“Elliot?”
Catherine stood in the open doorway, waiting for me to say something. The problem was, I’d been rendered speechless. The Catherine I knew was buttoned up to her neck, hair tied back, conservative, and almost modest in her style.
The woman in front of me was barely dressed. Her shorts stopped at the top of thick, creamy, tattooed thighs. Her tank top didn’t cover any more of her. Her breasts nearly spilled out of the low neckline, belly button peeking out from the gap above her shorts. Her bare arms were covered in colorful tattoos from wrist to shoulder.
Her hair, which was always tamed into submission, spilled around her shoulders and neck in a violent riot. It wasn’t curls like I’d always suspected, but wild, licking, wavy flames that shot out in all directions.
I met her eyes, which were wide with alarm, and finally found my voice.
“This isn’t what you look like.”
Chapter Thirteen
Catherine
Elliot Levy was on my porch.
Elliot Levy was. On. My. Porch.
“Elliot?”
He stared at me for a long time. Unblinking, taking me in like he was trying to figure out who I was. Seeing as he had shown up at my home, it made no sense whatsoever.
I stared back. His ebony hair was tousled like he’d been running his fingers through it all morning. His plush mouth molded into a frown, pulling the rest of his face down with it, a deep crevice forming between his brows.
My chest panged. I’d missed him, but that didn’t seem right. How could I have missed this unyielding, deadly-serious man?
My jumbled-up emotions were tricking me.
It had been a rough day. Joey-Girl was perfection, but everything else was in shambles.
She still hadn’t gotten into any of the day cares, and I was feeling the weight of really having to put her in one of my drawers when I went back to work.
Even heavier on my mind was my house. I couldn’t sell it in the condition it was in, and I had to. I absolutely had to, or I’d be so screwed. But I was in no position to do all the work that had to be done, nor did I have the money to buy the supplies. I’d thought about calling my parents more and more often, and I hated the very idea.
I’d let myself cry while Joey slept. It was the only thing I could do when none of my efforts were making a difference and it felt like I was constantly swimming upstream.
And now this.
Him.
His eyes met mine, and I hoped they weren’t as puffy and red as they felt.
His frown deepened. “This isn’t what you look like.”
My mouth fell open, but I knew exactly what he meant. I wasn’t dressed up like Catherine. Elliot was getting a view of Kit, and he didn’t know this girl.
“Ah—I don’t know what to say to that. This is me when I’m not in the office.” I cocked my head, playing off the fact that I was standing in front of my boss in barely more than underwear. They were clothes from before my pregnancy. They’d been snug then. I was much, much curvier now and all too aware I was spilling out of them.
I shouldn’t have answered the door.
“Sorry. You’re right.” His words were tight. His cheeks flushed like they did when he was pissed at me. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Why are you on my porch?”
“I’ve come for the schematics.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks and rocked on his toes like he was preparing to make a run for it.
“I told Daniel to send a messenger. Was he too frightened to tell you that?”
“No, he told me. It was easier for me to come for them myself.” His frown had flattened into a hard line. “Is this how you always answer the door, Catherine?”
“No one ever comes to my door, Elliot.” His unwavering stare pricked at my bare skin. I’d always been so careful to cover my tattoos at work, but all that effort of finding conservative, nunlike clothing had been thrown out the window. He was seeing way more of me than I’d ever wanted to show him.
“Anyone could see you like this.”
I glanced left and right. The sidewalks were empty. “No one is around. I think I’m safe.”
I crossed my arms under my breasts, thinking better of it when his gaze homed in on my propped-up cleavage.
My fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, and I gripped the edge of the door. I wasn’t afraid of Elliot. It was the situation. I hadn’t prepared myself to see him. “I’ll go find them. It might take me some time since everything’s sort of a mess right now.”
Understatement. But he didn’t need to know about the hellhole on the other side of the door.
“I can wait,” he said.
“Great.”
I moved back to close the door in his face, but Elliot stepped inside, taking it as an opening. Then he took the door from me and shut it behind him.
Instant panic climbed up my throat. This was my shame. If he saw it, he’d know I’d let myself be taken in—that I’d been so desperate for a friend, someone to call my family, I’d trusted someone I shouldn’t have. Someone who was so unworthy of it, a blind person would have seen that.
“What are you doing?” I squeezed out.
“Waiting.”
“You should wait outside, I’m—”
He was already walking past me into the barren living room where I’d left Joey on her play mat.
Joey and I had spent a lot of time holed away in her room or mine, but I’d been going a little stir-crazy today, so I’d brought some blankets down to pad the rough subflooring and her mat for her to play on.
Today, of all freaking days.
Elliot crouched down beside my daughter, peering at her as she windmilled her arms and kicked her feet. He hadn’t said anything, so maybe the sight of my gorgeous daughter had blinded him to the wreckage surrounding her.
“Hello, Josephine,” he said softly. “Fancy seeing you here.”
I moved around them so I could see what he was doing. She clutched his index finger in her little fist, and he didn’t seem in a hurry to rip his hand away from her. Joey was a curious little creature, but she was gazing up at Elliot, her eyes wider than I’d ever seen them.
“She doesn’t see many people,” I explained. “You’re like a shiny new toy.”
“That’s understandable. Everything’s brand new for her.” He glanced at me. “She has an impressive grip for such a small person.”
“Everything she does is impressive.”
His brow winged. “Aren’t you a little biased?”
“More than a little.”
His mouth hitched at the corner. “Fair enough.” He jerked his chin. “Go find the schematics.”
I hesitated to leave them alone. I’d have to go upstairs and wouldn’t be able to see them.
His head tilted. “You can leave her with me. I’m not going to steal her. What would I do with a baby?”
“I—” I had nothing. There was no reason not to trust that Elliot wouldn’t abscond with Joey, and if she cried, I’d hear her. Besides, she was happy as a clam, and he didn’t seem to mind hanging out with her. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”