Page 42 of We Own Tonight
Eli stands there in his mirrored aviators, white T-shirt, and dark blue board shorts. His dark hair is pushed to the side, and if I thought he was hot before, today he’s on fire. In front of me is the man who every woman drools over. He drips with sexappeal.
And today, he’s mydate.
“Morning.” I let his husky voice wash over me and try not to let it fry mynerves.
“Goodmorning.”
“I’m glad to see you’reawake.”
I smile. “You never told me a time, but I get up early even on my daysoff.”
It isn’t a total lie, but I never would be awake at four in themorning.
Eli pulls his shades down and grins. “Youready?”
That’s a loaded question. I’m ready in terms of being dressed, but ready to go on a date with him? No, not even a little bit. I’m not ready for any of this. I’m terrified of what today could leadto.
However, I’m more afraid of walking away and regretting thismoment.
Instead of telling him any of that, I nod. “Iam.”
“Good.”
“Can you tell me where we’re going?” This is the only part of this whole thing that has memystified.
“Nope,” Eli says, his eyes dancing withmischief.
“Okay,” I draw out the last syllable. “What do I need tobring?”
“Nothing.”
This is so not how I function, but I’ve decided to go with him today, so I need to let it go. I grab my purse, leaving my gun in the safe, and try not to get lost in hissmile.
He holds his hand out, and I take it, knowing that today, I’m going to let himlead.
The black Bentley is nowhere to be seen. Today, he walks me to a gray Audi Q5 sitting in front of the house. He opens the door, and I climb in. When he sits beside me, I can’t help but look at himagain.
His scruff is growing in, giving him a darker look than the first time we met. I like this so muchmore.
Eli’s head turns, and I quickly look away. When my eyes shift back again, it’s clear he caughtme.
“So, how many cars do you have?” I ask after the silence between us has stretched to almostuncomfortable.
“Afew.”
“A few like three or a few likethirty?”
Eli smiles, focusing on the road. “Somewhere in the middle ofthat.”
I shouldn’t be surprised, his net worth is on Wikipedia, but still. It’s hard to comprehend that he makes my yearly salary in aweek.
Needing to shift topics again, I go with a safer question. “What was in NewYork?”
“I had to sign a new contract.AThin Blue Linewas renewed for anotherseason.”
“Oh, that’s awesome!” I heard rumblings on a few of the news outlets that the show might get dropped. “I really hope you’re finally able to get a new partner. I don’t know why they keep pushing that story line. Tina is not a good match for Jimmy. Brody and I have been riding together for almost seven years, and I would punch myself in the face before I ever kissed him. The show needs to give Jimmy a woman who he saved or something. That would be an interesting plot. Also, your brother on the showhasto stop sleeping with that model. Twitter went nuts when he went back to her. She’s abitch.”
Eli’s gaze shifts to mine, and he chuckles. “I thought you didn’t watch theshow.”
