Code Name: Camelot (Noah Wolf #1)(55)
Neil’s eyes went wide, as Noah shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the grill. “Jealous? Me? I’m not jealous,” Neil said. He stood there for a moment, and then leered at Sarah. “Well, not all that jealous. As I recall, you made it clear I didn’t have a shot with you back when we first met.”
She nodded at him with a grin. “Yep, I did, and this is why. I like you, Neil, but you’re still too immature and childish for me. Sorry.”
Neil opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried it once more, got the same result, then turned and went back into the house.
A cell phone rang, and Noah glanced over his shoulder to see Moose answering. From the smile that lit up his face, it was easy to tell that it was a call from Elaine. It seemed their date had gone quite well, and she and Moose had become something of an item. Moose walked a short distance away to stand under a tree where he could talk privately. It didn’t help a lot, because Noah and Sarah could still hear him calling Elaine his ‘little love muffin.’
“Can I tell you something, and not make you mad?” Sarah asked Noah.
“Pretty sure you can, since I can’t get mad. What would it be?”
“Sometimes, I wish you were more like Moose. He gets so excited whenever she calls, or whenever he’s going to go see her. I wish I could make you get excited like that.” She looked around at him. “Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not falling in love or anything. It’d just be nice to have somebody get excited about me.”
Noah looked at her for a moment. “I get excited about you,” he said. “Whenever you call and say you’re coming over, I start to think about what I can do to make you enjoy yourself, while you’re here. You know I get excited when you come into my bedroom—that’s kind of impossible to miss. I don’t have many friends, but the few guys I know here, Marco and Roger, and Charlie the bartender, I told all of them about you. I even showed them a picture of you on my phone.”
Sarah looked into his eyes, and smiled softly. “But do you do that because it’s what guys who have girlfriends do? Or just because you want to?”
He looked back into her eyes for a moment, with his head cocked slightly to one side. “I do it because I want to. To be honest, I haven’t thought about you as my girlfriend, I just enjoy your company and I felt like bragging about the beautiful girl I’m hanging out with. That’s not emotional, that’s just probably ego.”
Sarah’s smile got a little bigger, and she leaned close and kissed him gently on the lips. “Then I really, really like your ego,” she said. “Later I’ll show you just how much I like your ego.”
The steaks were done shortly, and Noah stacked them on a tray and carried them inside. The guys were inside waiting, and they sat down at the table and dug in.
NINETEEN
Sarah rode in with Noah the next morning, while Neil followed. Noah had been surprised at Neil’s car when he had first seen it, because most young guys didn’t go for big cars, but Neil was driving a Hummer. Noah had thought they would die off quickly, when gas prices got high enough to actually put the Hummer company out of business, but there were still an amazing number of them on the road. Neil’s was fire engine red, and Noah was pretty sure it was the only red one he’d ever seen.
They parked at the restaurant, and had just gotten inside when Moose pulled in. Allison hadn’t given them a specific time to be there, so they had agreed to meet early for breakfast. The hostess showed them all to a table, and a waitress arrived a moment later to start pouring coffee.
Neil slumped in his chair. “Why is it,” he asked, “that people in our line of work don’t get to sleep in like normal human beings?”
“Because we’re not normal human beings,” Moose said. “If we were, we wouldn’t be in our line of work, now would we?”
Neil opened one eye and focused it on Moose’s face. “You have a disgustingly valid point, and I now officially hate your guts.”
“Oh, good, does that mean I can kick your ass, now?” Moose looked at Noah. “He hates me, that means I can kick his ass, right?”
Noah shook his head. “Not until after we’re done with him, and that might be a while.”
Neil stuck his tongue out at Moose, and Sarah suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh, my God, will you please grow up?”
Neil turned his eyes to her. “And just where exactly would be the fun in that?” He sat up again and reached for his coffee, added several packets of sugar and creamer, then stirred it up and took a sip. “I think they have the best coffee on the compound right here,” he said. “Remind me to find out what brand they use.”
“I already asked,” Noah said, “it’s called Falco, and you have to buy it a hundred cases at a time. I thought about it, but even I don’t drink enough coffee to justify that. I’d still be drinking it twenty years from now, and I’m not even sure I’ll be alive that long.”
Sarah shrugged. “Too bad, it’s really good. Maybe we should all go in together and buy a case, split it between the four of us. With that make it a better deal?”
They debated the merits of making such a large purchase, but never came to a conclusion. The waitress took their orders, and the food was back surprisingly quickly. They dug in and ate, and were just sitting there, having another cup of the wonderful coffee, when Mr. Jefferson walked in and took a chair at their table.