4 Shot Off The Presses Read Online Free PDF Page A

coat and purse on the kitchen floor.
    Eliot eyed my discarded items. “You can’t put those away?”
    Here’s the thing, Eliot is not a neat freak – but he’s also not a fan of the unorganized chaos I usually embrace. Quite frankly, I’m a pig. Since Lexie had moved in, she did all the cleaning. Before that, I just lived in the mess. What? I need a maid. Since reporters make next to nothing, I can’t afford one. It’s an odd quandary. And no, I don’t want to just clean my house and shut up. Trust me. I’ve heard that from my mother for years. Let’s just say, it’s not my thing.
    I blew out a dramatic sigh and then picked up my coat and purse. After putting them away, I walked back into the kitchen to watch Eliot work. “Where’s Lexie?”
    “She’s spending the night with whatever loser she’s seeing these days,” Eliot said briefly.
    “Devontae,” I supplied.
    “What?”
    “That’s his name, Devontae.” My cousin, Lexie, is pretty much the closest thing I have to a sister. I’m an only child, but I have a big extended family. My cousins and I are extremely close – probably too close – and we border on co-dependent on a regular basis.
    On her best day, you could say Lexie is flaky. On her worst day, you could say she is reckless. Despite all that, I had spent a lot of time swooping in to save her from herself since she was a teenager. This was a fact that drove Eliot crazy. He was trying really hard not to badmouth her, though.
    Since she had completed a stint in rehab a couple weeks ago, Lexie had been pretty good. That didn’t mean that her taste in men had gotten any better. Every man she was attracted to was black – which I understood. They were all smooth looking specimens of the male gender. Unfortunately, they often turned out to be dealers or shiftless losers, too. What can I say? She’s got terrible taste in men.
    “Is that a real name?” Eliot asked the question in a light tone, but I could see the muscle in his cheek ticking. Lexie wasn’t his favorite person. The fact that she was partially responsible for him getting shot a few months ago had a lot to do with that – but the fact that he spent time with her (against his will) was also part of it, too.
    I slipped my arms around Eliot’s waist and rested my head against his muscular back. It was partially a stalling tactic. I also just liked the feel of him. “Can we not fight about Lexie?”
    Eliot turned around and wrapped his arms around me, dropping a kiss on my forehead. “That sounds like a good idea.”
    I let Eliot finish the meal while I set the table in the dining room. The truth is, I’m not a great cook. My family owns a diner in northern Oakland County, but the cooking gene pretty much skipped me. My best dish is Stouffer’s macaroni and beef. What? It’s delicious.
    Eliot and I settled down for dinner, exchanging stories about our day. We were pretty comfortable with each other at this point. I told him about my showdown with Derrick – a story that made him laugh out loud – and then told him about the freeway shooting in Oakland County.
    “You think they’re related?”
    “Maybe,” I said around a mouthful of fajita. “It could just be a copycat, though.”
    “You need more information,” Eliot agreed. “Is the sheriff’s department having a press conference?”
    “Tomorrow at nine,” I said. “This is really good. I knew I kept you around for a reason.”
    “I thought you were keeping me around for the sex,” Eliot teased.
    “Maybe I keep you around for a few things,” I ceded.
    Eliot smiled, flashing the dimple in his cheek in my direction. I practically melted when I saw it. He has a certain effect on me. That effect usually ends up with the two of us naked.
    I didn’t have a chance to let that thought take me over, though, because the next thing I heard was the backdoor slamming.
    “Stupid assholes.”
    Lexie was home.
    Lexie stormed into the dining room, all four-feet, eleven