Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📕

"And?"

Joey blew out a breath, handing his cup to Eli who was refilling his own. "I don't know. Maybe she listened." He shook his head. "Who knows? Eighteen-year-old girls don't think like normal people."

Marilyn sighed. "I don't know what she'd think was worse--letting Pete stay in her room, or fixing Kevin's room for him."

"What did you say?" Joey sat up straight, staring at her.

"What? I don't know if--?" Then she understood. "Oh. Kevin. I did say that, didn't I?"

"What happened?" Joey looked over at Eli, hunting answers. Eli ran his good set of sock-covered toes up the back of her leg, watching Marilyn.

She fussed with her cup a minute. "I sort of fell apart last night... Oh, let's be honest. I was hysterical."

"Upset," Eli said. "Not hysterical."

"Next thing to it. And the next thing I know, I was telling Eli all about Kevin and--and everything." She stared at her cooling coffee until the silence stretched so long she couldn't stand it, then she looked up.

Joey was watching Eli. Eli was looking at her, waiting for her to look back, to see him. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded. Finally Eli met Joey's gaze.

Her brother held it a moment, then nodded. "Thanks, man."

Eli nodded back. It made Marilyn feel funny inside, like something had just happened--something important--and she'd missed it completely.

She fidgeted. "So what time are you going to come help us get moved out of the apartment?"

Joey looked at his watch. "Have to go back to work." He grabbed yet another bagel and took a bite. "Hate to eat and run, but..."

"Eat and run is all you ever do." Marilyn kicked his ankle, not too hard. "Leave work early. I expect to see you there."

"Yeah, yeah." Joey stood and sucked down the rest of his coffee. "Are you sure you're not going to want to be moving back there in three more months?"

Marilyn looked at Eli. His casts were due to come off next Tuesday. Would he and Pete still be around after that? "No, but you need the exercise."

"Okay, okay, I'll be there." Joey grabbed his coat and vanished out the door with a wave, bagel clenched in his teeth.

"I was going to get Pete enrolled in school today," Eli said, gathering up the after-breakfast debris. "But maybe I need to be looking for a place to live instead."

"Why?" Oh God, he wanted to leave before next week.

"You told Joey you were moving back--"

"Oh for--I didn't mean it. Joey was whining. I was harassing him. I said you and Pete could stay as long as you want. I mean it."

Eli stared into the sink a minute after setting his cup in it, then turned around and stared at her. "And you? Are you going to stay here with us? Are you giving up the apartment?"

"It's just a month-to-month rental, so yes. If you want, I'll give it up."

"What do you want, Marilyn?"

You. But she couldn't tell him that. It made her too pathetic. "I'll let the apartment go."

He nodded. "You done with that?" He pointed at her cup.

She handed it to him. "What about you? How long are you staying?"

Again he looked at her, his eyes blazing brighter than before. "How long do you want me to stay?"

Forever. But she couldn't say that either. She didn't want it, not when she knew he'd get tired of her before long. She wouldn't be one of those needy, clingy, desperate women, trying to hang on long after the spark was gone. "As long as you want. As long as you need to. How many times do I have to say it?"

His lips quirked up in a smile and he leaned in to kiss her. Just before their mouths touched, he spoke. "As many times as it takes for me to believe it, I guess."

"Believe." She kissed him.

He was so young, so full of passion and heat and life, so filled with contrasts. His lips softened, coaxing her mouth to open, and his body hardened, urging her legs apart. His fingers traced the lines of her face as they kissed.

His tough façade concealed a man who knew how to be gentle. Only a man who was truly strong, who had no doubts whatsoever about his own strength, was capable of gentleness. Marilyn believed that, heart and soul. And in every sense of the word, Eli was a gentleman.

She slipped her hands under his shirt, reveling in the feel of his strong young body. He leaned back against the counter, settling her against him as he continued the kiss, more leisurely now, as if he knew she wouldn't try to get away.

"Kissing again?" Pete's voice interrupted them. "Don't you guys do anything else?"

Eli laughed, refusing to let Marilyn go. She hid her face against him, embarrassed beyond relief. "Better get used to it, kid," Eli said. "I've got a ways to go before I catch up."

"With what? The kissing world record?" Pete leaned against the cabinet beside them. "You're not gonna make this, like, a regular thing, are you? All this hugging and mushy stuff?" He eyed them both suspiciously.

"Maybe," Eli teased.

"No maybes about it." Marilyn spread her arms and advanced on Pete, walking slowly like a mummy from an old Abbott and Costello movie. "I need hugs. I need mushy stuff."

Pete yelled in mock fright and darted around the table. "No! You can't catch me! No hugs!"

She moved a little faster, her heart somehow tearing apart and mending at the same time, to the sound of Pete's boisterous laughter.

He tripped over a chair and Eli caught him before he hit the ground, sending him into shrieks of giggles by lifting his shirt and blowing on his stomach.

"I need hugs." Marilyn kept up her movie monster act, wrapping her arms around both of them and squeezing while Pete giggled and squealed and fought to get free. Then Eli lost his balance and they all crashed together to the floor where they lay, stunned.

Pete was still half-laughing as he