Just One Week (Just One Song) Read Online Free

drained. All I want to do is take a bath, have a glass – or four – of wine, and not even think of packing for my trip to Los Angeles.
    I don’t live in the best building in New York. It’s halfway between Central Park and the Garment District, and I leased it for the location alone. It’s definitely not pretty by any means and it lacks what a lot of higher scale places have, like a doorman, but it’s safe enough and my neighbors are quiet. It works for me though. Today, I notice that the hall is dark, the brick is crumbling, there’s a stale smell of some Asian food wafting through the door … and there’s a man sitting in the hallway outside my apartment.
    Very few men in my life can overwhelm a crowded hallway like this man can. He’s sitting with his back up against my door, one leg straight out and the other bent. He stretches across almost the entire hallway and he’s bobbing his head to music, I assume, based on how his fingers are tapping out a beat on his bent knee and straight thigh.
    The man is just magnificent. He’s sexy as hell and my heart instantly starts racing. Why is he here?
    Chase doesn’t notice me until my shadow falls over him. Slowly, he looks up and the back of his head rests against my door as his eyes slowly trail up the length of my body. Normally this move would make me feel all sorts of wonderful, but I’ve had a really shitty day and I’ve been avoiding Chase for months.
    He flashes me his easy-going, slightly crooked smile. He has a thick head of short, light brown hair.
    “You have hair.” I close my eyes and realize it’s about the dumbest thing I could possibly say. He’s always had it shaved completely off, his bald head slick and smooth to my touch.
    “You okay? You look like shit.”
    Six months ago, I would have laughed at Chase for criticizing my appearance. Mostly because I would have known he was joking. Today, I can imagine what he sees. Lime green heels that don’t exactly match my outfit, but they were the only extra pair I had in my desk drawer. My skirt and silk shirt are both wrinkled, my hair is probably wild and stringy from me nervously running my fingers through it in the cab ride home, and I’m sure my nose is red and my mascara is smeared from the tears I finally allowed to fall once I was safely seated in the taxi cab.
    “Nice to see you, too. What are you doing here?” I juggle my box and rest it on my hip.
    He blinks and his smile disappears. I figure he sees the scowl on my face and realizes I’m not exactly in the mood to play today.
    “If you let me in, I’ll tell you.” He asks, but as he’s doing it, his muscular frame uncurls from the floor and he quickly stands up next to me. With outstretched hands, he silently asks to take my box from me.
    I frown for a split second before handing it over. Since he’s here he might as well make himself useful. I pause before putting my key in the lock to my apartment and watch him, wondering if he’s going to ask me why I haven’t returned any of his calls over the last six months. Or why I ignored the fact that he sent me flowers on my birthday a month ago. But he stays just as still as me, a strange, blank look on his face.
    Finally, when I realize he isn’t going to say anything, I wave him, and the box I can’t wait to trash, inside my apartment.

 
     
    “What is this?” Chase’s dark gray eyes drop to the contents of my uncovered box from hell and then he looks at me, wide-eyed and angry. “You lost your job?”
    I nod and close the door once he’s inside, setting my five locks firmly into place.
    “It’s been a pretty shitty day,” I admit, and he follows me into the kitchen. “Just set it over on the table, please.”
    I offer a glass of wine to Chase and he shoots me a look that essentially says no man as manly as him would ever drink a glass of pink wine. Lucky for him, I have beer too, so I pop the top off a Heineken and slide it his way.
    “Thanks,” he says after