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

through music where Bill had once stood. Or hear boy's laughter and shouting outside and be startled to see Pete instead of Kevin when she looked out the kitchen window. But none of that really bothered her.

The thing that did, much more than she thought it should, was that she and Eli were sleeping together like they had at the beginning: side by side, barely touching.

That first night of course, she'd been so upset over Pete and Kevin that she hadn't been up to anything more. The second night, they'd been packing and moving all day, and by the time she got to bed, Eli was already asleep and didn't stir when she got in bed. Then Friday night, she'd gone to bed first and was mostly asleep, but not quite, when Eli came in.

Before, in the apartment, he'd have woken her up, teased and kissed her into responding. But that night, in the house, it didn't happen. And she didn't like it.

Sunday afternoon, Eli took Pete down to the park. They'd found an old plastic disk sled in the garage and Pete drove them both crazy wanting to check it out. Marilyn had been invited, but--well, to be honest, she was feeling sorry for herself and wanted to stay home and sulk.

That night, Marilyn went to bed before Eli, but her nerves were wound too tight to sleep. She'd made up her mind. She was going to find out one way or another whether Eli was still interested in her. She could try seducing him. Maybe go to bed without her nightgown--but if a seduction didn't work, it would be too entirely embarrassing to be the only one naked in bed with nothing happening. Or she could ask him outright. Maybe.

Fortunately, Eli wasn't too far behind her, so she didn't have to obsess long. He sat on the edge of the bed for a minute before lifting the covers and sliding in. He turned to face her and Marilyn fairly buzzed with tension as she waited to see what he would do. Anything? Maybe she wouldn't have to scrape up any courage after all.

But nothing happened. And more nothing. Then he moved, sliding his hand across the immense space in the middle of the bed until his fingertips brushed her arm, and he sighed.

It took a while longer for Marilyn to decide that was all that would happen, and a while longer than that to decide what to do. In the end, her courage failed her. She couldn't seduce him. She just couldn't. If he turned away... But she could ask.

"Eli?" Her voice quivered.

"Yeah?"

"Are you asleep?"

There was a pause. "Well, I'm talking to you, aren't I? So I guess that means I'm awake."

Oh God, he was mad. She'd made him mad with her stupid question, and it wasn't even the right one. "I'm sorry. Never mind. Go back to sleep."

He sighed one of his long-suffering sighs and spoke without sarcasm. "I'm awake. I was awake already. What do you want, babe?"

"I just--" How could she ask without sounding totally pathetic? "Um..." Could she sound any more like a complete idiot? A pathetic idiot? "I got a call from one of my girlfriends today. She said you were buying Frankie Dicenzo's motorcycle shop."

"It's not a done deal yet, but yeah. That's my plan." His eyes glittered in the shadows cast by the nightlight in the hall behind him as he watched her. "Are you mad I didn't tell you? I didn't because--I guess because I wanted to be sure it didn't fall through. I'm just buying a partnership right now."

"I can understand that. You buying into a neighborhood business, it sounds like--are you staying?"

"Do you want me to stay?"

She wanted to scream with frustration. "Stop answering my question with another question. Do you want to stay?"

"I told you. I'll stay as long as you want me to."

"That's not what I asked." She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. No use getting upset. It would only start a fight. She could get upset after she found out what she wanted to know. Then they could fight. "I do want you to stay, Eli, but only if that's what you want too. I don't want you to keep hanging around here when inside you're itching to move on."

"No itch."

She could see his smile in the shadows.

"I want to stay, Marilyn," he went on, sliding his fingertips lightly up and down her arm. "If that's all right with you. Long as you want."

"--you want." She said the last words with him. She'd heard them so many times, but still didn't know what he meant. "Why?"

"Why...?" Eli tipped his head back, moving the shadow it cast out of her face. "Why do I want to stay?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Not to me. Unless it's the free rent and child care."

He sat straight up in the bed and switched on the lamp beside it. "Is that what you think? That I'm some kind of freeloader? Damn it, Marilyn--" He grabbed his wallet off the lamp table, opened it and let the contents fall out onto the bed. "Here. Take it. Nobody says Eli Court doesn't pay his way. Not enough? I'll get more tomorrow. We'll settle up then."

"Stop it!" She gathered up the bills on the bed and threw them at him, fighting to keep her anger from dissolving into tears. "I don't want your money."

He threw them back at her. "Then what do you want? What the hell is this all about?"

Marilyn turned to sit cross-legged facing him and dropped her head in her hands. She'd made such a mess of things already, could she possibly make them any worse? Probably.

Why was she so worried about protecting herself anyway? It never seemed to stop the hurt, no matter how protective she got. "I just--I wanted to--" She took a deep breath and looked at him.

Eli sat on the edge of the bed, one foot--the good one--on the floor like he was ready to