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“Sure, of course. I’ll drive you home, and if you want I can come up, I make a mean chicken noodle soup, and I don’t want to brag, but I give the best massages, ten minutes with my hands on those tense shoulders of yours and you’ll be out like a light, you’ll sleep like a baby through the night.”

“You don’t want to brag?” she asked with an arched brow. “Because that doesn’t sound like you.”

Eli relaxed a little at her teasing banter, maybe he was just getting a weird vibe from her because she was feeling sick with a headache. “Okay, I am bragging about my massages, I have a reputation to maintain after all.”

“Well, not that I think you're overselling yourself, but I'm going to pass, I just want to sleep.”

“All right,” he agreed. It went against his every instinct to acquiesce so easily, but she’d kissed him, and she’d teased him, he had to believe that she was just worn out and not trying to push him away.

After hearing what he’d told her about her past he understood why she might want to push him away.

She hadn't had anyone to trust, and believing that he wasn't going to be just another person to hurt her had to be hard.

If she needed a little space he could give her that.

Taking her hand, he led her over to the car and helped her inside. When he slid in beside her and put an arm around her shoulder, she leaned into him and laid her head on his shoulder.

The ride to her apartment didn't take long, and he soaked in the feel of her warm, soft body against his.

His fingers stroked her hair which was hanging loosely around her shoulders, and rubbed up and down her arm, pleased when she gave a small content sigh and snuggled closer.

His heart squeezed almost painfully at the sound, he wanted this so much it hurt.

How did he convince Florence of that?

He’d told her over and over again that he was serious about her and that he didn't care that they had grown up in two different worlds. He’d tried to show her with his actions as well, the trip to Florence was meant to show her just how special he thought she was, it wasn't something he did with every woman he dated.

As much as it killed him, maybe he had to take a step back and let her come to the same place he was on her own. He couldn’t force her to believe him, he could continue to show her, but in the end, she had to learn to believe in him.

“Want me to walk you up?” he asked when they pulled up in front of her building.

“No, thanks. If I let you come up you're just going to try to convince me to let you in, I know what you’re like.” The smile she gave him this time was almost sad like she knew what he was like, but her past was trying to convince her that she was wrong, and there was something sinister hiding underneath his persona.

“All right, call me if you feel worse and I can be here in fifteen minutes,” he told her.

“Okay,” she agreed.

“Call me if you change your mind and want that massage.” He winked.

“Okay,” she said again, this time with an eye roll.

“Call me if you get lonely and need some company.”

“Eli,” she said overly patiently, “I promise I will call you if I need you. But believe it or not, I know how to take care of myself.”

“You don’t need to take care of yourself anymore now though, princess.

You have me. And I want to take care of you when you're sick.” He cupped her cheek in his hand and fixed his eyes on hers, holding her gaze and not letting it go like he could help her look inside his mind to see he was telling her the truth.

“I appreciate that,” she said, but her bottom lip trembled a little and for a second he was terrified she was going to cry. Women and tears were not something he was good at dealing with. Was any guy?

“Sleep well, princess, I’ll text you to say goodnight later.” He leaned in and feathered his lips across those sweet lips of hers.

“Night,” she whispered when he released her. With a wave, she turned and hurried into her building, pausing to look back before the door swung closed. His instincts were screaming at him to go after her, but he didn't want to crowd her right now when she was obviously battling against herself.

He asked his driver to take him back to the office, he may as well get some more work done since the evening he had planned for Florence wasn't going ahead. He’d give her an hour or two to take her bath and then he’d check in, make sure she was okay, and wish her sweet dreams.

Making his way through the quiet building, he saw the light on in Elliot’s office and thought he might stop by, see if Elliot had any advice for what he should do next with Florence.

“Hey, Elliot, do you…” he broke off as he opened the door to find Elliot with his arms wrapped around Susannah, their hair and clothes were mussed, their lips locked, and the desk in disarray. Obviously he had interrupted their office rendezvous. “I am so glad you guys have your clothes on.”

“If you'd walked in five minutes earlier we wouldn’t,” Elliot said. “What are you doing here? I thought you had plans with Florence.”

“She said she had a headache so I dropped her off at her apartment.”

“Florence is the cop, right? The one you saved a few nights ago?” Susannah asked, disentangling herself from Elliot’s arms.

“She is,” he nodded. “Yesterday we had this amazing day in Florence, and today she’s back to pushing me away again. I don’t get her. Scratch that, I don’t get women,” he said, walking over to the desk and sinking down into one of the chairs.

“You took her to Florence?” Susannah asked wide-eyed.

“For Valentine’s Day.”

“You took her all the way to Italy for Valentine’s Day?

Elliot, you are really failing in the dates department, you gotta lift your game,” she said, swatting her husband on the arm, then she turned her attention to Eli.

“She’s probably not used to being whisked off to another country for a date, I mean it’s such a sweet idea, but I'd be overwhelmed if I were her. I remember going to a charity ball with Elliot when we first got together, and I felt out of my element, I can't imagine how I would have felt if he’d done that. I mean, I would have loved it, and the gesture would have touched me, but I would have also felt so out of his league.”

“It really would have been that big a deal to you?” he asked. If it was that big a deal to someone like Susannah who had lived a middle-class life, then he couldn’t imagine how it would have felt for someone who grew up the way Florence had.

“Oh, yeah. Being around rich people can make the rest of us nervous, especially since she likes you and probably doesn’t want to disappoint you,” Susannah told him.

“She could never disappoint me.”

“You know that, but does she?”

“So how do I convince her that I don’t care about money and the different ways we grew up?”

“You have to connect with her on a different level. You did the all-out extravagant gesture with the Valentine’s Day date in Italy, now show her that you can be just a regular guy,” Susannah suggested.

“I’d listen to her, man, she’s good at giving advice,” Elliot said, wrapping his arms around Susannah and kissing her neck.

Connect with her on a different level, he could do that, sure he was used to having money and using it to get what he wanted, but being wealthy didn't define him. He would give up every cent he owned if it would get him his parents and brother back. Florence was his chance to create a new family, not that it could replace the one he’d lost, but he didn't want to be alone anymore.

He wanted to share his life with someone, get married, have kids, travel the world, and grow old side by side.

Florence was the only woman he’d met who he could see himself living that life with.

Eli would do whatever it took to prove that to her.