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I picked at the blueberry muffin I’d ordered as I nodded again, but then I said, “Maybe I’ll come with you. Visit with Matty for a bit.” I glanced up to see Eli still smiling.
“Okay.”
Eli took the small piece he had left of his bagel and fed it to Baby who was lying at his feet. After getting to Eli’s place, we’d walked the dog a couple of blocks to a café that had an outdoor seating area where the dog was allowed. Since it was still early, there weren’t any other patrons in the patio section so Baby had free roam of the place, but he never left Eli’s side.
I was reaching for my coffee when my phone rang and when I pulled it out, I saw Ronan’s name on the caller ID. It had been days since I’d talked to him since I’d put a moratorium on hearing about the surveillance being done on Eli at my request.
“Hey,” I said when I answered.
“Are you going to stay with him for the day or do I need to call Dante to relieve me?”
Shit. I hadn’t even considered the fact that Ronan might be the one watching Eli in my absence. He obviously would have followed Eli to my hotel which he and Seth were also staying at so they could continue to help Hawke and Tate with shifts taking care of Matty. But since I hadn’t called Ronan to tell him Eli was going to spend the night with me, he would have had to spend the whole night in the parking garage or across the street so he could follow Eli whenever he left.
“Fuck, I’m sorry Ronan,” I murmured.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ronan said. “What’s the plan?”
I glanced up at Eli who was watching me with curiosity. My decision was easy and I kept my eyes on Eli when I said, “I’m staying with him.”
“I’ve got some information on his case. Do you want to hear it?”
I glanced around our surroundings and finally spotted a nondescript sedan at the end of the block. It wasn’t one of Ronan’s regular cars so I could only assume it was a rental. The fact that I’d missed that we were being followed was very telling as to where my head was at.
“Yeah,” I said and I glanced at Eli again. “Can you join us?” I asked as I made another decision that likely was going to destroy the progress I’d made with the young man across from me.
Ronan was quiet for a moment, probably surprised by the request, but he murmured a quick “Sure,” and then hung up.
“Ronan’s joining us?” Eli asked, the confusion clear in his voice. He knew Ronan from his visits with Matty, but that was the extent of it.
“I work for Ronan,” I said.
Eli nodded. “Security stuff,” he said. “Like what Dom does.”
Definitely not what Dom did since I had no doubt the man followed the letter of the law and I hadn’t believed in that shit in a really long time. “Sort of,” I hedged since I really didn’t want to get into that with him. “I asked Ronan to have someone keep an eye on you the last few days,” I admitted. “Before that I was watching you myself.”
Eli stiffened. “You’ve been following me?”
I nodded. “Since the day you asked me to teach you to fight.”
“I…I didn’t see you.”
“You weren’t meant to,” I responded. “Eli, I’m sorry, I was worried-”
Eli held up his hand and shook his head and I fell silent. “Why did you stop?”
“What?”
“You said you had Ronan have someone else follow me. That means you stopped watching me after that day in your room when we…”
If the situation wasn’t so serious, I would have smiled at the way Eli’s cheeks flooded with color when he tried to find the words to describe the day we’d sucked each other off.
“You left me there,” he added, the hurt in his voice clear.
I dropped my eyes and shook my head. “It wasn’t supposed to happen,” I admitted. I lifted my gaze and looked at him. “None of this was supposed to happen.”
Eli tensed up and his eyes fell. I was glad I’d chosen the chair next to him rather than across from him because it made it easy to grab him when he started to push his chair back. I dragged him forward and kissed him hard and didn’t release him until he began to kiss me back. “Look at me,” I demanded.
It took him several long seconds to finally lift his eyes and I hated how shuttered they’d become. I tightened the hold I had on the back of his neck and forced out the words I’d been so terrified to tell him this morning when he’d been leaning over me to say good morning to me. “Eli, last night was the best night of my entire life,” I whispered harshly. His eyes finally opened up a bit more and I realized I had his complete attention. “My entire fucking life,” I said firmly. “And that scares the ever loving shit out of me.”
