“A few months,” he said, and I sat back in surprise.
“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed you were new.”
Eli hesitated, as if considering what to tell me, and said, “My team used to work independently. There are six of us: me, Maddox, Ryder, Miranda, Shade, and Wren. But we,” another hesitation, “joined Sinclair Security a few months ago.”
“And do you like it?” I asked. “Working for a bigger company? Something more corporate rather than the six of you running the show?”
Eli shrugged and shook his head, but said, “Yeah, it’sfine. It’s different. There are more rules. Cooper and his brothers run a tighter ship than what we’re used to. But they’ve assembled a solid team, and I don’t mind having that behind me.”
“More resources? I could see that,” I said. “I like working alone most of the time. But sometimes, I think it’d be nice to have a team. Somebody else’s brain to pick, you know?”
“Yeah, exactly.” He flashed a quick grin. “Though so far I’ve been dodging the assignments that require a suit.”
I snorted at this. I understood the joy of not having to wear a suit to work, too.
“What’s your specialty?” I asked, trying not to imagine Eli in a suit. As good as he looked in his T-shirt and cargo pants, I’d bet he’d be incendiary in a suit.
“What do you mean?” he asked, obviously playing dumb.
I didn’t dignify his feigned question with a glare. “Well, you work in private security. I’m assuming you have a military background?”
His eyebrow shot up. “What makes you guess that?”
“Statistical probability. And something about the way you carry yourself.”
He nodded. “You’re not wrong. I was Army. A Ranger. Explosives are my thing. I’m not too bad with a keyboard, but not like Emmett or Maddox or—” He cut himself off.
I’d hit a wall, I could tell, so I let it go. I wasn’t going to find out Eli’s secrets by asking for them, but I wanted to keep talking. I liked being alone, and I was choosy about who I hung out with. But even when he was being grumpy, Eli was better company than I’d had in a long time. “What else do you like, other than hacking and blowing shit up?”
“Mostly it’s stopping things from blowing up, but either way.” The grin he flashed me went all the way to his eyes, lighting them from within.
Hot. Definitely hot. Even if the topic wasn’t.
“I wish you’d been around when that guy was under my van,” I said, knowing even if he had, everything had happened too fast to stop it.
His smile faded. “Yeah, me too,” he said in what I thought was total honesty. “I’m just glad you weren’t inside.”
“Agreed.” I grabbed another rib from the plate between us. We chewed in companionable quiet for a full minute.
“I’ve handled protection before,” Eli said after swallowing. “Not my favorite thing. I usually try to avoid direct client interface.”
I thought for a moment about what he was really saying. “You like digging into the work versus customer service.”
“That’s one way to put it,” he said.
“And I’d bet working with clients means you have to put on that suit you hate,” I smirked at him. I didn’t have a thing for expensive-looking men, but something about Eli’s raw masculinity wrapped in a refined suit was intriguing.
Okay, it was more than intriguing; it was flat-out hot.
“That has something to do with it,” Eli admitted.
“I don’t love getting dressed up either,” I said, “though I’ve learned wearing the right clothes can get questions answered. It’s funny what putting on some reading glasses and a blazer and twisting my hair up will do to make me seem authoritative enough to talk to.”
“Like a costume,” Eli said.
“Exactly.”
For a moment, we smiled at each other in completeaccord. Based on that one moment of unity, I tried again. “What’s the plan? What do we do next?”
