Page 18 of Some Saviors Can Break You

He was getting impatient.

Waiting wasn't something that Eli was good at.

Or used to doing.

When he wanted something he got it, the only thing in his life that he hadn't been able to get was something to save his family. His brother had died while he was off at a party with his friends. While he’d been having wild sex with his girlfriend ofthe moment, his brother had been struggling to breathe as his allergy squeezed the life out of him.

Although Eli had only been twenty at the time, his brother a decade older, that moment had changed his life. His course turned in a completely different direction, and as he walked a different path, bit by bit, he himself changed. That easy-going kid who still carried that air of immortality was gone, replaced by someone who had to learn how to survive in the cutthroat world of billion-dollar businesses.

Watching his mother waste away as she valiantly fought the cancer that was invading her body, and then his father die slowly of a broken heart having lost his other half, he’d been filled with a desire to find his other half. When he had pictured what that woman would be like it was nothing like Florence Harris, and yet she was the only woman he’d ever met who had consumed him.

She was all he could think about.

All day he’d been unable to concentrate, while he usually spent hours at the office, there was always something needing attention no matter how many people he had working for him, today he’d been counting down the hours until he could leave.

Florence hadn't told him when she’d be done for the day when he’d offered to come and pick her up after work, but since he knew which precinct she worked out of, he’d decided he would simply sit and wait for her to leave. Knowing it was unlikely that she would leave any earlier than five, he’d had his driver pick him up at quarter to and drive him over there so he could wait.

Which he was still doing nearly an hour later.

It took every single ounce of his self-control not to go barging in there and demand that she come with him.

If he wasn't trying to win her over and convince her to go on a date with him then he might have done it. But he knew for a factthat if he went all alpha controlling on her, all he would be doing was pushing her further away.

Eli had no idea why it was so important that he convince her to give him a chance, but he wasn't going to argue against how he felt, he was just going to go with it. He’d heard enough times growing up about how it had been love at first sight for his parents, and while he didn't think he was ready to claim that he was in love with Florence, he was intrigued and consumed enough to know that this could actually go somewhere.

The possibility was thrilling and terrifying.

Was he really ready for a serious commitment?

Was he ready for marriage and kids?

Was he ready to put someone before the company his father had built from the ground up, the company that he had sworn to make the most successful in the world?

Florence stepped out of the building, and he was shoving the door open and stepping out in seconds like he was a magnet drawn to her by the universe.

Just as he was crossing the street, she turned. When she noticed him, her eyes grew wide before her brow scrunched, it seemed she wasnothappy to see him.

Eli put on his most charming smile and was about to make a witty comment when a man stepped out from behind Florence.

A man.

A ridiculously good looking man with wavy black hair and piercing green eyes. The guy was taller than he was and was built like a rock.

A jealous haze descended on him.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice a deep growl. Did Florence have a boyfriend she had failed to mention? Was that why she had been so reluctant to agree to go on a date with him?

The idea that Florence belonged to another man left him feeling bereft.

“This is Jake,” Florence told him. “Jake, this is Eli Lennox. You know the guy from the other night who pushed me out of the way of the car.”

So she’d told this Jake man about him, but hadn't said a word to him about Jake, for some reason that infuriated him.

“Nice to meet you,” Jake said, holding out a hand, a friendly smile on his face.

Eli ignored the other man’s hand. “Are you dating her?” he demanded, pleased to hear that he sounded as ferocious as he felt.

Jake laughed, and even Florence was smirking. That only served to add further fuel to his anger. He had no idea why he was acting like a possessive jerk, he’d only known Florence for a couple of days, and he hadn't even been able to convince her to go out with him yet, if she was involved with this man then he should turn and leave before he made a fool out of himself.

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