Free Trouble in Sudden Falls: A Sudden Falls Romance by Elizabeth Bemis

it with a grateful look, dabbed at his eyes then blew his nose.
    “Have you taken any allergy medication?”
    He nodded. “Yeah. But it takes some time before it’ll build up in my system. I should be better by next week.”
    “This got left in my mailbox.” She handed him the envelope.
    He took it. “Thanks.”
    “So where is Rogan? How was his first day of school?”
    “I gather it landed on his enjoyment scale somewhere between having bamboo shoots rammed under his fingernails and getting poked in the eyes with a hot stick.”
    “That good?”
    Getting to his feet, he murmured an affirmative response. “As to your first question, he’s hiding up in his room putting together his own network.”
    She raised an eyebrow with a grin. “And where did he get the equipment to do such a thing?”
    Eli made it to the ground floor and headed for the kitchen, keeping as much distance as possible between himself and the dog. “I gave him some leftover kit.” He shook his head and his voice rang with pride as he continued. “That kid is installing Linux from the command line .”
    Maddie shook her head and tried to make sense of what he said. “Which means…what?” She pointed at herself. “Microsoft girl. Me no like-y Unix.”
    He grinned. “You no learn-y Unix. You’d like it if you got to know it.”
    “I’m outta the computer biz, remember? So what does that mean?”
    “Many describe installing Apache from source rather than pre-built binaries as similar to pounding two-inch-thick wooden spikes through your forehead with a halibut.”
    A giggle escaped her and she almost relaxed.
    At least until she thought of their “bet”.
    She shook her head. She wasn’t going to think about that. “Ahh. So he takes after his father, then.” She tried not to be impressed by Eli’s growing relationship with his son, but it was a losing battle. While the guys weren’t sharing deep dark secrets or even the occasional man-hug, they had evidently found a common ground in computers, which was a giant first step. She absolutely could not let herself fall under his spell.
    “How goes the house cleaning?” he asked.
    He wasn’t even going to mention their conversation the night before? Explain why he made that ridiculous bet? Could he have already forgotten?
    There was a look in his eyes that she hadn’t noticed before last night. A predatory look.
    Oh, he definitely hadn’t forgotten.
    “It’s going,” she said. The suspense was killing her. While she was normally a big fan of avoidance—at least where Eli was concerned—she couldn’t take it today. “So, that bet last night… you weren’t serious, were you?”
    Eli winked at her, the predatory look turning downright rapacious. “Sure was. I’ve wanted to get my hands on that car for years.”
    The car ? He’d bet her that she’d have sex with him for crying out loud. She thought he must be kidding, but with Eli, it was hard to tell. What if he took it seriously enough to pursue her? While she pondered that terrifying thought, Rogan sauntered down the steps.
    “Can I borrow the skateboard that’s hanging in the garage?”
    She could tell Eli wanted to say no. “How’s the install going?”
    “Fine. Need to get away from it for a bit. Do you mind if I use the skateboard or not?”
    She watched Eli take a deliberate, calming breath. “Go ahead. There’s a park about four blocks from here. Hang a right out of the driveway. Go down two blocks, turn right and two more blocks on the left. Don’t skate on the sidewalks if anyone’s walking on them.”
    Rogan tensed as Eli cautioned him. He left without saying anything else.
    “What did I do now?” Eli asked as if they hadn’t been in the middle of a conversation of nearly life-or-death importance.
    Maddie shrugged, too bewildered to do anything else. “Aren’t you worried he’ll get into trouble?”
    “Every moment. But I can hardly keep him under lock and key.”
    He came closer, making Maddie