Page 27 of Knot That Serious

“Will you?”

He shook his head and grinned. “Nah. It’s more fun to hold it over her head.”

Eli sipped the coffee and hummed. “Thanks for this. Jack give you my order?”

“Guilty,” Beckett answered.

“I guess the date went well, then?” she mused. “Since you’re here to suck up.” She arched a brow, challenging.

Much to her surprise, Beckett’s cheeks flushed. “I am absolutely sucking up to you. I like Jack. And you’re the most important person in his life. So of course I want you to approve of me.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Eli,” she said, and stuck her hand out. “Which you know, or you wouldn’t be here.”

With a deep chuckle, he shook her hand, warm and gentle. “Lovely to meet you as well. I heard a lot about you from Jack.”

Eli’s cheeks flushed, and she ignored the twinge in her chest. “I hope it was all good things.”

“It was, trust me,” Beckett said with a little smile that Eli couldn’t decipher.

She’d only met the alpha moments ago, after all.

Yet she enjoyed watching Beckett squirm and pick at the label on his coffee in the following silence. “So he hasn’t told you about the date, then?”

He seemed disappointed, and Eli decided she’d teased him enough. “Only because I haven’t had a chance to see him yet. I get here around four a.m. I’m sure I’ll hear about it either when he relieves me before lunch or when he gets home tonight.”

Beckett visibly relaxed at that, shared a smile with her. “Oh. Well. I hope he has good things to say.”

Eli quirked a brow at him. “Did you give him a reason to say bad things?”

“What? No! No. The date went great. Or… I think it did.”

His brow furrowed as he glanced down at his coffee, and Eli studied him. His blond hair was swooped back in a perfect coif, his clean-shaven jaw was sharp enough to cut, and his navy suit was tailored to his shape. Fine. She got it. He was hot.

And he smelled nice. All fresh and green. Kind of like the bouquet sitting on the breakfast bar.

The light pink shirt was similar in shade to the one Jack had left the house in last night. It wasn’t the same shirt, but it was close enough.

Wow, this guy was hooked on Jack already. Enough to bring her, the roommate, coffee. Enough to wear a reminiscent pink the morning after.

It would almost be overkill, if it wasn’t so endearing.

“Where did you guys go? I’ll tell you if it was a good date or not.”

Beckett squinted at her. “That feels like cheating.”

Eli shrugged. “Then don’t play.”

She sipped her coffee again, wondering how her coffee order came up. Did Jack talk about her a lot? He better have.

They were both a huge part of the other’s life. Not talking about Eli would be weirder.

Just like it wasn’t weird for Beckett and Eli to talk about Jack. He was the only thing the two of them had in common, after all.

“Fine,” Beckett blurted. “We went to Raphael’s.”

Eli knew this, of course, was still nursing a bit of hurt over Jack sharing their favorite place with some alpha he planned to fuck.

But. Well, Beckett was still here, bringing her coffee. Maybe she didn’t mind so much.

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