A smile curved Win’s lips. “Oh, well, I had stuff already in my house, so I made a few different kinds of sandwiches for us—roast beef, turkey, and ham. I have fruit and cheese too.” Elliot stared at him, and Win’s smile faded. “I’m sorry. Did you want to pick out your own food?”
“What? No. It’s fine…good. Thanks. It all sounds great.”
Better than great. Amazing. And so unexpected that Elliot wasn’t quite sure what to think. Win gave out these hard, gruff vibes, yet his actions and words spoke of someone thoughtful and sweet. This idea of “friends with benefits” might be tougher than Elliot imagined. It would be so easy to fall for a man like him, but Win had made it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested in anything permanent.
“Great, so let’s go. I skipped breakfast, and I’m starvin’ like Marvin.”
“Oh, I thought I heard a growl. I got scared there was a wild dog on the loose.” Elliot cackled.
“Wiseass. Come on. I have the stuff in the car.”
“Right behind you.” Elliot locked the door and trailed Win to the Jeep.
They’d been driving for about ten minutes when Elliot decided it was foolish to be afraid to ask questions.
“How long have you been a detective?”
“I got promoted to Detective Third Grade six years ago. Spent the first eight years on the force with my nose down, learning and listening. My partner and I helped solve a cold case, and we got our shields thanks to that.”
“Do you like it?” It sounded fascinating, and Elliot thought it might make for a good story.
“I love it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Nothing is more satisfying to me than figuring out the pieces of a crime and solving it.”
Friends might kid him about it, but Elliot had watched enough crime shows to know it wasn’t as simple as it sounded. “Do you have a lot of cold cases? I imagine New York City must have tons.”
“Thousands. There are rooms filled with files. I hate it. I can’t imagine a family losing someone and having no closure, no knowledge of who killed their loved one.”
Something in Win’s tone drew Elliot’s attention. “It must be hard to deal with it. So much death and sadness.”
Win worked his jaw. “Yeah. But it’s not only murder cases. We work on all sorts of crimes.” They stopped at a red light. “How about we get off the subject ofmywork and you tell me more about yours? I looked up some of your articles, and you write about everything New York—stuff and places I had no idea existed. There’s so much to discover about the city.”
“You read my articles?” That surprised Elliot, simply because aside from his friends, no one—and definitely none of the men he’d dated—had ever bothered. When he explained what he wrote about, they’d sit and nod, and when he finished explaining, they’d say,“Sounds cool. I can’t believe you get paid for that.”
“Of course,” Win said. “Why’re you so surprised? I thought that hidden restaurant in the bank vault downtown looked amazing. Expensive, but for a special occasion it would be memorable.”
Any occasion with Win would be memorable…
“That was a good one. I like the food finds, since I have to go and taste-test.”
“Well, if you need a partner, I’m available. I mean, if I’m not working.”
“Really?” For years Elliot had been asking his friends if they wanted to go with him, but they either had work, dates, or something else to do. Spencer, Elliot suspected, was too much of a snob and preferred the trendy spots rather than traipsing around the city, searching for hidden, unknown gems. Wolf was always tied up with work and had no interest in going, as far as Elliot knew, and Chess was busy with classwork and students and André, of course.
Occasionally, Elliot’s various boyfriends had agreed to go, but only, he believed, because of the promise of a free meal. At first Elliot had thought it was sweet that they didn’t want him to eat alone or that they wanted to share a meal with him, but he now realized it was simply another way to mooch off his good nature.
“I’d love it if you’d come with me,” he told Win.
“Great.” Win flashed him a smile as he accelerated. “Consider me your plus-one, then. Now I’m taking you somewhere first before we have lunch. I hope you’ll like it.”
“Where?” Elliot craned his neck to peer out of the window, but they were still driving down Flatbush Avenue.
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He patted Elliot’s hand and returned his to the steering wheel. “But I think you’ll like it.”
Why couldn’t he take this budding friendship as simply and easily as Win and understand the man meant what he said: friendship with benefits,nota relationship. Even as his heart struggled with the concept, he forced his brain to accept it and move on, because Winston Rogers falling in love with him wasn’t going to happen.
***
“The zoo? We’re going to the zoo?” He couldn’t keep the excitement from his voice as they entered through the gates and walked toward the central sea-lion court. Some were swimming around, but as it wasn’t feeding time, most lay on top, sunning and asleep.
