Page 46 of The Billionaire in Her Bed

David frowned. “His truck says Atlas Surveying and Mapping.”

So much for optimism.

“Come on.” She threw on an oversize sweatshirt over her usual writing attire—yoga pants and a graphic tee—and slipped into a pair of Ugg boots she’d left by the door. “Let’s find out what’s going on.”

Half an hour and whole host of unanswered questions later, they were back in her apartment.

“Okay.” Brooke paced the length of her studio, drumming her fingers together. “Let’s summarize what we know.”

“Not much.” David pulled open the refrigerator door and peered inside. “Do you have anything to eat besides and white bread, mustard, and Italian dressing?”

“How can you think of food at a time like this?” She came up behind him and pushed the door closed.

“Chris did all the cooking. Ever since he left, I’ve been subsisting on ramen noodles and mac and cheese. A giant step down from my usual fare.”

“He’s only been gone two days.”

“The two longest days of my life.”

He leaned against the counter and let out a heavy sigh, looking so forlorn Brooke took pity on him and tossed him a granola bar from a box in the cabinet above the sink. “Here. This should tide you over until your next ramen fix.”

“Thanks.” He ripped off the wrapper and bit into it with a satisfied moan.

She closed the cabinet and leaned against the counter next to him. “Now can we get back to the matter at hand?”

“And what would that be?” Eli strode through the door, the smell of Thai spices wafting from the bag in his arms.

“Hallelujah. Real food.” David came around the counter and took the bag from him.

Eli shrugged off his dark gray topcoat—the same one he’d been wearing the night they met, she remembered—and tossed it over the back of the couch. “Good thing I got enough for an army.”

Brooke crossed her arms under her chest. “Again, with the no knocking. What is it with the people in this building?”

“What’s the big deal?” David put the bag on the counter and started emptying it, laying out the contents in a neat, straight line. “He practically lives here anyway, and vice versa. You two might as well exchange keys.”

Brooke scuffed the toe of her boot against the hardwood floor. He had a point about the keys. And maybe about the food, too. Things always looked better on a full stomach. She opened another cabinet, took out three plates, and placed them on the counter with the food.

“He’s got you there.” Eli, who knew his way around her kitchen as well as she did at this point, added forks, knives, and napkins to the pile. “Why don’t I have a key to your place?”

“We can talk about that later. Right now, we’ve got bigger problems.” She shoveled somepad woon senonto her plate. “Did you see the surveyor’s flags outside?”

“No.” A flicker of something she couldn’t quite identify crossed Eli’s face, only to be quickly replaced by a blank, neutral mask. “I was in a hurry to get the food upstairs before it got cold.”

“So much better than mac and cheese,” David, seated on the sofa with his plate balanced on his knees, muttered through a mouthful of drunken noodles.

“A survey means the building’s been sold, right?” Brooke finished loading up her plate and took the chair across from David.

“And the new owner’s going to knock it down,” David added. “Or convert the units into condos and throw us all out on our asses.”

“Not necessarily.” Eli’s speech was hesitant, his tone strangely evasive. He averted his eyes as he sat on the far end of the couch from David, developing a sudden fascination with hispanang gai. “They could still be in negotiations. And a new owner’s probably going to want a survey even if he doesn’t plan on making major changes.”

David gave Eli a side-eye glance. “You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

Eli continued his preoccupation with his chicken curry. Strange, since he didn’t seem to be eating much of it, just pushing it around on his plate. “I’ve got some friends in real estate.”

“Maybe you could ask around, see if they’ve heard anything,” Brooke suggested, her voice a touch more panicked than she’d intended. She was already freaked out by the little flags all over the place. Despite his reassuring words, Eli’s odd behavior wasn’t helping any. “We tried talking to the surveyor, but he either didn’t have any information or didn’t want to share it.”

“Uh, sure.” Eli lifted a forkful of food to his mouth. Finally. “No problem.”