P.S. You're Intolerable (The Harder They Fall, #3)(48)

Even Elliot had conceded Freddie was wonderful.

That hadn’t stopped him from installing security cameras that linked to both our phones in all the living areas, though. He trusted Freddie, but only so far.

Although it was overkill since we wouldn’t be living with him long term, inwardly, I was relieved to have a way to check in on my girl throughout the day.

This was day one, and so far, so good. I’d ripped myself away from Joey-Girl with only a couple tears—and that had mostly been because she’d seemed content to hang with Freddie.

Elliot had gone to the gym first thing in the morning, so we’d driven to the office separately.

Getting back to my routine was like riding a bike. I wrote out his schedule as always, but when I got to the bottom, I hesitated.

I didn’t have a scathing postscript to write. That might change tomorrow, but for now, Elliot was on my good side in a huge way. He was more than tolerable. In fact, I liked him.

I wasn’t really sure what we were. Not really boss and employee, and calling us roommates would have been a stretch. We weren’t quite friends, but we almost were.

I guessed we were some strange amalgamation of all those things, yet none of them at the same time.

At the bottom of his schedule, I wrote out my postscript.

P.S. I hope your pillow is cool tonight.

I sliced it off, pleased with what I’d come up with. Tomorrow, I might return to scathing, but for today, I was feeling generous.

The envelope was right where I’d left it, but I didn’t feel right adding this slip of paper with the others, so I fished out a new one and stashed it on top of the old one.

Right on time too, because Davida and Raymond were charging toward my desk.

“You’re back,” Davida announced. “Thank god you’re back. Poor Daniel.”

Raymond pulled me out of my seat to give me a squeeze. “Welcome, welcome, now where is Angel McChunk-Cheeks? Who have you left her with, and why wasn’t I consulted?”

Grinning, I grabbed my phone and turned on the screen that showed the living room. Freddie was walking around with Joey in one arm, pointing to things in the room. I turned on the sound, and Freddie’s sweet singing voice filtered through.

“This is the window, pretty girl, smart girl. This is the light, strong girl, wise girl. This is the light switch, sweet girl, brave girl.” And she kept going with each object she pointed to.

Raymond raised his hands. “Okay, I get it. You hired the top of the line for our angel. I forgive you for not asking me if I wanted the job.”

I scoffed. “It isn’t like I could afford you, Ray.”

He pointed at me. “True. You definitely can’t.”

Davida took the phone from me to watch the screen. “Can I have a nanny who walks around with me singing affirmations all day?”

Raymond crossed his arms. “Did you just come up with a business idea?”

I giggled. Man, I hadn’t missed much about work, but I’d missed them. I hadn’t seen them enough over the last few weeks since moving in with Elliot.

“I don’t know if that’s really a business plan with wings. What if we just compliment each other?” I quipped. “Davida, your new haircut is looking mighty fly.”

She fluffed the bottom of her razor-sharp bob. “Thank you, darling. Your return has brightened up this dull place.”

“Why, thank you, Davida.” I turned to Raymond. “The brief you sent me to proofread was really good. The lack of grammatical errors was incredibly sexy.”

He did a dramatic bow. “My mastery of commas is unmatched.”

“Raymond doesn’t need a compliment nanny. He gives them to himself,” Davida drawled.

“Damn right,” he agreed.

A hush fell over the space around us, which could have only meant one thing: Elliot was here. Davida and Raymond moved to the side of my desk so we could all watch him slice through the air of the hallway like his body was a samurai sword. Swish, swish, he made ribbons of the distance between us, stopping in front of my desk.

“Davida, Raymond.” He nodded to them.

They greeted him in return then made hasty retreats to their desks.

“Good morning, Elliot.”

“Good morning, Catherine. Before we have our meeting, I’d like to show you something.”

“Okay.” I pushed back from the desk and circled around to where he stood. “I’m intrigued.”

He placed his hand on the center of my back and guided me to a door next to his office. He went in first, flipping on the light, and I didn’t understand what I was seeing.

What had once been a storage space was something else entirely now. In the middle of the room was a thick, cream-colored rug and two plush armchairs. In one corner sat a small, stainless steel fridge. A TV was mounted on the wall, and there were speakers in the corners.

“What is this?” I asked.

“A pumping room.”

“But there’s one downstairs. I don’t need anything special.”

He shook his head. “You don’t have to share now. I had the space available. It wasn’t any trouble to convert it into a room for you. If it’s not suitable, tell me, and I’ll have the necessary changes made.”

“Of course it’s suitable,” I rushed out, moving deeper into the room. I sat down on one of the armchairs and sighed. “This is almost as comfortable as my desk chair. You might have to pry my sleeping body out of here.”