“A musician, eh? I’ll do that, Glory,” Franco promised.
Bethany was listening to all of this closely. Her fingers crept toward her cell phone. She was clearly dying for a selfie with a major star.
Francone gave his head a little shake: no.
Bethany’s hands went back to her silverware.
And just then Eli stretched luxuriously, and his shoulders and pecs moved in a very interesting way beneath his t-shirt, and Glory’s head felt light and irritability and frustration were like burrs over her skin.
“Have to keep my hair short and streamlined these days,” Eli said. “I can catch the bad guys faster that way.”
He actually winked at Bethany.
She’d never seen Eli wink in his life. Growing up they’d all tacitly agreed that winking was lame and strictly the province of elderly perverted uncles and the like.
Bethany laughed softly and she touched Eli’s arm again.
Glory remembered that big, brown arm braced against the tree when she looked up into his face that night. And then his hands sliding down against her skin into her jeans, and somehow he’d shown her about two dozen new degrees of bliss with just his mouth. All inside of about two minutes.
And it was all Glory could do not to reach over and take Bethany’s hand from him and press it gently and firmly down on the table as if she were correcting a grabby toddler or training a puppy.No, Bethany. Bad, Bethany. Down, Bethany.
“We’re going to need a minute to look at the menu, if that’s all right, Glory?” Eli said mildly.
Even withtheFranco Francone sitting there and complimenting her with the names of actresses she’d never heard of, the wordwewas like nails raked right over Glory’s heart.
This was entirely unexpected. Whyshouldn’tEli date? Why shouldn’t Eli be happy with this clearly normal, very pretty, if probably a bit slutty, blonde, who probably had perfectly manageable relatives and wasn’t holding a poisonous grudge against him?
She turned abruptly away from him. “Mr.Francone, what can I bring you?”
“Umm... the keys to your heart, of course, Glory. And an egg white omelet. Have to stay in fighting trim so I can fight bad guys on TV and get photographed on the red carpet.”
He didn’t wink, but he did grin at her again as if she were in on the joke.
She laughed musically, perhaps even a little maniacally, and whipped around so fast Eli was forced to duck like a ninja to avoid being lashed by her braid.
She might get to like that braid, after all.
Sherrie took that table from her immediately with these diplomatic words: “Hon, I think the dynamic there is a little too tricky for your first day on the job. Maybe another day.”
As ifthatwas ever going to be a regular threesome.
Glory wasn’t certain whether to be grateful or sorry Sherrie took that table away.
She tried to keep an eye on things there, but the rest of the tables managed to keep Glory scrambling, and then Eli and Bethany and then Franco were gone before she knew it, though she sincerely doubted they’d departed together.
She wished she could take a moment to decide how she felt.
Glenn pulled her aside during something of a lull around two o’clock. “Sherrie and I thought you might like to discuss your first day of work. Why don’t you sit right here, kiddo. We’ll keep it short.”
Uh-oh.
“Is this a good cop, bad cop, kind of thing?” she tried.
Which made her think about Eli and Franco Francone. Although that was more hot cop, hot fake cop.
“Ha ha.” Glenn’s laugh sounded insincere.
In other words, yes.