“Sure, but you sound a little upset and—”
“It’s just that I’ve known them a long time. That’s all. And having a police detective walk in here made it into a bigger deal in my head.”
“You get used to him,” Eric said.
“Is he the one who’s dating your sister?”
“Living with her,” Eric corrected.
“Oh. Well, I just thought you should know. That he came by. That he’s pursuing it.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
He sighed, the sound echoing around the hard-walled space he was in. “I apologize. He told me earlier. I meant to call you, and then I got busy and… I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you.”
He should have. “I was pretty startled by a cop coming in here to interview me, and then his partner came and it kind of freaked me out.”
“I know. I really meant to call, but…”
“I think you owe me again.”
“Oh?” he murmured.
She’d said it as a joke, but the silence on Eric’s end suddenly felt very serious. Beth sat up straight and breathed out so sharply that it rasped into the phone line.
“Are you asking me to come over again?” His voice didn’t echo now. It was too low.
“No, I—”
“Well, if I owe you, I should pay up.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she finally managed to get out.
“Are you sure?”
Was she? Because her body had come to startling life at the idea. “We agreed this couldn’t be a regular thing.”
“We did. But two nights? That’s hardly regular.” His voice was still soft, but there was no mistaking the calm sternness of his personality. He made everything sound so reasonable. “Is it?”
Beth’s gaze fell on the box of faux-fur panties that sat next to her desk.
She needed to stretch her wings. This wasn’t about Eric, this was about her. But working on herself was a long-term goal. In the short term, her choices seemed to be Eric, or fantasies about Eric to help her get herself off. What the hell kind of choice was that? He seemed more than willing to help her out, even if he hadn’t actually applied for the job of sex assistant.
And she wanted him. Wasn’t that enough? “You’re right,” she found herself whispering. “Can you come over tonight?”
“Yes.”
“But we can’t keep doing this.”
“I know.”
“You have your life,” she insisted. “I have mine.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more. But tonight…”
“Yeah,” she breathed. “Tonight.”