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Elijah’s eyes searched mine. Was he going to take my offer? I could see the gears spinning furiously behind the mesmerizing green. They were a shade I felt like I’d never seen before, crystalline and evergreen and completely his.
A shade of green I’d never seen before and one I was sure I’d never forget.
8
Elijah King
Putting Ryan Diaz in drag for the first time was the last thing I expected to be asked during my visit to Stonewall. The golden retriever of a man seemed to be dead set on the idea, his smile taking on the essence of a schoolboy getting the fistfuls of candy he’d been promised during recess. Who could ever have it in their heart to say no to a face like that?
Me. That’s who.
“No, sorry.” I shook my head and avoided looking into Ryan’s eyes. “I’d make a terrible drag mom anyway. I can only paint my face, and I really have a hard time mentoring anyone. I just don’t have it in me.”
“Just for one night,” Ryan pushed. He batted a pair of mile-long lashes at me.
Fuck this man was handsome. In a way that bordered on unreal.
“Show me what I need to do, and then I can replicate it for the nights I decide to snoop around.”
“I’ll send you some video links.”
“Great, and we can watch them together while you get me ready.” Ryan clapped his hands. This guy wasn’t only extremely hot, but he was also incredibly persistent.
He did make me feel good, though. Not just because of the overflowing well of kindness behind those eyes, but because I actually did think Ryan could figure out who my stalker was. This was the first time in years that I’d ever felt a shred of hope that this saga may finally be put to rest. No one had ever given me that hope before.
I narrowed my lids, seeing him through the framing of my suspicious gaze. “Fine,” I offered. “One night. You’ve got to give me a week, though. Just so I can get all my shit together. Maybe make a mood board or something.” I lifted my hands and created a square with my fingers, placing Ryan directly in the center. “I’m definitely going to need more than drugstore makeup on you. And I’m thinking a nice brunet beehive sitting on your head would look fierce as fuck.”
Ryan beamed, his smile catching the sunlight, nearly blinding me.
“What?” I asked him, dropping my hands to my lap and my gaze to his lips.
I forced myself to look back up at his eyes before he noticed I was quickly developing an unhealthy need to stare at his mouth.
“You’re pretty much glowing. It’s like a switch flipped.” His head tilted to the side, like a puppy about to get a treat. “I love how much you love drag.”
“I—okay, fine. Why fight it at this point?”
“Exactly! So you’re not quitting?”
A deep breath filled my lungs before whistling out in a sigh. “No. I’m going on hiatus.”
“There we go. Progress.” Ryan leaned forward, hands covering the notes I had brought. “And Elijah, I mean it, I’m going to figure this all out and put a stop to it.”
My phone buzzed, and a message from my best friend popped up on the screen. With everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, I had completely forgotten we were supposed to meet later in the day.
“Thank you,” I said, slipping my phone back in my pocket. “Really. I mean it.”
“Just doing my job,” he replied. It felt like the understatement of the year. “Is there anything else you think I should know about the case?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “Nothing, no.”
“All right,” he said as we both stood up, the meeting winding down but my heart picking up for some reason.
Why does this feel like we’re ending a date?
Weird. I almost started to chuckle at the idea of kissing my freshly hired detective goodbye, as if it were some long-standing tradition everyone did.
“You’ve got my number. Anything comes up, message or call me.” Ryan walked with me out into the hall and into the empty waiting area. A sign on the desk read, “Darien and Houston are on their lunch break and will be back in an hour.” “I’m excited for you to turn me into an absolutely sickening queen, okurrr?”
“Please stop,” I said. “You’re making me uncomfortable.” I gave him a deadpan look before cracking into a smile. Ryan and I both laughed, Ryan moving closer to me. His arm somehow found itself on my elbow, and I somehow became stone still. The moment lasted less than five seconds but could have equally been stretched into eternity. I licked my lips, said another slightly breathless goodbye, and left the Stonewall Investigations office with a sense of both hope and excitement. Drastically different from the range of emotions I had been put through the night before. This had me walking with my head high, a slight spring in my step that hadn’t been there this morning. I woke up with a sense of absolute dread and dysfunction, like my life hadn’t only gone off the rails but catapulted off them, straight into the atmosphere.
