Page 21 of The Exception

That was it. No questions. Nobut we were supposed to go out.

God, I liked this man.

Fortunately most anything I needed to do could be accessed from any machine. I spent the next few hours on making a dozen phone calls, and having Daria and my assistant make at least as many each.

When I finally wrapped up, it was after eight at night, but our accounts were safe and so were those of the start-up in question. The lot must be empty by now.

I emerged from Eli’s office to find the chaotic energy still flowing around me, though it did look like things were wrapping up. Rather than everyone carrying themselves and other things toward the cameras, they were moving things away from the filming area.

I found Eli in the same chair he’d been in when I arrived. He was furiously scribbling notes in a legal pad, and didn’t look up when I approached.

“I’m sorry to bail on you like that,” I said.

He looked up, and his smile flowed in when his gaze landed on me. “It happens. Is everything fixed?”

“All better.” I handed back his computer. “Thank you for this.”

“Anytime. You ready to get out of here?”

“Don’t you need to finish what you were working on?”

Eli gave a dry laugh and raked his fingers through his hair. “I was waiting on you. The rest is incidental. Take that as you will.”

It was both sweet and made me feel bad for wasting his evening.

“Do you still want to go?” He shoved his laptop into a messenger bag, and swung both over his shoulder. “I hear there’s a burger place where all the cool kids hang out.”

I’d heard the same. The moment Lyndsay found out I was coming out to this small town, that the movie was being filmed here, she told me Ihadto go to Gage’s Grub. She’d grown up here, and only recently moved to Salt Lake City.

Xander had backed her up, and since he rarely said anything good about the town his family founded, I figured it must be worth checking out. “I’m in.”

“Excellent. My lady.” He offered his arm.

It was a little silly and a lot sweet and I didn’t hesitate to hook my hand into the crook of his elbow.

We strolled toward the parking lot, but he led us on a path that let us avoid most of the bustling people.

“Do you ever get used to this?” I asked. “The bedlam I mean.”

He looked around us, and we turned down a path that ran between trailers and storage containers. “I guess? I don’t see it that way, because I grew up in it, so this is what the world is to me.”

Even beforeDonavan? Given his reaction last time I mentioned the show, it wasn’t a good idea to bring it up again.

Besides, now I was thinking about Joystick, too. That one incredible night. How I was being almost as impulsive with Eli. But things now felt… safer?

That wasn’t the right word. Eli made my heart hammer and my pulse race, and filled my mind with the kind of filthy hope that he’d press me to one of these steel boxes and pick up where we left off yesterday.

“How long have you been in the industry?” I asked. That should be a safe question. “Do people say that?In the industry?”

His chuckle was easy and genuine. “People say that. I did my first Oshkosh commercial when I was four.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t imagine parading my son in front of a camera at that age. “I bet you were adorable in the little overalls.”

“I could be adorable in little overalls now. If that’s your thing?” Eli sounded playful.

I wrinkled my nose. “For the generalawwfactor? Yes. For making out in parking lots, no.”

“So making out in parking lotsisyour thing.”

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