Lani is at her desk angrily typing a report on her computer. She'd come to work early to avoid seeing Eli and his sidekick Sheila who had hung around the station all day yesterday under the pretense that she was looking for a job. "This is a police station, not a freaking employment agency for ex cons," Lani said out loud to the walls of her office. She double checked her notes to make sure all of her facts were straight before she hit save. The report was solid. Hope would definitely be pleased.

Lani stood and stretched. Her work was the only thing that brought her any satisfaction these days. Eli had been a major source of support, but she was terrified of depending on him or anyone for that matter. And it turned out she was right. Not too long after she told Eli she wanted to keep their relationship professional, he took up with Sheila who had blown back into town. Now Eli and his little buddy Sheila were having a good old time laughing and gabbing about her behind her back. Lani's face burned as she thought of the things Sheila had said to her. She called her a skank. And then to add insult to injury, she saw Sheila and Eli leaving the station together arm-in-arm. Thinking about that encounter kept Lani up half the night tossing and turning.

She took a deep breath and willed herself to stop thinking about them. Since she'd been up most of the night what she needed was coffee. She went to the desk opened a drawer and took out her wallet. Just then the door opened and in walked Eli with two cups of coffee and she knew one of them was intended for her. This was not the first time he seemed to read her mind. Still she could not bear to even look at him.

"What do you want? I'm busy," Lani said avoiding eye contact as she took two bills out of her wallet.

"Good Morning to you, too," Eli said closing the door behind him. "I brought you some coffee and I wanted to talk to you for a sec."

"Well, I don't have a sec," Lani said putting on her jacket. "I have a report due and I have to run a quick errand before that." She tried to walk around him, but Eli stepped in her path.

"The only errand you're running is for coffee and I already saved you the trouble. Here." He took one of the containers and held it out to her.

Lani crossed her arms and turned her face away from him. "Why don't you take your coffee and give it to your little homie Sheila or better yet you can shove it."

Eli sighed, "Lani, I know you're upset about yesterday. I hoped that you would have had a chance to cool down."

"Obviously, you thought wrong."

"Sheila was way out of line and I told her so."

"And what about you blabbing about my personal business to someone without an ounce of decorum."

"Sheila is not the most discreet person in the world, but she is a good and loyal friend. She always has my back so yeah I felt comfortable telling her what happened."

These words stung Lani. If Sheila was this great and loyal friend, what did Eli think of her at this point?

"How wonderful it must be for you to have someone to vent to about how skanky I am."

"For the record, I never said you were skanky." Eli's facial expression didn't change, but she could hear a hint of laughter in his words.

"You think this is funny don't you?"

"Yeah actually it is kind of funny," Eli's face broke into a grin. "Look Lani it's not a big deal. Sheila is a really cool person. She didn't meant to hurt your feelings. She felt like she was defending me."

When was the last time Eli smiled at her Lani wondered and felt her anger dissipate just a little. Angry or not she was still wildly attracted to this man. His smile, his kind gestures. If that weren't enough he was sexy as hell.

"You could have talked to your mother, Eli. But then again, her reaction would probably be the same. Only she'd find a more cultured word for skank. One more fitting of her Ivy League education."

"I don't think there's a more cultured word for skank. A skank is a skank." Eli said matter of factly.

"I can't believe it. You are really enjoying this."

"Lani, it's not a big deal. Sheila is harmless. And she was really sorry that she said so much."

"She didn't look sorry when the two of you went traipsing off into the sunset together after work last night."

"That's something else I wanted to tell you. I wanted to let you know that Sheila is going to be staying with me for a couple of days."

Lani just stared at Eli for a long moment too stunned to speak.

"Yeah," Eli continued. "She has no money, no job and no place to stay, so I offered to let her crash at my place."

"You came in here claiming that you were concerned because Sheila said some hateful things to me yesterday. In the next breath, you say that woman is staying with you."

"That's why I wanted to tell you before you heard it from somebody else and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Sheila has been a good friend. It's been nice having her around to talk to."

"Yeah about what a skank I am. Now if you would kindly get out of my way."

"You're really going to stay angry about this?"

"Get out of my way Eli. I told you that I have something to do."

Eli turned as if he were going to accommodate her request, then paused before looking at her again. His hardened expression was unlike any she'd ever seen on his face before. Other than when he first came to town and thought she was trying to interfere in his life, Eli had been nothing but kind to her. They'd argued on several occasions, still that warmth was always there. She knew Eli had a dark side, he'd spent years with a bad crowd in Baltimore, but she'd never seen a hint of it until now. She wasn't afraid, but concerned. Maybe she had pushed him too far and all of the benevolence he felt toward her was now gone. Maybe she should have just accepted his apology. She started to speak but he cut her off.

"You know Lani yesterday when Sheila was going off on you, I felt that she had misinterpreted everything I told her. But I see now she got it right. She was out of line I admit, but what she said is true. It's okay for you to treat me any way you want to and I'm supposed to forgive you, be a gentleman and take the high road, which I always do. On the other hand if something relatively minor happens to you then it's a major catastrophe and there is no forgiveness. You're not just angry with Sheila. You're mad at me as well when I didn't do a damn thing wrong, but talk to a friend. But you, you don't care if I'm hurting. I used to think we were in this together. I see that's not the case now, if it ever was. From this moment on If you don't agree or approve of something I do to get past the loss that I suffered when the son you tried to keep from me died then that's too damn bad. I don't care anymore."

"Eli that's not fair. I do want you to heal from the loss. That's why I thought it would be better if we kept our relationship professional."

"Yeah and how is that working out? The entire thing happened yesterday because you were eavesdropping in on a private conversation. You came over with an obvious chip on your shoulder when no one was talking to you."

"I wasn't eavesdropping. Sheila was bad mouthing my dad in the middle of the station."

"Abe is the mayor. You hear people criticizing his policies every day in the station and I've never seen you bat an eye or say a word until Sheila said something."

"She wasn't talking about the way he runs the city, she was insulting him as a person."

"You have a justification for every single wrong thing that you do. But God forbid if anyone else makes a mistake. I used to think you were the sweetest person I'd ever met. Sweet and funny and just amazing. Now I see you turning into a bitter, angry, unforgiving hypocrite. And you know what the truly sad part is, you are using our son as an excuse."

With that remark Lani completely lost it. She attempted to slap his face, but Eli caught her hand in mid air. When she tried to pull away, Eli grabbed both of her wrists in a vice like grip and drug her body flush up against his. "I know you're upset Lani. But do not ever try to hit me again," he enunciated each word slowly and carefully through gritted teeth, his face within an inch of hers. They were so close that their breath co-mingled and she could smell a woodsy, manly scent lifting from his skin. Heat radiated from his hard, lean body onto hers causing a ball of tension to form in the pit of her belly and then move lower. This was a completely different Eli than the version she was used to. His dark eyes glittered with what looked like to her naked animosity. His tantalizingly full lips were pressed together forming an unyielding line. Muscles twitched along his clenched jaw. The air crackled around them and for one long moment time seemed to stop. Something was happening. The atmosphere itself was charged with a potent energy she could not name and her body responded. Lani felt a relentless throbbing develop between her legs matching the rapid cadence of her heart, which she feared was about to explode. Then all of a sudden she could feel a shift. Eli shook his head as if waking from a trance. He released her wrists and started to take a step back. On impulse she reached out to him, grabbing at his blue sweater with a desperation that suddenly possessed her. Lani wound her arms around his neck and pulled his face toward hers. Her eyes were shut tight and she searched for his lips covering him with insatiable kisses. For a second, Eli remained completely still as if dumbstruck. Then she felt his mouth slant over hers masterfully taking over all control. His tongue hungry, devouring as he explored and tasted her. He took her upper lip and then her lower lip between his teeth nipping and suckling them alternately before plundering her mouth again with his tongue. Lani heard herself moaning into Eli's blazing hot kiss.

At that point even though she was completely intoxicated, under the influence of a plethora of unbridled emotions, Lani had a sense of them turning around and Eli walking her backward until she was up against the office wall. She used the added leverage to wrap one leg around his waist, bringing her in closer contact with his manhood which she could feel lengthening and thickening as she ground into him. Her every gyration sent a shockwave of pleasure throughout her entire body. But it was not a enough, nowhere near enough. She reached down between them for his zipper. Eli reacted quickly taking hold of both her hands and pinning them over her head against the wall. Continuing to hold her like this, Eli left a trail of ardent kisses along the side of her face, down her throat then back to her lips again where he teased, suckled, nibbled and tortured until Lani wanted to scream out in frustration. When she thought she could take it no more, Eli released her hands, grabbed her under the buttocks and lifted her carrying her to the desk never breaking their kiss until he laid her down on the surface. The phone rings. Eli backs away abruptly and Lani is aware that the shrill sound has also freed her from her passion induced fugue state. They stared at each other panting heavily until the phone stopped ringing.

"I just threw you on a desk. At work. When anybody could have walked in," Eli said incredulously." Lani, I am sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Don't apologize," Lani said. She stood and started to straighten her clothes. "Before you threw me on the desk, I tried to unzip your pants." She paused. "Oh my God, what just happened? It's like I couldn't stop myself. Like that night we spent together back in December but a hundred times more intense."

"I don't know what happened, but I think you're right," Eli said. "We do need to keep our distance. If we handle disagreements with sex, what kind of relationship would we have had?"

"A hot one," Lani replied. "I had no idea all of that was bubbling just beneath the surface." She found herself smiling at the memory of what had just transpired. "The damndest thing is I feel better. It's like all of the anger and everything else that has been weighing me down is gone. Maybe I should be thanking you Eli."

"Please don't thank me for acting the fool at work no less." Eli said. "There's something else that I wanted to talk to you about before all of that just happened."

"What is it," Lani could not stop smiling. She really did miss Eli. It must have been the break that really put things into perspective.

Eli took a deep breath before continuing. "I decided to go back home to Baltimore. Staying here just doesn't feel right anymore."

The smile dropped from Lani's face. "You're thinking about leaving Salem?"

"I'm not thinking about it. It's done. I start a new assignment in three weeks. In the meantime It think it's best if you stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours." With that Eli headed for the door.

"Eli, wait," Lani called after him. Eli didn't respond. He exited her office and closed the door behind him.