Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
I got out of the way and Hale looked right at me, like I had a homing beacon.
He then came right to me.
I opened my mouth to say something flippant, but the words died when he took hold of my elbow, muttering, “Good. You’re here. Let’s get this done.”
“Um…” I mumbled, pretty certain I would have remembered if Brandi told me Hale would be showing me the space personally.
Hale, using my elbow along with his natural charisma, guided me into the building, and to my alarm, I believed I saw not one, not two, but three people taking pictures of us with their phones as he did it.
“Hale—” I started.
But, as was becoming familiar, I was not able to finish.
This was because a woman with a helmet of teased hair and lips that had to have been recently injected, wearing a Chanel suit, fell on us the moment we made our entrance.
“Mr. Wheeler, right on time!” she said. She then looked at me and her eyes grew huge. “Oh my God. You’re Elsa Cohen.”
This had started happening about two years ago. At first, I was thrilled. Then, I was concerned, because it seemed weirdly unethical that someone who could be considered a minor celebrity was reporting on celebrity news.
Now, I was used to it. It didn’t happen often, and Lord knew, I couldn’t control it.
“Yes, I—”
Again, I didn’t finish.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “Is this space for your show? I heard you’re talking to Netflix.”
I wasn’t talking to Netflix.
But she wasn’t far off.
“Can you please show us the suite?” Hale put in, still with his long fingers wrapped around my elbow. “Elsa and I are both in a time crunch.”
“Of course, of course. Let’s hit the elevator,” she replied.
Hand still on my elbow inside my trench, thus it was skin to skin, Hale led me to the elevator.
Fortunately, before I felt the need to pull away, he let me go.
But the heat of his hold remained.
I ignored that and took off my sunglasses. I then watched Hale’s thumbs fly over the keyboard on his phone. I gave into the urge, switched perspectives, and watched a muscle flex along his strong, stubbled jaw.
I felt a quiver somewhere private.
Yep, that was what you got when you had no willpower.
I forced my eyes to detach from that glory and dug in my tote to find my glasses case.
The elevator let us out on the twelfth floor, and the woman, who hadn’t introduced herself, turned right, then left, and opened the second door down the hall with a code.
She walked in, flipping on lights.
She then immediately went into her shpiel.
“Twenty-five-hundred square feet. Two windowed offices, a conference room and large storage. Kitchenette. Interior bathroom with shower. Soundproofed studio through there,” she pointed at a naked, glassed-in space that was the size of my entire studio. “Production suite attached. And of course,” she lifted her hands out to her sides, “expansive reception area. All furnished.”
This was about two thousand square feet more than I needed, and the furnishing was not to my taste. It was modern and clean-lined, but utilitarian. The views were into the windows of the next building.
And it was altogether fabulous.
“Month to month lease, with the property-owner giving you thirty days to vacate if he finds a long-term lessee,” she stated.
Hale was looking at me, and when I caught his gaze, he asked, “Well?”
“Can we talk privately?” I asked.
“Of course, I’ll just—” the realtor began.
It was her turn to be interrupted as Hale reached to me, this time grabbing my hand, and he took me into the soundproofed studio.
The door closed behind us, he let go and faced me. “I don’t have a lot of time, Elsa. Will this work?”
“I thought I only needed it for a week.”
“I’m renting it for the month. Use it for a week, the entire month, I don’t care. I just need to know if it’ll work.”
Would it work?
Absolutely.
Splendidly.
Magnificently.
Would it make it incredibly hard to go back to our cramped, tiny space in a dodgy area of Brooklyn?
One hundred percent yes.
“Of course it’ll work.”
“Perfect,” he muttered, looked beyond me, thorough the windows, and jutted his chin up to the realtor.
She beamed.
I guessed for men like Hale, something like this could be just like that. I had no idea how much one month’s rent on this suite would cost, but I had a feeling my insides would shrivel if I found out.
“Hale, it’s unnecessary for Chuck and me to work in a facility like this,” I pointed out.
His attention came back to me and all thoughts of the price tag on this suite flew out the window.
I hadn’t realized how close we were standing, and dear God…
I’d never seen eyes that color green.
“I don’t have hours to waste in finding something you can use. Brandi doesn’t either. If this works, then the deal is done.”