“Where’d you find her?”
Eli looked up. He’d seen Jacob a few times. Married, three kids. Had a sprawling ranch house with chickens, an assortment of dogs and cats, and even a donkey. In and amongst all that he was a sergeant for the TPD and had helped them get Vance back on their last case.
“Eli heard her whining when we had to pull in because of his car. Rest stop south of Sumterville. I think his transmission’s gone.”
Jacob grinned. “Nah, I think she just needs a bath and a good dinner.” Jacob paused. “And maybe flea shampoo.” Eli’s laugh surprised himself.
“Good, I’ll take that as you are volunteering yourself,” Daniel replied and passed Jacob two bags.
He glanced down at the supplies. “You got another three dogs in the trunk?”
Daniel ignored him. “Jacob was a Cub Scout. He was always ‘prepared,’ so I learned from the best.” Jacob’s snort told them what he thought of Daniel’s assessment. An hour later the dog was bathed and tucking into her dinner. Eli grabbed a shower straight after Daniel. She hadn’t liked the water very much, and Daniel said Eli was wetter than the dog.
“She’s going to need a trip to the vet to get all her shots and to check she isn’t chipped, but to be honest, as shit as this sounds, she wouldn’t be the first family pet ‘accidentally’ left at a rest stop,” Jacob said, a hint of anger in his words. “I’ve had them just shoved out of a moving vehicle.”
“Wasn’t that how you got Sadie?”
Eli looked at Daniel. “Sadie’s that Jack Russell mix you’ll have seen at the barbeque,” Daniel explained. “But you got the asshole, didn’t you?”
“Yep, a trucker saw him and called it in. I was very tempted to push the bastard out of my patrol car.”
Jacob stood after checking her over again and glanced at Eli. “What you gonna call her?”
Eli looked up at him from where he was sitting on the floor with the dog’s head on his lap, apparently ready to sleep now her belly was full. “She’s not mine,” he said in alarm.
Apparently Jacob thought that was funny because he was still laughing as he left the apartment, promising he’d call his mom and let them know they wouldn’t make supper.
“Are you hungry?”
Eli nodded. He wasn’t especially, but Daniel would be, and this was his job.
“Then how about we see what there is to eat?”
Eli glanced down at the dog. She was asleep, curled up. She felt safe enough to sleep just like Eli had when Daniel was in bed with him. Eli walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was packed. Connie had obviously brought more than orange juice. He pulled out some salad, bread, and then found some steaks. He glanced up at Daniel questioningly. Daniel’s eyes gleamed, so Eli took that as an answer. Eli had been expecting Daniel to just leave him to it, but Daniel immediately prepared the salad while Eli started rubbing a little olive oil into the steaks.
“Do you like garlic?”
Daniel glanced over from where he was washing the lettuce. “Yes, but I have no intention of having any unless you do.”
Eli warmed from the heat in Daniel’s gaze and the implication. He returned to rubbing the steaks before he put them in the skillet. Did that mean he was still interested? Did that mean they would be in bed together tonight? His pulse picked up. Maybe he hadn’t ruined everything?
He was attracted to Daniel, and the small amount of therapy he had given up on had taught him that wasn’t always a purely sexual feeling. Eli knew that strength and dependability were bigger turn-ons than how nice an ass fitted into denim, or a pair of broad shoulders that carried arms that would wrap around you and hold you safe.
And was that fair? Was he attributing things to Daniel he shouldn’t be? Was he even capable of any more? And worse, was Daniel just interested in something he could fix?
Eli turned the steaks almost without seeing them and shivered as a realization ran the length of his body and settled as a cold lump in his insides.
Eli was attracted to what scared him the most. His fantasies of being held down by a bigger, stronger man were something he’d dismissed as wrong because being trapped, controlled, was every nightmare he had come to life. His arms being pinned was the worse. And he knew why. He wasn’t dumb. What he didn’t understand was why the thought of Daniel pinning him down both terrified him and thrilled him at the same time.
“Salad’s ready.”
Eli blinked and transferred the skillet to the oven to finish the steaks. He added some of the small partially baked rolls he loved as well while Daniel got out some silverware. Eli hesitated, then calmly got two glasses out of the cupboard and slowly filled them from the chilled water in the fridge. It was a cheat. It was impossible for Daniel to put anything in the water that came straight from the fridge, but he’d always known that. He knew a lot of his hang-ups made no sense, and if he had a point to prove, he didn’t know what it was.
In another five minutes—because from watching Daniel at Connie’s, he knew he liked his steaks medium—he got them from the oven. A couple of minutes later, they were eating. Eli was just finishing his as they both heard Daniel’s phone ring.
He picked it up off the counter and answered it. “Hi, Mom.”
Eli watched as Daniel smiled indulgently, then nodded. “That’s great, I’ll pass it on, and yes, providing nothing happens at work we’ll be there tomorrow night.” He hung up. “Mom just spoke to Molly. She’s going to take Liam to see Bo this weekend.” Daniel pressed some buttons on his phone. “They’re more or less the same age, and they both have a lot in common. And I don’t just mean the mark, in case you were assuming that.”
Eli didn’t respond. His head was too full of everything to trust his mouth to come out with the right words. What a great idea. He’d met Liam a couple of times, and Molly and Connie would be great together. For a few seconds, he imagined a future. He imagined building a future. It was so damn tempting, or was it just one thing less to distract him from what he had to do, and that was get Caffrey?
They caught a couple of shows on TV, and when the last one ended, Eli admitted he had been struggling to keep his eyes open for the last half hour. They both took the dog down the elevator and outside for her to pee which she managed with little fuss. She seemed perfectly happy to curl up again and close her eyes. “How long do dogs sleep for?” Eli didn’t know. he’d never had anything to do with dogs. He knelt on the floor next to her bed, and she sighed in pleasure as he played with her paws.
“Anything up to eighteen hours a day,” Daniel said. “More or less depending on age and health, but to be honest she could quite easily be catching up. I doubt if she got much rest where she was.” Daniel smoothed his hand over her head.
“She looks settled there.” Daniel crouched down. She didn’t even open her eyes, just sighed again as Daniel scratched under her ear.
Eli glanced up at Daniel, and their eyes clashed.
“I guess she feels safe.” He held his breath.
“That’s important.”
Eli stared into Daniel’s eyes. They both knew Daniel didn’t just mean the dog. Daniel’s hand slid from the dog’s head to Eli’s hand, and gently, as if he were wary of spooking a wild animal, he curled his fingers around Eli’s wrists. Daniel didn’t tug or move; he seemed content just to hold Eli. Was he though? When he found out Eli couldn’t give him more, he would soon let go.