direct.’
‘Life’s short. I like asking questions and getting answers.’
‘I was somewhere off the coast of Newcastle, delivering a yacht to a client.’ He hadn’t been responsible for Simone’s death, hadn’t fought with her beforehand. He carried no guilt when it came to the accident that had taken her life. Small mercies. Or maybe they were big mercies. ‘When do you want to go out on a trawler?’ he heard himself ask.
‘Do you mean it?’
He nodded. His brothers would like as not flay him. There was every possibility that he might hand them the swords – provided, of course, that he could find ones with the right hilt, tang and blade because apparently that was important. ‘Tie you on if it’s rough and you want to go out on deck, same way my mother did for me.’
Her smile could have lit up the darkest of oceans. ‘How about on the way home from here?’
Another night with her. Let her use his apartment to clean up in, rest in, before she continued on her way. ‘Sure.’ What the hell was he thinking? ‘Why not?’
He knew damn well what he was thinking. Sweaty nights and twisted sheets and a warm and willing Zoey in his bed – that’s where he was going with this. From zero to light speed in zero point two seconds.
‘Gorgeous man.’ She shed her coat, and he took it from her and slung it over his shoulder and told him she was off to find the ladies’ room, so he planted himself at the nearest interesting gaming console and immersed himself in the latest role playing wonder. She found him some time later, a giant-sized pretzel in hand as she leaned against his shoulder and watched him play.
Within minutes she was his most ardent supporter, drawing attention, attracting a crowd, and all of a sudden their game was up on the big screen for all to see and Eli grinned and attacked and Zoey cheered and maybe this wasn’t quite what his brothers had had in mind by way of expanding Eli’s world, but it was a fine world to be in, both on screen and in the convention hall.
‘I really need to make you that coat,’ she murmured in his ear. ‘Black would work for you, or a dark charcoal grey.’ Hands on still as she measured the breadth of his shoulders by splayed hand spans. She did the same from shoulder to waist. ‘If you want it right it’s going to take two or three fittings.’
‘Why do I want it at all?’
‘Because it’ll be fun, Elias.’
‘This isn’t fun?’
‘It’d be more fun if I was playing too.’
So he handed her his controller and relieved her of the still warm, giant pretzel.
‘Not quite what I had in mind,’ she grumbled, but she was in the thick of things soon enough, and verbally decimating her opposition in distinctly Sherlock Holmes fashion – questioning his tactics and his choice of cape. ‘No capes,’ she declared emphatically. Could be she was channeling a cartoon character, could be she meant it.
‘Wouldn’t that put you out of business?’
‘No capes when in battle?’
‘What about a matador’s cape?’
‘Eli, go and be useful somewhere else.’
‘Bossy chicks in drag, dude,’ the painted green guy standing next to him declared with a heartfelt sigh. ‘Sexy.’
‘I’m not a chick,’ said Zoey. ‘I’m a eunuch.’
Green guy moved on fast. Eli filled his face with pretzel to stave off a grin.
‘Aren’t you leaving too?’ she asked archly.
‘And leave my eunuch unguarded and coatless? That’s never a good idea.’
They didn’t spend the day together together. When different interests took Zoey in a different direction she went without a backward glance. But she returned to his side for lunch, with the three amigos in tow, and she circled back around to him at different times during the afternoon. Keeping an eye on him, touching base, for what reason he didn’t know. She could have hooked up with other people, other gamers, a dozen times over but she hadn’t.
And then, as she left again and he watched for her return,
‘Life’s short. I like asking questions and getting answers.’
‘I was somewhere off the coast of Newcastle, delivering a yacht to a client.’ He hadn’t been responsible for Simone’s death, hadn’t fought with her beforehand. He carried no guilt when it came to the accident that had taken her life. Small mercies. Or maybe they were big mercies. ‘When do you want to go out on a trawler?’ he heard himself ask.
‘Do you mean it?’
He nodded. His brothers would like as not flay him. There was every possibility that he might hand them the swords – provided, of course, that he could find ones with the right hilt, tang and blade because apparently that was important. ‘Tie you on if it’s rough and you want to go out on deck, same way my mother did for me.’
Her smile could have lit up the darkest of oceans. ‘How about on the way home from here?’
Another night with her. Let her use his apartment to clean up in, rest in, before she continued on her way. ‘Sure.’ What the hell was he thinking? ‘Why not?’
He knew damn well what he was thinking. Sweaty nights and twisted sheets and a warm and willing Zoey in his bed – that’s where he was going with this. From zero to light speed in zero point two seconds.
‘Gorgeous man.’ She shed her coat, and he took it from her and slung it over his shoulder and told him she was off to find the ladies’ room, so he planted himself at the nearest interesting gaming console and immersed himself in the latest role playing wonder. She found him some time later, a giant-sized pretzel in hand as she leaned against his shoulder and watched him play.
Within minutes she was his most ardent supporter, drawing attention, attracting a crowd, and all of a sudden their game was up on the big screen for all to see and Eli grinned and attacked and Zoey cheered and maybe this wasn’t quite what his brothers had had in mind by way of expanding Eli’s world, but it was a fine world to be in, both on screen and in the convention hall.
‘I really need to make you that coat,’ she murmured in his ear. ‘Black would work for you, or a dark charcoal grey.’ Hands on still as she measured the breadth of his shoulders by splayed hand spans. She did the same from shoulder to waist. ‘If you want it right it’s going to take two or three fittings.’
‘Why do I want it at all?’
‘Because it’ll be fun, Elias.’
‘This isn’t fun?’
‘It’d be more fun if I was playing too.’
So he handed her his controller and relieved her of the still warm, giant pretzel.
‘Not quite what I had in mind,’ she grumbled, but she was in the thick of things soon enough, and verbally decimating her opposition in distinctly Sherlock Holmes fashion – questioning his tactics and his choice of cape. ‘No capes,’ she declared emphatically. Could be she was channeling a cartoon character, could be she meant it.
‘Wouldn’t that put you out of business?’
‘No capes when in battle?’
‘What about a matador’s cape?’
‘Eli, go and be useful somewhere else.’
‘Bossy chicks in drag, dude,’ the painted green guy standing next to him declared with a heartfelt sigh. ‘Sexy.’
‘I’m not a chick,’ said Zoey. ‘I’m a eunuch.’
Green guy moved on fast. Eli filled his face with pretzel to stave off a grin.
‘Aren’t you leaving too?’ she asked archly.
‘And leave my eunuch unguarded and coatless? That’s never a good idea.’
They didn’t spend the day together together. When different interests took Zoey in a different direction she went without a backward glance. But she returned to his side for lunch, with the three amigos in tow, and she circled back around to him at different times during the afternoon. Keeping an eye on him, touching base, for what reason he didn’t know. She could have hooked up with other people, other gamers, a dozen times over but she hadn’t.
And then, as she left again and he watched for her return,
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