Page 30 of Some Saviors Can Break You

“I honestly don’t think there was much I wouldn’t have done to convince Susannah that we should be together. I just felt it, I can't explain it any better than that. I know she did too once she let go of her concerns. So the question is, what is your gut telling you, and is your heart telling you it’s worth the work to prove to Florence that you two could have something real. Only you can answer those questions.” Elliot stood and walked to the door where he paused. “Can I take it that you won't be in the office tomorrow?”

Eli didn't even have to think about what his heart was saying, it was screaming at him that he shouldn’t let Florence get away. His gut was also telling him what he had to do to get her to agree to his Valentine’s Day plans.

“Oh, I definitely will not be coming into the office tomorrow.”

“Hope your plan goes off without a hitch.”

“Me too.” Florence was stubborn, but she wasn't stupid, and she was already getting used to the idea that he wasn't going anywhere. If she said yes to his plans for tomorrow, then he was pretty sure that by this time tomorrow, they would be a couple.

8:53 P.M.

Her optimism this morning that this case might be wrapped up by the end of the day was over.

Justin Bates had been in custody when Jana Friedrick had been murdered, so if she was the sixteenth victim of the Dumpster Killer, he wasn't the man they were looking for. So either the eye painted in blood at the scene was a random thing, or an attempt to throw them off the case by the real killer, or Justin wasn't the serial killer.

Florence wasn't sure which was worse.

She liked Justin for the Dumpster Killer, he fit their profile, hated women, was definitely full of rage, but he had been in a jail cell waiting to try to get bail, there was no possible way he could have killed Jana. If the cases were related, then they were back to square one in finding the serial killer.

There was always the chance that the DNA that CSU had gotten from the blood at the apartment—which she had been correct in assuming belonged to the assailant and not Jana—would get a hit in the system, but they couldn’t count on that. If forensics didn't work out then she didn't know where she and Jake would look next.

Dropping the file she had been poring over, Florence rubbed her temples, she was getting a headache.

Disappointment over the case wasn't the only disappointment she’d faced today.

Other than the couple of texts they’d exchanged this morning, she hadn't heard from Eli all day.

She missed him.

It didn't make any sense that she was falling for him so quickly, especially given her past and who he was, and what she’s always thought she would want in a man if she were ever to settle down.

But none of that seemed to matter.

She was attracted to him, he was a good looking guy, so that went without saying, but it went deeper than that. She had actually had a good time with him last night on their date that she wasn't quite ready to admit was a date. He’d made her laugh, and she’d liked seeing his sweeter side when he’d talked about his family. He was charming and undeniably cocky, but underneath that he had a big heart, and that made him kind of adorable.

Could something really develop between them?

Something real?

Something lasting?

Did she even believe that relationshipscouldlast?

Not only had her dad abandoned her and her brother, but her mother had gone through a grand total of seventeen men before she graduated high school, none of them had lasted more than a few months, and each was worse than the last.

How could she believe in happy endings when her life experience was exactly the opposite?

Her gut told her that Eli was different, that there wasn't a single similarity between him and the men who had her putting a lock on her bedroom door and sleeping against it so she’d know if any of them tried to enter during the night.

Eli might be a good guy, but he was so far out of her league it terrified her. She’d grown up in a trailer in the middle of a field without electricity and running water, what did she know about fancy charity balls, and which fork was for salad and which was for dessert, and talking with people who had never had to worry about going to bed hungry?

Despite all of her worries, she grinned when her phone chimed with a text message, and she saw it was from Eli.

Eli

Hey, princess, I missed you today

She’d missed him too, and this time she wasn't going to let fear make her run and hide. She’d never hidden from anything else in her life, and she wasn't about to start now.

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