Page 46 of Do It With Me

20

HOLDEN

After another round of unexpected, but spectacular sex, I once again found myself in no great hurry to get away from her. I just stayed exactly where I’d collapsed, holding her in my arms and not even thinking about starting to come up with excuses about why I had to get up or she had to leave.

Honestly, my brain was as numb as my bones, that same sense of peace I’d felt after the last time sinking deep into me. There wasn’t a single part of me that wanted this to end.

Ellora naked in my bed was something I’d been fantasizing about and reality didn’t disappoint. Her red hair was a stark contrast against my crisp white sheets and the sight of her with the sun setting outside as a backdrop was something that would officially be burned into my retinas.

Meanwhile, she lay there tracing idle circles on my chest with her soft fingertips, the sheets tangled around her bare legs. Neither of us said anything as we caught our breath, but when she finally looked up at me, I knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

“I should head home soon. I can’t be gone all night.”

“Your mother?” I asked, doing my best not to betray my disappointment.

She nodded, her eyes flicking away from mine as her body tensed slightly. “Yeah. Her health isn’t great right now.”

She didn’t elaborate and I didn’t press. Whatever she was carrying, it was heavy enough without me jumping on top of it. That much was clear.

Still, I could tell something was weighing on her. The light that usually danced behind her eyes had dimmed a little and she seemed down suddenly, like the bravado she’d been using to hold herself up before had all but worn off.

I brushed my thumb over her knuckles and pulled my head back to look at her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She hesitated, then sighed, her gaze on the view outside my window instead of mine as she started quietly explaining. “My business has just been having some money issues lately. I know I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now, but it’s been rough and it’s hard to just forget about it.”

Finally, there it was. The thing she’d been avoiding saying out loud since the moment I’d met her. I’d suspected, of course, but it was a relief that she was taking me into her confidence about it now.

It also didn’t sound like she wanted pity. Strangely, it kind of struck me more as another kind of release. Just a different kind, like saying it out loud might make it less suffocating after weighing on her for so long.

“What kind of issues?” I asked carefully. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but if you do, I want to listen.”

She shrugged, pulling the sheet up a little higher around her chest. “It’s just typical small-business stuff, I guess. Rent. Supplies. Sales not being what they used to. I’ve been struggling a bit.”

I stared down at her. Even though she still wasn’t looking at me, I could see it on her face that this wasn’t just a bad week. It was the slow, grinding exhaustion that wore down even the strongest people over time.

“You’ve got a good head for business,” I offered gently. “You’ve proven that over and over again in class.”

“Thanks, but it’s not really translating that way in real life right now.”

I chuckled. “It often doesn’t until we make it happen.”

She glanced up into my eyes, curiosity creeping into hers as she held my gaze. “Okay, I’ll bite. How do I make it happen?”

“Why not give yourself a challenge?” I suggested. “No one can keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”

“What are you saying?”

I shrugged. “I’m saying you should consider a revamp of what you’ve been doing. If your old methods have grown stale but you still believe in your business, use some of those tricks we’ve talked about in class, like finding new markets and new ways to sell. See how far you can take it.”

Her lips twitched into a half smile. “A challenge, huh?”

“Exactly,” I said. “Low risk, high reward. You’ve got the passion. The stock. Just aim it somewhere fresh in a way that’s not going to cost you a bunch of money.”

For a second, I thought she might roll her eyes. Instead, she looked up at me with something almost like hope in her gaze. “Do you really think I’ve got what it takes to turn it around?”

“I don’t think,” I said. “I know. You’re resilient, Ellora. You’re smart. Hard-working. And you’ve got good instincts. Even when you’re guessing at things, you’re a lot more observant than you give yourself credit for. Trust those instincts.”

The strangest part of this post-coital pep talk was that I actually meant every word I was saying. I wasn’t just telling her these things for the hell of it or out of some sense of obligation in return for the pleasure of having slept with her.