“Talk to me, Cel.”
“It’s nothing,” I answered, not turning back to him.
“Cel,” he prodded. “Tell me.”
“I just feel bad about putting a crimp in your love life,” I said, which was dumb, but I needed to say something, and telling him how scared I was, when he knew already, seemed like a waste of breath.
“I have no dating life, you know that,” he replied with a yawn. “And besides, there’s nobody more important than you.”
I groaned, because really? Did he listen to himself? And the correction oflove lifetodating lifewas telling as well.
“Hey, look at me.”
Slowly, I turned so I could see his face. We’d stopped at a light, so he had a moment to give me his attention.
“I honestly believe Senan was the target. It was a clean shot from not a short distance, and looking through a scope, there’s no way anyone confuses you with Senan.”
“That’s true, he was taller than me.”
“And you have different hair color, musculature, and…not to speak ill of the dead, but Senan Weaver was not a handsome man.”
“And I am?” I blurted before my brain caught up with my mouth.
He snorted, eyes back on the road as the light changed. “Yeah, come on. You don’t need me to stroke your ego. You know you’re gorgeous.”
I stared at his profile as he drove. The lines of his face, his square jaw, straight nose, the crow’s feet were all beautiful but simple as well. What made up a face, the parts, all so insignificant, unremarkable, when broken down weren’t remotely extraordinary. But taken as a whole, all together, in Eli Kohn, his face was breathtaking.
I was head over heels for him, which was why I never spent consecutive days with him. The more time I was in his company, the more I wanted to put my hands all over him. Staying with him, in his home, was a terrible, terrible idea.
“You know, maybe we should think about having me stay at a—”
“If Senan had woken up this morning and chosen not to be an ass to you, then, in theory, he might still be alive.”
I was quiet because wouldn’t that be amazing, if that was how it turned out. That Senan being his normal asshole self was the reason he died and it had nothing to do with me.
“Wait, I missed something. What did you say? Did you say we should think about you not staying with me?”
“That’s not exactly what I—”
“The answer is absolutely not. You’re with me, and that’s final.”
“What if you’re in danger then?”
“If I thought I’d be in danger, I’d have gotten on a plane with you and entered WITSEC for a short time and been relocated.”
“You would?”
“’Course. Don’t be an idiot.”
“But what about your mother?”
“She’s on her cruise for the next two weeks,” he pointed out. “She wouldn’t even know we were gone.”
“But what if it went longer and—”
“This is stupid to talk about since that’s not what’s happening. I’m not in any danger. The killer who took the shot this morning is probably long gone. We’re looking for the guy who hired the man who pulled the trigger.”
“You’re not after the actual shooter?”