For the last couple of years Jeff had felt restless, as though he wanted more in life. For a while it had been a dream come true to get to follow Eli around the world, even to get calls in the middle of the night. It had even been exciting to visit Eli in a hospital.
But somewhere in there the extreme excitement had become boring. When he visited his kid sister, he found that he envied her her two kids. He wished he could know where he was going to be next month. Hell, he’d like to be sure where he’d be spending the night. At any minute, Eli might call, and Jeff would have to leave.
Right now, for all that Jeff seemed to be on the outs with Eli, he knew their friendship was strong enough to withstand whatever Jeff decided his future would be. But no
w was not the time for that discussion, for Eli was totally absorbed with Chelsea. After years of seeing his boss ignore women, it was startling to see him so fascinated with one.
Melissa had seen it too. “What will Eli do if Chelsea leaves him?” she asked as the waiter poured the wine.
“Bury himself in work,” Jeff said. “And I do mean that literally. My worry is that when he goes into the field again, he won’t be . . . careful. He takes too many risks as it is.”
“I don’t mean to be negative,” Melissa said, “but I can’t imagine someone like Chelsea settling down and making cupcakes for the school fund-raiser.”
“What about you?” Jeff asked. “You like cupcakes?”
“I’m rather good at baking,” she said, smiling.
“I’m beginning to think that you’re good at everything.”
“I’m—” She broke off because Jeff’s phone buzzed. She knew he had two cell phones, one that he often turned off, but the one with the black cover was always on, always with him. Right now it was on the table beside him.
Jeff didn’t hesitate in picking up the phone and looking at the message. “I have to go,” he said as he stood up, dropped a fifty-dollar bill on the table, and hurried out of the restaurant.
Melissa caught up with him when he reached the valet stand.
Jeff turned to her. “Where does Grace Ridgeway live?”
“I’ll drive you there.”
“No!” he said. “It’s Eli and it’s NH4.”
Melissa glared at him.
“It’s our own code. It means Need Help, Level Four. That’s the top. There might be firearms involved.”
“Oh?” She opened her handbag to pull out a .45. “Like this one?”
Jeff looked at the weapon, then at her. “I think maybe this tells too much about me, but I’m so hot for you right now that if I didn’t have to go save Eli, I’d pull you into the bushes.”
The valet arrived with Melissa’s car. “I have lots of shrubs around my house, and when we finish this, I’ll show them to you. Get in. I’m driving.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jeff said, grinning as he got into the passenger seat.
When Eli and Chelsea heard the siren coming toward the house, they smiled at each other.
Orin looked up at the sound, but he didn’t seem to think it had anything to do with him. He was examining the fourth drawer. But when the dark sedan with its blazing lights stopped in front of the house, he dropped the drawer and ran for the back door.
“Stay here!” Eli said to Chelsea, then leaped out of the closet.
Chelsea didn’t think about what she did, but as she’d always done, she just followed Eli. But when she burst out of the closet, she saw that Orin had a gun pointed at the middle of Eli.
Chelsea’s mind seemed to work with lightning speed. It looked like Eli was going to leap and Orin was going to fire. There was no room for Eli to get away from a bullet.
Remembering the lecherous way Orin had looked at her, she grabbed the top of her shirt with both hands and pulled hard. Buttons went flying—and exposed her breasts in a bra so tiny it was barely a whisper of black lace.
For the flash of a second, Orin’s eyes left Eli and went to Chelsea’s nearly bare chest. And in that second, Eli was able to knock the gun from Orin’s hand. It hit the far wall and went clattering down.
But Chelsea’s trick of exposing herself almost backfired when Eli saw what she’d done. “Bloody hell!” he said just before he made a leap for Orin.