Page 74 of Elevate With Me

I blow-dried my hair, rubbed oil into my curls, then stared at my black eye again. Not pretty, not even close. It looked horrific. Glen agreed once I came out of hiding and joined her in the kitchen.

“Yuck! That’ll stop anyone from luring you into their bed,” she commented. “That’s still the plan, right?”

She was the one at the stove this time, since I’d given up on trying. Nothing healthy on the pan, either. It was pancakes. Knowing Glen, they were most likely sugar bombs, too. Today, I didn’t really mind.

I huffed. “That was never the plan.”

“Of course, it was. That’s what the sexy lingerie is for, remember?” Glen gave me a pointed look. “The one that made you look like a goddess of desire and virtue.”

“It did not.”

“Oh, it did, trust me. And Luke will agree with me once he sees you in it.”

I shook my head. “Only, I’m terrible at flirting and now also horrible to look at.”

“We could try to cover that up a little.”

Because that didn’t scream: insecurities! Luke knew I had a black eye, hiding it would be—I don’t know, it just didn’t feel right.

“Um, no. Just forget about it. I just need his phone number, or email, or something.” I rubbed my face—the side that didn’t hurt to touch—and stuck my lower lip out like a child. “Actually, I haven’t a clue what I’m doing.”

Glen flipped a pancake before she turned towards me. “Yes, you do. You’re going to put that lingerie we bought on and show up on Luke’s doorstep tonight, and then you’ll blow his mind.”

“Or he’ll blow mine.”

“As long as someone gets blown, I think it’ll go great.”

An hysterical laugh bubbled out of my throat. “There are so many things wrong with this plan.”

“You’ll be brilliant.” Glen dropped the pancake on my plate and started another one.

Tentatively, I ripped a strip from the corner and nibbled at it. Definitely sweeter that you’d expect, but edible. I squeezed some lemon juice on the rest to counter the sugar, then rolled it up, and bit into it like a sandwich.

“I should let you cook more often,” I mumbled while chewing.

“No,” Glen refused. “This is a one-time service because you are down. Once you’re up and well again, you’ll be back to making woks and whatnot.”

“And whatnot,” I parroted. “You hated all of those.”

“You just need some practice. Just like with flirting.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and tapped a finger against her lips, then licked it. “And other things.”

“Stop it!” I groaned. “I am not even in the same league as you when it comes toother things.”

Glen laughed. “Like I said. Practice. I bet Luke will allow you to practice on him.”

“What will you bet?”

Glen ignored my scrunched-up, focussed face as I tried to morph it into a semblance of raised eyebrows. It wasn’t working. “Next month’s rent?”

“I’ll be paying for it anyway.”

“Okay, fine. Cooking for the entire next week.”

“Two,” I countered.

“Fine,” Glen huffed. “But you’d better work for it. Because if I hear you didn’t even try, the deal is off.”

“Fine.”