All I Need Is You (8 page)

Light. Nonconfrontational.
 

“I get that it’s weird and awkward to talk about sexual partners with me, but this is really important. Would you rather give this information to Matt? He could come over tomorrow and you guys could sit down and go over it all.”
 

He hated to even make the offer, but if it made it easier for her to be honest, he’d do it. Matt had a way with her. They had a rapport. Maybe she’d tell him things she was too embarrassed to admit to Eli.

Kay finally looked up. “I don’t need to pull Matt off his new job to tell him the same thing I just told you. How long does it take to write down nothing?”

Eli groaned. “Kay, you’re basically saying no one’s had their hands on you in more than six months. You’re a vibrant, beautiful young woman. I find that a little hard to believe.”

Kay stared at him for a long moment before she slid forward. “I didn’t say no one had their hands on me in all that time. I just said I hadn’t dated anyone.” Her tongue darted out and wet her bottom lip before she lifted her eyes to his. Perched forward, her weight resting on her hands, caused her sweater to dip lower, revealing a shadow of lace at the top of her bra.
 

He swallowed, the sound loud between them.
 

“Okay. His name?” Elliott’s stomach clenched but he lifted the pencil, poised to write the name of the lucky bastard she’d allowed to get close to her.
 

With a little lift of her chin that he should have realized spelled trouble, she leaned over his shoulder and pointed at his pad of paper as she spelled out “E-l-l-i-o-t-t.”

TEASING ELI WAS probably a little like poking a lion with a stick, but Kay couldn’t help herself. Especially since he was interrogating her like a criminal. How convenient for him to want a list of her lovers and not consider the fact that their kiss was the closest she’d come to intimacy in ages.
 

“This is serious, Kay.”

“I know it is, Eli,” she drawled in her best imitation of his deep voice. “When do you think I have the time to go out with a bunch of men?
I am a single mother.
I barely have time to take a shower and brush my teeth every day.”

Eli looked chagrined. Maybe it was finally sinking in just how ridiculous his assumptions were. Although, she couldn’t really fault him for assuming that she’d have had at least one other boyfriend since the summer. Most girls her age were out dancing and drinking on the weekends, picking up men at clubs, and having one-night stands they’d regret in the morning. There were times when Kay wondered what it would be like to have that much free time and be able to go out with her friends.
 

Then she’d look over at Hope and realize that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

“I apologize if I’ve offended you. That wasn’t my intention.” Eli closed his notepad and tucked it in the interior pocket of his coat. “I’m just trying to figure things out. Like I said, your security system hasn’t been tampered with and we went through this place, room by room. Whoever it was didn’t break in.” He turned to look at her directly. “It was someone you know. Someone you trusted enough to invite in.”

Kay shivered. “I don’t invite many people over. Just my family and a few close friends.”

“Does anyone have a key to the apartment?”

Kay thought back to when she’d first moved in. She didn’t know anyone who lived close by except her parents. She’d thought about giving a key to Sasha, but she lived too far away for it to be helpful if she got locked out.
 

“Just my parents.”

Eli made a disgruntled sound. “Okay. I’m going to see if Matt remembers anything from when he was guarding you then. Maybe someone hanging around when you moved in or anything out of the ordinary. Whoever this is, they’re smart. They’re leaving no evidence of their entry, so we can’t really go to the police until we have proof that a crime has been committed. They’d probably consider sending a cat trinket to be nothing more than a childish prank.”

“But you don’t think it is,” Kay commented.

“No. I don’t think it is.” In typical Elliott fashion, he didn’t offer any additional thoughts on the matter.
 

Kay got up and brought back a comforter and several pillows. “I appreciate you staying here with me. I don’t think I could have stayed here alone knowing this guy has been in here.”

Eli accepted the pillows with a nod. “You’ll never be alone, Kay. Remember that.”

His words warmed her as surely as a touch. Kay had figured any chance they’d had was gone when he disappeared after Christmas, but maybe he’d had a legitimate reason to leave town. Maybe his leaving hadn’t had anything to do with her or their kiss.
 

“My mom considers you one of hers now. She’d kill me if I didn’t take proper care of you.”
 

Kay’s heart sank. His mother. Of course.
 

She was just an obligation. She wasn’t sure if it was better or worse than when he’d only been helping her because Jackson had hired him to.
 

“Of course. Good night, Eli.” Kay didn’t wait for him to acknowledge it, just walked down the hall to her room and closed the door.

KAY WOKE EARLIER than usual the next morning. The knowledge that Eli was in her living room had contributed to a long night of tossing and turning. At first, she’d just been on alert in case he needed anything. She’d heard him moving around, drawers and cabinets opening and closing and the hum of the pipes as he’d used the small bathroom off the hall.
 

Luckily, her room had its own connected bathroom so she didn’t have to worry about any awkwardness there. She’d taken her shower before bed and changed into her favorite tank-and-shorts pajama set. It wasn’t sexy by any means, but then she wasn’t trying to seduce him. He’d shown less than zero interest when he’d been in her room and hadn’t lingered when examining the “scene of the crime” as she liked to think of her collection of figurines now. He’d looked at the blank space in the collection and nowhere else. Not at the lingerie she’d been mortified to discover was hanging over the chair or at the romance books on her nightstand.

He’d just done his usual tough, gruff routine. It was too bad she found his deep, gravelly voice so sexy. It would be so much easier if she hated him. If she hadn’t spent half the night wondering about what he was doing on her sofa. Whether he’d stripped off all his clothes to sleep or just gone down to his underwear.
 

Coffee. If she could just get some caffeine in her system, then maybe she could think practically. About anything other than what Eli wore when he was sleeping.

Kay spared a cursory glance at the clock, then decided it was early enough to chance making a run for it. Eli was probably dead to the world, so it didn’t matter if she looked like hell. Turning on the coffeepot should take two minutes, max. She pulled on a short, silky robe and knotted it in the front. Even if he rolled over and caught a glimpse of her, he wouldn’t see much other than a bunch of pink silk.

In the kitchen, she made quick work of measuring out the coffee. The huge jumble of blankets on the couch didn’t move, so she had to assume that Eli was a pretty sound sleeper. After adding water to the machine, she set the coffeepot to brew. She turned at the sound of a door opening. Startled, she glanced over at the couch. The jumble of covers still hadn’t moved.
 

“Then where is—”

Kay squeaked in surprise when Eli walked past, a white towel wrapped around his waist. His skin was still damp, as evidenced by the beads of water clinging to his neck. Without the barrier of clothing, his muscles stood out in stark display. His chest was massive, and then there were the perfectly delineated abdominals. Once her eyes made it past those, they landed on the most interesting muscles on his sides, shaped like a
V
leading straight down to his—

At her gasp, he stopped and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Morning. Everything okay?”

Stunned, it took her several moments to register the question. Then several moments more to realize she was standing in the middle of the kitchen gaping at him. Worse, gaping at the towel around his waist. The incredibly tiny towel.
 

“You’re n…naked,” she stammered.
 

“I am.” Eli didn’t bother to hide or run for cover. Oh no, the jerk had the nerve to come
closer.
“That’s generally how I take my showers.”

“And really…” She tried in vain to get her eyes to land anywhere other than the broad expanse of his chest. “Really, really big.”

His lips curled up at that statement and Kay immediately realized what she’d just said. “I meant muscular. And really
muscular
. Is that an eight-pack? I didn’t even know there were that many packs possible…”

There really ought to be some sort of law about how fine a man was allowed to be. Especially men who were gruff and difficult to understand. It was bad enough that she couldn’t figure out his signals, but now she was supposed to think while confronted by a chest that looked like it had been chiseled out of concrete?

“Kay?”

“Hmm,” she breathed.
 

He crossed his arms. “I meant to bring my clothes with me in the bathroom but I forgot. So I need to finish getting dressed.”

“Right. Of course.”
 

When she still didn’t move, Eli grabbed the edge of the towel where it was tucked next to his skin. “I generally don’t have an audience for this part, but if you want to stay… “

Now
that
got her attention.
 

“Oh my God.
Omigod
.” Kay stammered something that sounded vaguely like an apology and then ran for her room. She closed the door behind her and rested her head against the door.
 

Of course Eli was the type to be up at the crack of dawn. As if being built like a linebacker and covered in skin like dark chocolate wasn’t sexy enough, he was an early riser who probably ran three miles every morning just for fun. Was there anything about him that wasn’t completely intimidating?

Her phone beeped on the nightstand. With a sigh, Kay sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to read the text message. It was from Ridley.

Give me a call when you wake up?

Kay quickly texted her back. A few minutes later, her phone rang.
 

“Hey! I didn’t actually think you’d be awake this early. What’s going on over there?”
 

“Nothing.” Kay clutched the phone tighter as an image of Eli’s perfect chest flashed through her mind. Suddenly she just had to tell someone. “I just saw Eli naked.”

“What!” Ridley’s shocked squeak was so loud Kay glanced behind her instinctively to make sure Eli hadn’t somehow heard.

“It was an accident. Plus, he wasn’t completely naked. Almost naked. He was wearing a towel, but it didn’t cover much.” Kay sagged back against her pillows and let out a long sigh. “I had no idea my towels were so small.”

Considering that Ridley was married to an Alexander man, she figured her friend would understand exactly why she was so affected.
 

“No wonder you sound so winded. Looking at that is enough to make any red-blooded woman lose her breath.”

“I can’t afford to lose my breath. I’m supposed to be looking forward, remember? Finding Mr. Right?”
 

“That’s true. As a matter of fact, that’s why I’m calling. I have some news that might take your mind off things.”

“I seriously doubt that.” Kay sighed.

“Mara found the perfect guy for you.”

Kay cringed. Pretending to let the girls fix her up had been a ridiculous idea even when they were just doing it to make Eli jealous. There was no way she was actually going through with it. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

“Why not? Mara knows him from work and she says he’s super smart and a great dancer. He’s going to meet us tomorrow evening to hang out. There won’t be any pressure. Just a chance for you to meet a nice guy.”

Kay still didn’t like the sound of it but figured it couldn’t do any harm. Especially if they were surrounded by a group of people. If the guy was a weirdo, she wouldn’t be stuck there alone with him. Maybe if she went this time, the girls would be satisfied and lose interest in fixing her up.