Chapter 3

And just like that, they were in the elevator riding down to the lobby in complete silence. Zoe did not know what to say when it was all over. He smoothly cleaned up and got dressed again, looking as though nothing had happened. She had frantically remembered that security would be walking the units any minute and she would be out of a job if they had any idea what just happened. He stood, watching her fumble through getting dressed, but he never said a word.

If he wasn't going to say anything, neither was Zoe. She had never been in a situation like this before and probably never would be again so it was best to just pretend nothing had happened. The elevator ride was the longest of her life. 25 floors to the bottom and she had never been so relieved to hear the ring of the bell indicating they were on the first floor.

She stepped out of the elevator and stopped. From here, he could go back to his car and she could go back to her office. There was no way he was going to rent the penthouse and there was no way she could make it through the usual sales spiel that happened at the end of these tours. So she stopped and turned to look at him, anxiously waiting to see what he would do.

He looked just like he did when she first saw him in her office: calm, serious, all business. He looked down to meet her eyes and Zoe felt it again, the ache for him, the longing.

"Thank you for the tour." He said and then he turned and walked towards the parking garage as if everything was completely normal, as if nothing had happened. She watched him walk through the glass doors to the parking garage, not that she expected him to turn around or say anything else. She just watched in disbelief that anything that had happened in the last thirty minutes was real.

She shook her head and turned towards her office. As she sat down to finish the data entry for all the clients she saw that day, panic set in. She didn't know his name. She didn't get a number. Cheryl, her boss, would be expecting to see his information in the computer system first thing in the morning.

"Shit." Zoe said to herself, shaking her head in frustration. He was long gone by now and this was the sort of rookie mistake that got people fired. What had she been thinking? Everything she had just done was wrong. She had sex with a stranger in the penthouse apartment. But she had never felt so alive. Nothing had ever felt like when he was inside her.

"Stop it." She said to herself, grabbing her cell phone to check if the girls were still at happy hour, she needed a drink. If she was going to get fired tomorrow she might as well have a few whiskeys tonight.

5 missed calls. 

15 missed texts. 

She scrolled through quickly to find the normal "Stop working! Come get a drink!" texts from the girls but of the missed texts and calls 10 of them were from her boss, Cheryl.

Cheryl:  David Moore is on his way to see the Penthouse RIGHT NOW. Check yourself in the mirror and call me as soon as he leaves. He is the biggest client we have ever had and if he rents here we will become the new "IT" property so make sure you are dressed to impress and call me!
Cheryl: Call me as soon as he walks out the door! I need to know how it went!
Cheryl: Corporate knows he is on his way, I need a report ASAP.
Cheryl: Call me.
Cheryl: You better not be calling me because he is signing paperwork. Call me as soon as he is gone! 

Zoe picked up the office phone and called Cheryl while entering the much needed name into the computer system: David Moore.

"Did he rent it?" Cheryl didn't even let the phone ring once before answering.

"He did not." Zoe said as calmly and professionally as she could. Panic rising in her that some how Cheryl would know from the sound of her voice that she had not exactly shown him the apartment but instead had the best sex of her life with him.

"Why not?" Cheryl practically yelled it into the phone. "Dammit, Zoe! As soon as I got the call I should have driven over and shown him the place myself!"

"He didn't have a lot of time, he seemed very rushed." Zoe lied. She couldn't exactly say that he was more interested in entering her than in entering a lease agreement.

"I'm sorry to snap. I am sure you did great. There are just a lot of people watching him and waiting to see where he moves in this neighborhood. Corporate has not stopped calling or texting me as soon as they found out he was there. Finish up the paperwork and head home. We will talk about this more in the morning." Zoe felt a flood of relief at the words "in the morning." She had time to make a plan and find a way out of this with her job and dignity intact.

"Thank you, Cheryl. Have a great night." Zoe almost sighed the words and then set the office phone down. She finished adding the name David Moore to the list of clients for the day and texted the girls as she grabbed her things to walk out the door.

Happy Hour Group Text: Ladies, I am on my way & I need Whiskey NOW!