her eyes.
I’m not going to be fooled by his muscles or charm,she thought, turning off the water. Dressed and snuggly in her favourite robe, she tried to ignore the music drifting up the stairs.I should have asked him to keep it off, but I’ll ignore him, and continue life as normal; confrontation is the last thing I want. I’m not going to let him run me out.
Climbing into bed, she opened the pizza box and ate happily. Warm and comfy, she was determined to have a better day tomorrow.
Chapter Five
Elijah
“MAYBE I SHOULDN’T have left her out in the rain. I didn’t know it was going to rain, and I didn’t plan on leaving her out there. Why didn’t I just open the damn door instead of winding her up?” Elijah scolded himself, throwing himself into his office chair.
He stared at the ceiling, hearing Autumn padding around upstairs. Though he’d wanted a reaction from her, he hadn’t been expecting his own. The rain coating her long, fair eyelashes and her pink, freckled cheeks, her green eyes ablaze as she watched him in the doorway—the memory brought a smile to his lips. Despite being delighted by her outrage as he’d watched her pick up her belongings, pathetically trying to protect herself with a well-loved cardigan, he couldn’t help but want to help her.
“I did let her in eventually. I’m sure she has some friend she could stay with if she really didn’t want to be here,” he said to himself, thinking of how her clothes had clung to her curves, outlining every part of her in a way that had made him want to reach out and grab her. Seeing her so drenched and miserable sparked some guilt; he hadn’t known it was going to rain heavily. He had meant to open the door when he saw her coming up the path, but it had been too good an opportunity to pass up.How was I to know she would look so good wet?He ran his hands through his hair, pushing the thoughts aside. Lingering on that memory was dangerous.
“At least she ate the pizza.” He realised how confusing his actions might appear to her. One minute he was locking her out, and the next, giving her dinner; his emotions towards her were givinghimwhiplash.
No tiny redhead is going to mess up my plans.
He lost himself in lines of code until he saw the clock hit four and his eyes felt like they were going to fall out of his head. His bed wasn’t made yet, so he collapsed onto the couch. The only blanket he could find was in the sitting area in front of the kitchen. He didn’t know why she was so upset with losing the front room when there was a couch and a TV in the open-plan kitchen.
It smelt like her. The whole damn house smelt like her.She’s inescapable.It was pastel yellow and furry.Where did she even find this? It looks like someone skinned Big Bird from Sesame Street.But he made do. With the computers off, his eyes delighted in the darkness.
“What the…?” Elijah cursed ina daze as music echoed through the wall.
He pulled the blanket over his head, trying to ignore Autumn’s playing, but it sounded like she was trying to kill her piano. The sheer speed of the notes vibrated in his ears.
“What is she playing at this ungodly hour?” he groaned, putting on his slippers. He stood too quickly, and speckles blurred his vision. Rubbing his eyes, he found his phone on the desk, then recoiled in horror.Two hours—I slept for two hours!
He opened the sliding doors to the kitchen to find Autumn scribbling something on a piece of paper on top of the piano.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his morning voice rough.
She didn’t even look up as she sipped from her mug. He walked over as she went back to playing and cleared his throat to get her attention, but she didn’t react.
Has she been possessed?Unable to resist, he pulled her stool out from the piano. Her head snapped around, her fair eyebrows pulled together in a scowl.
“What are you doing? I’m practising,” she growled, trying to pull herself back towards the keys.
There was no way he was letting her play, for both his and the piano’s sake. He turned her around to face him and pointed to the clock on the wall. “It’s six a.m. Your schedule on the fridge says you don’t have practice until nine.”
Autumn folded her arms across her chest. “If you had your own place, you wouldn’t have to worry aboutmyschedule,” she said, leaning forward until their faces were inches apart, neither one backing away. “That’s my work schedule, whichdoesn’t include my practice schedule.”
“I worked late—”
“And I rise early,” she countered.
