“I have my reasons,” Eli said, but didn’t explain further.
“I have just one question,” Jeff said. “Are you still in love with her?”
“Absolutely,” Eli said. “It’s never changed and I didn’t think it would.” He hung up.
Jeff had trouble going back to sleep and he woke early. One thing he realized during his wakefulness was that it was in his own best interest to make this work between Eli and Chelsea. If it didn’t, Eli’s broken heart would affect a lot of people. Hell! It could affect the entire country. Maybe the world.
Jeff waited until seven to call Melissa. “Not too early, is it?”
“I’ve been working out since six,” she said.
“That explains why you look so good in your uniform.”
“Yeah? So what’s on your mind?”
He told her about Eli’s planned camping trip and the photography sessions.
“She hates camping, but that’s where he’s taking her? That boss of yours is romance personified. Want to meet for breakfast and talk about this?”
“Anything in town open at this hour?”
“My kitchen is.”
Jeff drew in his breath. “My favorite restaurant. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Eli was dreaming. He was remembering how he and Chelsea had been best friends, how they’d worked so well together. Then the dream changed and they were both adults and she held out her arms to him.
He pulled her close, feeling her warm body against his, and he kissed her. It wasn’t a kiss like any he’d ever felt before, but deeper, reaching down inside himself.
The dream continued and they were in bed together. His leg moved over her hips; his mouth was on hers. Searching, seeking. It was the first time that all of him, his body, his mind, his very so
ul, had merged with another person. He was holding nothing back. This was Chelsea, the women he’d loved all his life. If there were ever soul mates, they were it.
Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and light came in. “Do you have any pain pills? Aspirin? Ibuprofen?”
“Kitchen,” Eli said as his lips moved to Chelsea’s neck.
A switch was flipped and the two bedside lights came on.
“I don’t mean to bother you two, but where in the kitchen?”
It took Eli a moment to realize who was at his bedroom door. He turned sideways to look at her, his eyes trying to adjust to the light. “Chelsea?”
Pointedly, she looked at the woman in Eli’s arms. She had long dark hair and sultry eyes that were only half-open. Her lips were full and quite red from kissing.
He turned to her. “Pilar?”
“Mmmm,” she said as she snuggled against him. “And good morning to you, too.”
Eli started to move away but she twisted one of her long—and bare—legs around his and he couldn’t move without a wrestling match.
“Top right-hand drawer in the island,” Pilar said to Chelsea. “Maybe you could give us a bit of time together. Oh, by the way, I’m Pilar, and you must be Chelsea. I’m so very pleased to meet you.”
Chelsea watched as Pilar stepped out of bed. She had on a man’s white dress shirt, her long legs bare. She was almost as tall as Chelsea, almost as slim, and nearly as beautiful. “I’ll . . .” She couldn’t think what to say. “Kitchen,” she added, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
“What the hell are you doing?” Eli said as soon as they were alone, and he sat up in the bed.
“Giving your race-car-loving girlfriend a bit of a competition. You know, Eli, if you kissed other women like you just did me, they’d be all over you. A woman would die for you.”