He had no nightmares of falling asleep. Just waking up. He’d never shared a bed with anyone in his entire life, or not to just sleep. He bunched up the pillow and tried to slow his breathing. After a moment it was easy to time it to Daniel’s.
He remembered that thought, but nothing else.
Chapter Eight
Eli woke up slowly and slightly confused because he normally jerked awake in panic to check where he was. That he was alone. He thought for a second he was dreaming because the puffs of breath he had imagined were hitting his neck with slow regularity. About the same time as awareness set in, he also became conscious of Daniel’s arm slung over him and pinning him to the bed.
It was almost like some alternate-universe shit because—and this was the thing that really stunned him—he wasn’t scared. He didn’t immediately panic. He never really assigned the word “safe” to his life. More the feeling of no immediate danger. He heard the change in Daniel’s breathing and for a second regretted waking up.
“Sorry,” Daniel grunted and moved his arm. Eli licked his lips. He didn’t know what to say, but as Daniel rolled on his back, he almost missed him. Missed the comfort, which was downright dangerous. Comfort wasn’t something he should get used to.
He didn’t know what to do. Should he speak? And his pulse fluttered a little before it took up a faster rhythm.
“Did you sleep?”
Eli turned over. He couldn’t ignore him. “Yes,” he said simply and almost rolled his eyes at the very smug, satisfied look on Daniel’s face.
Daniel sat up, yawned. “I’m going to take a shower.” He glanced at the clock. “We have time for breakfast.” He threw back the comforter and stood, and every bit of oxygen in Eli’s lungs froze. Daniel was hard. His very obvious dick tented his shorts. For a second he daren’t look at Daniel, but Daniel mustn’t have noticed because he was out of the bedroom in another instant and closed the door behind him.
Eli shivered and looked down at his own, feeling slightly sickened at the way his cock had lengthened in response, and tried to ignore it. Daniel hadn’t touched him. He’d slept with him. Next to him. And then he’d gone into his own shower. He didn’t know why he was worried anyway. He’d already pretty much established Daniel wouldn’t be interested even if Eli ever got up the courage to try.
And the worse thing was in his dreams of another life, Daniel would have been exactly the type of guy he would have gone for.
Eli practically ran through the fastest shower on record and was out and in the kitchen even before Daniel appeared, and he opened the fridge. He’d copied some of the stuff they had at Betty’s when he went with the team, and Daniel had both bacon and eggs in here, so he must like them. He opened another couple of cabinets and the freezer, but that was empty except for two loaves of bread. He could do bacon and a couple of eggs.
“I need to go to the store,” Daniel admitted ruefully, walking into the kitchen. “Mom set me up with dinners, but she knows I often skip breakfast, so apart from a bit of bacon and some eggs, I got nothing.”
Eli shot him what he hoped was a casual glance. “Do you like omelets? You have tomato, mushrooms, peppers—”
“Seriously?” Daniel grinned. “You cook me an omelet and you might just be my favorite person.”
Eli tried not to react to that pronouncement, got everything out, and gestured to the coffee maker. “I thought you’d have one of those timed ones.”
Daniel made a face but took the hint and filled it with water. “I do in Washington. I need to either fly back and arrange it to be shipped with the rest of my things or ask a buddy to do it.”
“Did you mean to leave your job?” The words were out of Eli’s mouth before he’d realized what he’d said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
But Daniel waved off the apology and measured out the coffee grounds. “I needed a change.”
Eli nodded.
“That’s true.” Daniel seemed to consider his answer. “But not just that. I’d gotten to the point where I didn’t think I could do the job to the best of my ability.”
He didn’t add any more, and Eli turned back to the cooking. Eli wanted to ask what he meant, but did he have the right? And more importantly, if he asked, it would make Daniel think he could ask Eli questions. And that wouldn’t be good. That wouldn’t be good at all.
Eli turned and set Daniel’s plate on the breakfast bar. Daniel poured them both a coffee and buttered the toast. It was quite domestic, Eli supposed, but for some reason he was on edge. Was it because he wasn’t used to this? Sawyer might make coffee for them, and if Eli was cooking and Sawyer wanted some, he would make double, but that was an accidental thing. Never a decision.
And he could drink that. He’d watched Daniel make it.
The only time he had eaten with a family in the true sense of the word was either at Connie’s where he tried to be as invisible as possible, or at Bo’s where he was needed to teach Bo or to help him. Accidental touch was a huge problem, and while Molly and Martin were careful, Peter and Ruth posed problems. It hadn’t seemed an issue eating with them because he helped, and it was his job.
Eli ate, but he knew Daniel kept glancing at him, and each mouthful seemed to be getting harder to swallow. Eli put his fork down. He wasn’t hungry anymore.
Daniel glanced at his half-full plate and sighed. “How about you eat all the bacon, but leave the toast, and we will talk when you’re done?” Daniel picked up his coffee cup. “I think we need to set some ground rules if we’re going to be living together.”
Eli opened his mouth to say something. A smart retort, a question about what gave Daniel the idea what Eli ate was Daniel’s decision, or even the classy fuck off. But Daniel had been okay with him. It was probably because he didn’t want Eli going off the rails and screwing the case up, and at the end of the day, the more he cooperated, the easier it would be to get Caffrey. It was simple as well. Eli wrestled with so many decisions all the time. Each one he took always led to another two until he often got to the point where making even smaller decisions tied him up in knots. And seeing as how he knew this was temporary, knew that as soon as Caffrey was dead he would go, then he could put up with a lot for a short term. Eli didn’t reply but picked up his bacon in his fingers and bit.
The smile he got from Daniel didn’t feel like Daniel was celebrating a victory because Eli was obedient. It was just nice, and he looked at his plate before he was tempted to smile back.
Daniel insisted on clearing the kitchen because Eli had cooked, so Eli went back in the bathroom to brush his teeth. He looked at himself. He hadn’t bothered shaving. He only ever had to every other day, and his cheap disposal razors were with his things that Sawyer had. Daniel’s beard was freshly trimmed. He had been wearing suit pants and a dress shirt, and he supposed working where he did he was used to a suit. Eli dressed in jeans or shorts, unless he had to wear his uniform. He’d never worn a suit in his life.
Eli thought about what else he had noticed about Daniel this morning and rubbed his suddenly chilled arms. Then he decided he’d better get it over with and walked back into the kitchen. Daniel couldn’t keep them for long anyhow; they had to be at work by eight thirty.