Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
“More resources? I could see that,” I said. “I like working alone most of the time. But sometimes, I think it’d be nice to have a team. Somebody else’s brain to pick, you know?”
“Yeah, exactly.” He flashed a quick grin. “Though so far I’ve been dodging the assignments that require a suit.”
I snorted at this. I understood the joy of not having to wear a suit to work, too.
“What’s your specialty?” I asked, trying not to imagine Eli in a suit. As good as he looked in his T-shirt and cargo pants, I’d bet he’d be incendiary in a suit.
“What do you mean?” he asked, obviously playing dumb.
I didn’t dignify his feigned question with a glare. “Well, you work in private security. I’m assuming you have a military background?”
His eyebrow shot up. “What makes you guess that?”
“Statistical probability. And something about the way you carry yourself.”
He nodded. “You’re not wrong. I was Army. A Ranger. Explosives are my thing. I’m not too bad with a keyboard, but not like Emmett or Maddox or—” He cut himself off.
I’d hit a wall, I could tell, so I let it go. I wasn’t going to find out Eli’s secrets by asking for them, but I wanted to keep talking. I liked being alone, and I was choosy about who I hung out with. But even when he was being grumpy, Eli was better company than I’d had in a long time. “What else do you like, other than hacking and blowing shit up?”
“Mostly it’s stopping things from blowing up, but either way.” The grin he flashed me went all the way to his eyes, lighting them from within.
Hot. Definitely hot. Even if the topic wasn’t.
“I wish you’d been around when that guy was under my van,” I said, knowing even if he had, everything had happened too fast to stop it.
His smile faded. “Yeah, me too,” he said in what I thought was total honesty. “I’m just glad you weren’t inside.”
“Agreed.” I grabbed another rib from the plate between us. We chewed in companionable quiet for a full minute.
“I’ve handled protection before,” Eli said after swallowing. “Not my favorite thing. I usually try to avoid direct client interface.”
I thought for a moment about what he was really saying. “You like digging into the work versus customer service.”
“That’s one way to put it,” he said.
“And I’d bet working with clients means you have to put on that suit you hate,” I smirked at him. I didn’t have a thing for expensive-looking men, but something about Eli’s raw masculinity wrapped in a refined suit was intriguing.
Okay, it was more than intriguing; it was flat-out hot.
“That has something to do with it,” Eli admitted.
“I don’t love getting dressed up either,” I said, “though I’ve learned wearing the right clothes can get questions answered. It’s funny what putting on some reading glasses and a blazer and twisting my hair up will do to make me seem authoritative enough to talk to.”
“Like a costume,” Eli said.
“Exactly.”
For a moment, we smiled at each other in complete accord. Based on that one moment of unity, I tried again. “What’s the plan? What do we do next?”
“You stay here behind that locked door,” Eli said flatly.
I shook my head. “I didn’t agree to be imprisoned. This is my investigation too. Even more so now that they tried to kill me after they killed Emily.”
Eli sucked in a breath, and for a second, I thought he was going to argue. Instead, he shut it down, exhaling slowly, reaching for a white cardboard tray of hush puppies. He popped one in his mouth and chewed slowly, sending the very clear message that my question would not be answered. Irritating, but not unexpected. I let it go, already making a plan.
“I’m going to go to bed early,” I said. “After I spend an hour or two downloading software and setting up the new laptop.”
“All right. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, a little too quickly and easily. It was clear he was relieved I wasn’t pushing back more.
“Sure,” I agreed just as easily, taking myself down the hall.
I was fairly sure that if they did have cameras inside the safe house, they weren’t in the bathroom. That seemed a little skeevy for a company like Sinclair Security, especially since the safe houses were designed for their own clients.
I took my pajamas into the bathroom and changed after washing my face and brushing my teeth. I folded the clothes I’d been wearing and hid them in the cupboard under the sink. I doubted Eli would go digging around under there, but just in case, I slid them between two folded towels, noting that there were plenty of towels hanging next to the shower.
With that, I tucked myself into bed, turned off the lights, pulled up a video on my phone, and tried to catch a nap.