She climbed into bed and turned the lamp down low. She should turn it off and save some of the battery life, but she couldn’t bring herself to be alone in the pitch black.
The wind howled and she shivered, burying herself deeper under the covers.
“Horse, want to sleep with me?” she asked.
He immediately jumped onto the bed and she let him under the covers. He cuddled up close, shaking.
It was going to be a long night.
“Why did you do that?”Eli asked Kellan as they stood in the living room. “It’s like you’re trying to push her away.”
Kellan shot Eli a look before leaving to grab blankets from the hall closet. And taking the flashlight with him.
When he returned, Eli was still standing there, staring at him in exasperation. “You can’t just walk away to avoid a conversation.”
“I didn’t walk away to avoid it, I was simply done with it,” Kellan replied, handing him some blankets.
“You don’t like her?”
Kellan sighed. “It’s not a case of liking her or not. She seems like a good person. She’s funny and gorgeous. But she’s not a one-night stand. She’s not just for a good time.”
“I don’t want that with her. I want more. I want us to have more. She could be a great fit for the two of us, Kellan.”
Kellan sighed. Eli wasn’t usually impulsive. Sure, he had some weird ideas about going with your gut and trusting in fate. But Kellan had never known him to fall for someone like this. So deeply and quickly. Eli needed to slow down and think about this.
“We don’t know her that well,” Kellan pointed out.
“So we talk to her, get to know her, build her trust in us. It’s obvious that she’s nervous and that it will take time. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth moving forward. You heard what Shaw said about how we should proceed.”
“Maybe just you should proceed,” Kellan found himself saying.
Because she wouldn’t want him too, would she?
“Don’t feed me that bullshit. Because you know I can read you better than anyone. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t at least a little bit interested in her. You’d tell me to take a flying leap.”
He wasn’t fucking wrong.
And he hated that. Kellan preferred to always be the one in the right.
“It still doesn’t mean she’s a good fit for us.”
“We won’t know unless we try.”
Kellan wasn’t completely sold and he wasn’t sure why. Was it because he had his doubts about her?
Or was it that he was concerned that she didn’t want him? That she’d only want Eli?
Fuck. When had he turned into a coward?
“Nothing good ever happens by standing still,” Eli told him.
Kellan shook his head. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’m still not fully convinced.”
“Just think about it and don’t sabotage my efforts to get to know her.”
“You were coming on too strong. She was about to call the sheriff. Not a good look for an FBI agent to be arrested as a stalker.”
“You think she looked scared?” Eli asked.
