ELIJAH CLOSED THE DISTANCE BETWEENus in a few steps then backed me up against the counter. “Hello, Freckles.” He buried his hands in my hair and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in days. “Damn, I like you in my space.”
My heart raced over his confession. I feared my presumptuous actions would have the reverse effect. Hell, it wasn’t that long ago that he completely flaked on me. Would he do it again once the case was over?
“I like being in your space, Elijah.” His stomach growled ferociously making me laugh. “Hungry?”
“Famished.” He turned loose of me to lift the lid off the containers. “Oh my God,” he said on a low groan. “Enchiladas, refried beans, and rice.”
“Dinner kind of went tits up, so I decided to bring leftovers ho… here to you.” I laughed nervously hoping he didn’t catch my slipup.
“What happened? How’d you get here? Your SUV isn’t in your driveway.”
“Well, I was too tipsy to drive, so Van dropped me off here. I’m not sure where to begin with how wrong our night went.”
“Start anywhere you want as long as you do it while we eat.”
“Deal,” I said, heaping food onto a plate and handing it to him.
We settled at the small table in the kitchen and Elijah practically dove into his food. I would’ve thought he was consuming it too fast to taste it, but his moans and groans said differently.
“Oh, Maegan. This is so damn good. I can’t get enough.”
Those were things he usually said when I had possession of his cock—either in my mouth or pussy—or he had his head buried between my legs. I was suddenly in the mood to push back from the table and throw myself at him. Only his obvious need to eat stopped me.Let the man refuel, Mae. He’s going to need it.
“God, who made this?”
“Vanessa made it,” I told him.
“Which one was she?” he asked before he shoveled another bite in his mouth.
“Why do you ask?”
Elijah’s head snapped up and he met my suspicious gaze with widened eyes. He shook his head. “Just curious.”
“It’s the one thing she knows how to make,” I told him. “A man can’t live on enchiladas every day.”
Elijah dropped his fork and wiped his mouth. He looked a little skittish. “I didn’t imply that I was going to ask her on a date or anything. I was just curious which of your friends made this dinner.”
“Which one of my lovely friends, you mean?”
“They are lovely women,” Elijah said. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t notice.” He licked his lips nervously. “Are we fighting?”
I burst into laughter then because my reaction—or overreaction—was ridiculous. “No, Elijah. I’m sorry.”
“It must’ve been some night with your friends, Freckles.”
“You have no idea.” I told him about everything that happened at Vanessa’s house, minus the wedding talk, of course. “Then we all climbed into Vanessa’s car—she’s the tall brunette, by the way—and went over to Violet’s house.”
“Which one is Violet? I’m guessing that didn’t go well either?” he asked.
“Violet is the petite blonde with the pixie haircut.” It was clear he had no idea what kind of hairstyle I was talking about, but there was only one other blonde in the mix. “She wasn’t home or at her parents’ house either. We’re not sure where she went. She wouldn’t answer her phone.”
“So which one is the redhead and the shorter brunette?” he asked. “Sometimes people just need some quiet time to lick their wounds.”
“Candace is the redhead and April is the shorter brunette.” I tilted my head to the side and studied the gorgeous man who sat adjacent to me. “You sound like a man with experience,” I said softly. I was dying for him to tell me about the shadows I saw in his eyes from time to time.
“You can say that again,” Elijah replied. “Let me tell you about a naïve fool who trusted his heart to a woman who cheated on him with his brother while he was serving his country.”
I gasped. “No!”
