Page 18 of Colton's Second Chance
Eli looked unconvinced but clapped both hands on his thighs as he pushed his chair back and rose. “So, I’m going to provide you a copy of my whole case file and see what your magic little computer comes up with.”
She cast him a side glance as she shut down the computer program. “It’s not magic. It’s math. Science. Facts rearranged and viewed in new light.”
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. In the close quarters of the chairs and desk, she ended up pressed against his body. “Call it what you will, but I want more.”
She inhaled his pine scent and savored the hard planes and sculpted sinew of his body. The warmth he radiated both from his skin and his smile.I want more, too.
“Can you stop by the ABI office in the morning to pick up the files? Give me until at least ten. There’s a lot of copying to do, even if that’s just sending it all to a jump drive for you.”
“Sure. That gives me time to do my yoga and go by that bookstore before I come in.”
He drew back slightly and lifted an eyebrow. “You practice yoga?”
“Yeah. Have for some years. I love it.”
“My brother Mitchell is dating a—what would you call her—a yogini?” He flapped a dismissive hand. “Anyway, Dove has a yoga studio in town. I’ll give you the address if you want to take a class with her.”
She shrugged. “Why not?”
Because the last thing you need is to become more entangled with Eli and his family before you leave town. Connecting with his family will only serve to remind you what you never had, with the chance that died with Allison.
Noelle curled her fingers into her palms. She really needed to find that pesky naysaying voice in her head a hobby. Maybe it could take up crochet?
“All righty then,” Eli said, stretching his back and angling his chair to face her. “I did as I promised. Now it’s your turn.”
Noelle’s pulse jumped. “What do you mean?”
“You promised you’d tell me what happened in college that changed your feelings about me.”
Eli drilled Noelle with an even stare, determined to get answers from her. He’d lived with questions and an aching heart for all these years, and he wasn’t going to let this chance to find the truth get away.
Noelle dropped her gaze to her hands. “I told you, you were never the problem.”
“Then whatwasthe problem? You never gave me an answer better than you couldn’t be with me.” He tried, and likely failed, to keep his hurt and residual frustration out of his tone. “You said that we were too different, and it was better to end things as friends than drag out the inevitable bad ending.”
She chewed her bottom lip and continued to avoid his eyes. “I know I was vague, but… I couldn’t verbalize my reasons well. It was a gut feeling, a growing sense of doom.”
“Doom? Isn’t that a bit melodramatic? What differences did you think spelled disaster for us? I thought we were great together. We had a lot in common.”
“Not the right things, though.”
Eli sat again and folded his arms over his chest with a grunt. “We had the same tastes in music, books, food, movies. We shared the same politics and aspirations, the same quirky sense of humor, the same love of animals. I enjoyed being in nature and taking risks more than you did because of my family’s business, but I never forced you to go paragliding or snowmobiling or fishing—”
“I know!” Her chest rose and fell in quick short breaths, a sure indicator of her distress. “I guess I thought you were too good to be true. The love you gave me was so new to me, so unexpected. I didn’t know whether I could trust it. Whether I could depend on it.”
“And what did I ever do to make you think you couldn’t trust me or my feelings for you?”
The jangling notes of an incoming call on Eli’s cell phone interrupted. Reluctantly, he checked the caller ID. Asher. Which meant it could be important. He sighed. “Sorry, I need to take this. Asher, what’s up?”
“Potential new victim of the Fiancée Killer. Uniform on his regular beat found the body of a woman around the same age as our victims in an alley. I’m headed out now. Can you meet me there?”
Eli took down the address and promised he was on his way. As he shoved his phone back into his pocket, he looked over to Noelle. “I have to go, but…we’re not through with this conversation.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue, then closed it again. “I’m still coming to your office in the morning?”
“Yeah. I’ll have the files ready.” He headed to the front door but paused before crossing the floor back to her and capturing her face between his hands. He dropped a lingering kiss on her lips before backing away. “I enjoyed dinner, Noelle. And for the record, I’m glad you’re here. I’m sorry about Allison, but this reunion is many years overdue.”
Noelle’s heart was in her eyes as he backed toward the door. Longing, sorrow, and some undefined pain that he was determined to get to the root of before she left. Whatever ghosts haunted Noelle, he would find a way to vanquish them, if only to save her from the pain that clearly plagued her life.
