A glint of light caught her eye. Eli’s closet doors were open. There were rows and rows of shiny and colorful objects. There was something hanging near the door that looked like a long belt. She leaned closer to see what it was.
“Oh my God.” She almost fell forward when she realized what she was looking at. It looked like some kind of torture device, made from leather with a multitude of long, flowing strips at the end. With a small gasp, she stood and walked closer. One shelf held small metal instruments. Kay couldn’t even begin to imagine what some of them were for, but they looked painful.
And scary as hell.
The second shelf held things that she could at least identify. Kay blushed all the way down to her toes as she looked at the row of vibrators. Sasha had always kept hers in her bedside drawer and loved to mortify Kaylee by whipping it out. Kay had always been curious about them and wanted to get one, but every time she decided to do it, she chickened out. It was so childish, but she couldn’t help wondering what if her mother ever came over and stumbled across it. She would instantly die from the embarrassment. Plus, she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it, and that wasn’t the kind of thing you could ask someone.
“It’s okay now. I called headquarters so they’d know it was a false alarm.” Eli appeared in the doorway to the room. When he noticed her staring into the closet, he stiffened.
Kay backed up a step and looked down at her feet. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking.”
Eli came into the room and shut the closet door. She sneaked a glance in his direction to see him watching her, his eyes guarded.
“Well, I should go take a shower.”
“Kay, wait.”
Eli took a step in her direction and she couldn’t help but shrink back. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment, and when he opened them, the pain on his face made Kay instantly sorry.
“I would never hurt you, angel.”
“I know. I’m so sorry. I was just shocked by… everything. I didn’t mean to snoop, I swear. It was just the closet was open—”
“You don’t have to explain anything. I just wanted you to know that what’s in
there doesn’t change anything between you and me. It doesn’t matter.”
Kay let out a half sigh, half sob. “It doesn’t matter? Of course it matters. Eli, I don’t even know what half that stuff is.”
Eli ran his hands over his bald head. “You don’t need to know what it is because I was never going to show it to you anyway.”
Fantastic, Kay thought. She wasn’t sure what his deal was, with him kissing her, calling her his angel, and teasing her until she was so hot that just the brush of her thighs against each other was enough to set her off. He’d trusted her with so much, telling her things she was pretty sure no one else knew. She’d definitely trusted him with everything she had.
Had he been planning to hide this part of himself forever?
“I want you to forget about it. Okay? I know it upset you, but if you could just pretend you never saw it, we can go back to the way things were.” Eli watched her closely, like he was afraid she would break at any minute.
The problem, Kay thought, was he was probably right.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ELI STOOD AT the mantel in the living room, staring into the flames dancing in the grate. When he’d done the upgrades to the house, he’d converted the fireplace to an automatic. All you had to do was flick a switch. Standing there, awash with anger and regret, he found that he missed the old way when you had to go out in the cold and chop wood. It would have given him something to do with his hands. And something to hit.
A door slammed in the hall and he looked up. A second later, another door closed. Then it was silent again. He hung his head. Kay was probably going to spend the rest of the day in her room, hiding from him. She probably didn’t feel safe being alone with him now.
He yanked his cell phone from his belt, desperate to do something useful. A few minutes later, Tank answered.
“Hey, boss.”
“Where are we with Banner? Have you found anything to connect Jeremy and Timothy Banner?”
“No. Although Jeremy claims he was always paid in cash, and I believe him. Everything he’s told us so far has been true, so I can’t think of any reason he would lie about that one detail. Banner was also telling the truth about his campaign platform. He’s already scheduled several interviews to talk about alternative family values and the need for diversity in the senate. So he wasn’t just blowing smoke to throw me off.”
Eli pinched his nose, massaging the tension between his eyes. “So your hunch was correct. It looks like Banner isn’t involved.”
A sound at the doorway drew his attention. Kay peered around the doorjamb.
“Tank, I have to go. Let me know as soon as you find something.”