Page 21 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’ve wasted enough of your night.”

“Can the speech, Eli. I’m driving you home and will deliver you safely to Mabel. I’ll feel better knowing you got there.” He grabbed his backpack and looped it over his shoulder, then put out his hand to Eliza. “Come on, rock star. Let’s get you home so you can sleep it off.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed her purse and took his hand. “Thanks.”

They walked out together, Eliza surreptitiously holding his arm to keep herself steady. They got a couple of curious looks from the few hot-deskers working a night shift on the bottom floor, but otherwise made it outside without incident.

Once they were in his car, she gave him her address and then closed her eyes. By the time he pulled up to her house, she was fast asleep in the passenger seat. He turned off the car and gave her arm a squeeze to rouse her. When they made it to her front door, the night bugs happily buzzing around the porch light, Mabel’s barking greeted them. The smile that lit Eliza’s face at the sound was a sight to behold.

She unlocked the door, and Mabel—the brown-and-white lab-collie mix Eliza had adopted—burst out the door, nearly toppling her owner. Eliza crouched down, murmuring baby talk to the dog and telling her what a good girl she was. Mabel whined like she was about to explode from doggie glee, her tail thumping against the doorjamb. Eliza grinned up at Beckham. “Isn’t she the best?”

Seeing Eliza in the gold-edged darkness on her knees in front of him, smiling and disheveled, had him thinking things he shouldn’t, had him wanting to invite himself in. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I’m contractually obligated to state that Trent, the very stubborn cat who insists on sleeping literally on my head every night, is the actual best. Because if he hears otherwise, he’s definitely going to gouge my eyes out. But Mabel is pretty freaking adorable.”

Eliza stood, Mabel turning circles at her feet, and stepped forward. Before he could register what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him with a fierce hug. “Thanks for tonight. You’re a good dude. I’m sorry I vomited in your trash can. I’ll buy you a new one.”

He’d stiffened at the hug at first, caught off guard, but now he let himself return the hug, forcing himself to keep it brief and friendly. “No problem.”

She released him and stepped back. “And I’m going to think about what you said. About the online-dating stuff.”

He nodded, noting she hadn’t said anything about the other part of that conversation. “Good.”

She gave him one last look and then herded Mabel inside. “G’night.”

“Night, Eli.”

As he headed back to his car, all he could think wasWhat the hell did I get myself into?Maybe heshouldhope that Eliza forgot every last thing by the time she woke up in the morning. Because this could get really complicated really quickly. If this were a video game, he’d just gotten blinded by the potential reward—sheet time with his sexy coworker—and ignored the high risk attached to it. He was out on a drawbridge above the snake pit, and the ropes holding it up were burning. But if that meant he got to be in her bed for a little while, maybe it’d be worth the fall.

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