Page 26 of Hiding for the Holidays
When he finally pulls over in front of my building, I jump off as fast as I can, before I do something embarrassing like hump him or caress his abs.
He steps off and stares at me intently. “You want me to come up with you? Make sure it’s safe?”
I shake my head quickly. I would be mortified if he saw my room. It’s bad enough that he knows I live here.
He sighs heavily and nods. “I’ll pick you up at 8:40 tomorrow.”
“Oh, you don’t have to drive me to work.”
“Yes, I do,” he says firmly as he steps closer, his eyes boring into mine as he pulls his helmet from my grasp. “What floor are you on?”
“The first,” I whisper, feeling some crazy tension settle between us.
“Do you have a phone?”
I shake my head.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell. He grabs my hand and places his phone in my palm, curling my fingers around it and pressing it against my chest. “The password is eight six four two. If anything scares you or someone tries to break in, you call Grant or Leo.”
“Asher, I can’t take your phone!” I try to give it back but he presses it back towards me.
“Just for tonight. I’ll pick one up for you tonight.”
“No, you really don’t have to?—”
“Clara…” he says in warning, making me stop my protests. “Let me do this. It’s the very least I can do. Unless you’ll reconsider and come home with me?”
I know he’s referring to the offer of a room that Grant mentioned earlier, but the way he words it makes it sound intimate, and my mouth goes dry, so I shake my head, feeling like I've lost the ability to speak. He’s still standing far too close, and the smell of his jacket leather mixes with something slightly citrus as I try to break the spell between us.
“Now, be a good girl and go straight to your room and lock the door,” he says before quickly kissing my forehead and stepping back. “Text one of them you’re okay before you fall asleep.” I feel my cheeks heat, and he smirks, then pulls the helmet down over his head, blocking his tempting face from me.
I quickly spin and run to the front door, pulling it open and stepping inside. I see he’s still looking in my direction, and I quickly make my way down the hall to my room, securing the chair tight under the door handle before I flop down on my bed.
“Dear Lord, that man’s trying to kill me.”
Chapter 10
Rosalie
“Wow, you’ve really spruced this place up,” Matt says as he looks around the gym with wide eyes.
“You like it?” I ask hopefully. He seems to be one of their few frequent customers and I really hope it's a place he wants to spend more time in.
“Yeah, it’s awesome,” he says as he walks the natural pathway we’ve created between the machines. “This is dope; it’s going to be so much easier to do my circuit now.”
I smile and head back to the front as he wanders through the space, noting where everything is.
The reception desk arrived two days ago, and I’ve finally got it arranged just the way I want it. I’ve even got a tablet setup to have customers sign in. It doubles as a way of adding new clients to the system. It allows us to automatically add their emails to a list so we can send out reminders or news about special events.
That reminds me of the Christmas event I want to organize.
“Hey, this looks great!” Leo says as he comes to admire mywork. “Oh! Are those our business cards?” he asks, grabbing one on the display to inspect it.
“Yep.”
“Wow, the logo you designed came out great. You’re really talented, you know that?”
“Thanks,” I say shyly.
