Free Elemental Enchantment by Bronwyn Green Page B

I’m not about to push myself on someone who’s not interested.”
    She opened her mouth then closed it just as quickly. She had no idea how to respond to that. The truth was, she still wanted him. Now, more than ever. But that couldn’t happen again.
    He opened the door and paused. “Can I trust you not to go all Scooby Doo gang and investigate this guy yourself in the meanwhile?”
    She couldn’t promise she wouldn’t if Eli didn’t get anywhere, but for now, she could agree to it. She nodded.
    “Good.” He pinned her with a stare. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
    While she waited, she made copies of all of the pictures Ava appeared in. She emailed the shots she’d taken of Eli sleeping and the ones Toby had taken of Meaghan and Eli dancing to herself then removed them from the card. She couldn’t bring herself to delete them. They were beautiful photographs and the only ones she’d ever have of him.
    Meaghan tried to distract herself by working on more of the edits Toby had asked for. Meaghan had no clue how’d explain all this to her boss. She was an awesome employer and friend, but Meaghan couldn’t even imagine what Toby’s reaction would be.
    The clock crept toward midnight, and Eli hadn’t returned. Maybe he’d just agreed to look into the car thing to placate her and had no intention of following up at all. That didn’t sit well with his Boy Scout persona, but what did she really know about him? Well, she knew he was a fantastic lover. And god, he was gorgeous. He seemed kind. She was usually a good judge of character—she couldn’t imagine she was that far off the mark. Of course, the one other time when it had really mattered, she’d been really wrong, and look how that had turned out.
    Too restless to sit still any longer, Meaghan packed up her computer and headed for home. She’d promised Eli she wouldn’t do a Scooby-Doo-and-the-gang investigation of Bob, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do her own style of sleuthing. If it wasn’t so late, she’d invite Rowan over to help cast a scrying spell. It would be more powerful with both of them working together, but it was already pushing twelve-thirty and Rowan was sure to be fast asleep. No, she’d do it on her own.

 
    Chapter Ten
     
     
     
    Bone tired and dragging ass, all Eli really wanted to do was crawl into bed. Actually, what he really wanted was to crawl into Meaghan’s bed, but despite her obvious interest in him, if the pictures and sex were anything to go by, she’d made it pretty clear that wasn’t happening again. He still needed to tell her what he’d found out about the car. He just hadn’t been planning on another last-minute call involving another damn house party. The kids in this county really needed to get some habits that didn’t involve trashing the houses of out-of-town parents. At least, this house had been goat-free, but it did feature a drunken six-foot-four linebacker with fists like ham hocks. Eli’s jaw would be bruised to hell for days. Good thing the wedding was over. Shannon would have been furious if he’d showed up to the ceremony looking like he did now. Small mercies, he supposed.
    He pulled into the parking lot of the photography studio, but the windows were dark and the VW was gone. He glanced at the clock on his dashboard. Almost two-thirty in the morning—quite a bit later than he usually got out on the weekend, but it had taken several hours to round up all the kids who had tried to hide in the cornfield behind the house. He wasn’t even sure he’d gotten them all, but he’d probably gotten enough to make a point. He’d also taken so long Meaghan had decided not to hang around.
    He knew where she lived, thanks to pulling her over earlier. He’d be lying if he said her address hadn’t been imprinted on his brain the moment he’d read it. The question was, would it be unethical for him to do a drive by and stop in if she was awake? If he were in uniform, the answer would