“Happilymarried. And you already know who you should be dating. You’re just being obtuse.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Whatshisname,” Eli began as we reached the car. “The civil-rights lawyer with the glasses who always sends you two dozen beautiful white roses.”
“You told him that?” she growled at me.
“He sees the flowers on opening night,” I retorted, scowling back. “Everybody knows the lawyer’s crazy about you. It’s not a secret.”
“It’s not?”
I was going to say something about her being as clueless as me, but the timing was wrong, so I stayed quiet.
Eli opened the back door, Luna got in, but I waited while Jer came around the car.
“What’re you supposed to do?”
“Stay home,” I replied miserably.
“Well, the good news is, we now know you’re for sure not in danger, so it’s okay that you’re out here, but you do hafta tell people where you’ll be. Especially Eli, since you guys are dating now.”
I looked over at Eli. “You told him?”
“Of course I told him,” he said irritably. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I just—I thought you’d keep it a secret.”
“Why would I keep it a—are you awake and alert? Did you have coffee or just booze?”
“He had booze and then coffee with booze in it,” Luna answered from the back seat. “We both did.”
His brows furrowed as he stood there glaring at me.
Taking a chance—it was all brand new—I stepped close, into his space, and stared up into the warmest brown eyes I’d ever seen in my life. “I’m sorry I left without telling you. I’ll call next time.”
And he did exactly as I’d hoped and bent and kissed me.
It wasn’t a friendly one; it was on my mouth, with a hand on the side of my neck. There was no tongue, and he didn’t deepen it, but he kissed me like he meant it, and I nearly swooned.
“Get in the car,” he ordered when he stepped back, and I realized something right then and there.
It was not going to be the kind of relationship that began with a boom of fireworks and passion and him hurling me down on a bed. It wasn’t going to be a summer blockbuster; it was going to be a slow-burn English arthouse film with verdant meadows and great scenery. It was a dance, a slow seduction, and I felt his desire for me simmering just below his cool, poised surface. It had always been there in the way he looked at me, wanted all my attention, and steered me away from others. Eli was not the kind of man who made the first move. If I thought about it longer than a second, I could recall that every woman he’d ever been with had made overtures first. And yes, he was a sexy, sleek, smooth-talking metrosexual, but he was also a gentleman, and a gentleman always waited and never pushed.
I knew how he was, who he was, but somehow I’d thought, if he wanted me, he’d go against his nature and sweep me off my feet. But that made zero sense. It was like the recognition of how it was going to be suddenly made things different for me, better, easier, and not filled, at all, with worry that I would mess up. I could just be me. I didn’t have to change or turn myself inside out. There was comfort in knowing Eli would see me, really see me and who I could be in his life when it was time. I’d made up my mind at first sight. That wasn’t his way. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t already mine. He was, and I could wait until he knew it as well.
“Get in the car, Cel,” Jer directed, and I realized I’d been standing there, lost in thought, while they stood in the light April rain.
Getting in, I slid over next to Luna so we were closer than we needed to be, but she needed some comfort. We were processing our grief over the loss of Senan, as in not feeling sorry that he was dead and not quite certain how to deal with that.
“So, what’s your lead?” Eli asked her.
“Well, there was a guy outside the CBC last week and then again yesterday, and when Senan crossed the street to go inside, the guy barred his path. He was yelling, and Senan was yelling, and then the guy did that whole pounding a finger into Senan’s chest, and then he left.”
“Can you describe him to a sketch artist?” Eli asked her, having turned around in the passenger seat to look at her.
“Actually, I snapped a pic of him and Senan, and one of his license plate.”
Eli turned to look at Jer, who only shrugged. He then shot me a look.