Page 101 of Knot That Serious

And now that the sun was setting, the day was catching up with her, and she yawned into the back of her hand.

“Oh, my sweet, is it past your bedtime?” he asked with a small smile.

Eli met him in the middle, holding her half of the tablecloth, and let him take the corners. It fit perfectly in the tote bag he’d brought for the date.

“Maybe a little,” she confessed. “But I don’t mind,” she added. “This was lovely.”

Once the tote was resting over his shoulder, Eli took his hand and stared once more out over the city, the lights brighter for the darkness surrounding them.

Jack would love this. So would Beckett.

“Thank you for this,” she said. “It’s so pretty.”

“That it is,” he agreed, and when she turned to glance at him, his gaze was already locked on her.

Eli’s cheeks flushed, which was silly, considering he’d spent part of the night between her legs.

With a teasing eye roll, she tugged his hand and he pulled her along. The roof door beeped as it shut behind them. She leaned against him in the elevator, studying their reflection in the shiny glass doors, even fogged as they were with the privacy glass.

Eli looked so tiny next to him, curled into his side with a pleased expression on her face. His arm was tucked over her shoulders, her pink curls a little more wild from the breeze and rolling it all over the table.

She really liked the look of them together, Raj all tall and intimidating, and to anyone else, maybe even a little scary with his intensity.

However, Eli just snuggled a little closer into his side. Then the doors were opening and he was leading her out.

They bid the doorman goodbye, and his car was right where he’d left it, in the spot just outside the building.

She guessed designing the Vine Tower got him a few perks, then.

The ride back to the apartment was quiet and easy, and Raj kept a hand on her thigh the whole time, his thumb branding her with slow strokes.

Eli grinned into the hand propped against her lips, leaning on the door as she watched the other cars pass.

They arrived soon enough, and Eli laughed softly when Raj said, “Stay there.”

She waited as he jumped to slide across the hood, and—

“Oh!” she shouted, leaning forward in her seat as he miscalculated, slipping off the hood and down to the concrete. Before she could even consider opening the door and checking to see if he was alright, he popped up from the ground and smoothed his hands down the lapels of his sweater.

Eli pressed a hand to her lips, biting back her laugh as he opened the door.

“M’lady,” he said, and waved out a hand to her.

Barely suppressing her amusement, she slid from the car and stared up at him.

“You can laugh,” he said a moment later, and Eli let the chuckles burst free.

“I can only imagine how it looked from your perspective,” he said, shaking his head with a smile. “Any chance you’ll forget it happened?”

“Oh, absolutely not,” she said in between giggles. “I can’t believe you just—”

It replayed in her head, his sudden disappearance over the curve of the hood and then the way he reappeared like a jack-in-the-box, and she almost doubled over with laughter.

Eventually, Raj joined in, too, and they were practically in tears together.

God, it was almost a relief, for Raj—tall, kind, incredibly handsome, and courting Eli, even if it was fake—to… be a dork.

In that moment, he shifted from an alpha, unattainable in his perfection, to someone Eli revered with fondness.

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