Chapter 3

Eliot resisted the urge to beat his head against the top of the car and instead glared at Nate. "You really thought this was a good idea?" he growled. "Really?"

Nate brushed at the lapels of his jacket. "Parker'll be fine," he said. "Sophie's with her."

And that right there was what was worrying Eliot. Send Parker into a dive bar full of drivers and hicks with Sophie as backup. Yeah. Great idea, Nate.

"Sophie," Nate said, "How's it going in there?"

"Not now," Sophie's voice in their ear said. "Parker seems to have challenged one of the other racers to a…"

And that was enough for Eliot. "That's it, I'm going in," he announced, and opened the door of the van.

"Wait, Eliot," Nate started, but Eliot was through listening. This wasn't a nice looking place. It was a rough and tough country dive, full of pickup truck driving locals and some of the other drivers who were in town for the race in two days. And Parker was apparently getting her competitive edge on? Eliot pushed the door open, resisting the urge to slam it and make a scene. He just didn't see this going well.

He scanned the dim room, and found her blonde head over by the bar. Sophie was hanging over her shoulder, looking like she was biting her tongue. Parker was arguing with a guy who had a good foot and a half of height and a hundred and fifty pounds on her. He was glaring, arms folded, crowding her space. Eliot wanted to groan as Parker drilled a finger into the guy's chest.

"I can drive, I can out drive you," he heard her hissing, sounding royally pissed off. "Just because you've got a dick, doesn't mean you've got a brain…"

Aaaand that would be his cue. "Hey, Parker, what's the holdup?" Eliot interrupted, sliding in behind her, cutting Sophie off. That would be the other woman's cue to get out of the way. "You said dinner in a half-hour and it's," he made a show of looking at his watch, "a good hour later." He could feel the tension in her nearly vibrating back against him. Cautiously, so as not to spook her into swinging at him in reflex, he laid a hand on her shoulder.

Interestingly, rather than getting a jumpy thief's fist in his face, he felt her body relax. "Eliot," she growled, sounding like a deceptively harmless kitten with its fur all ruffled, "tell Dumbass here that I'm going to kick his butt all over the course."

Eliot measured the guy with his eyes. Big, built, but clearly not used to using it right. Little bit of a paunch. A guy who was used to looming and intimidating and not really a threat to Eliot. Hell, maybe he should stand back and let Parker take the guy. "Nah," he said. "You'll just show him on Thursday." He patted her shoulder, gently guiding her out of his way and towards the door. "Now, food? Please? Man's gotta eat, darlin'," he said. She was mad, he didn't blame her. But there was a look in her eye that had him a little worried, something that he didn't see that often with her. She was… hurt?

Big Dumbass still had his arms crossed, and now smirked at Parker, leaning back against the bar. "Women don't belong behind the wheel," he said in a low baritone, full of innuendo. "Only one kinda stick you should be handling, blondie, and I can get you a little better acquainted with it."

Eliot gritted his teeth. Oh, hell, no. "Don't start a fight, Eliot," Nate's voice said. "Just get Parker out. Sophie's already in the van."

Of course, Parker wasn't having it. She whipped around and sneered at the guy, any glimpse of hurt buried under fire-breathing pissed. "Your car probably has more stick than you, Dumbass," she said, voice rising and face just mad. "And frankly, I wouldn't want to touch either." Somebody on the other side of the guy snorted a laugh and Eliot resigned himself to the fact that this was probably going to get ugly.

"Parker, out," he hissed, pushing her back away from the guy and toward the door.

"You want to say that again, blondie," the guy growled, stepping away from the bar and moving toward them. "Cause I've got a whole lot that I could school you in, in or out of the car…"

"Look, buddy," Eliot stepped forward. "Back off. We're leaving, you have a nice night now." How come HE had to be the voice of reason? He was supposed to get to bust heads. Dammit.

"You back off, pretty boy, this is between me and your little blonde bitch of a friend there," the guy snarled, apparently more worked up than he'd realized. And then he shoved Eliot, making him fall back a step. "Out of my way."

"Uh-oh," Parker said behind him.

"Uh-oh? No, no, no, no 'uh-oh', not now, come on guys…" Eliot heard Nate in his ear. Eliot's eyes narrowed. He smiled.

"Pretty boy?" he said. "Well, now, thanks for the compliment." And with that he gave him a nice uppercut to the jaw and sent the dude stumbling backward. "How about YOU back off, Dumbass?" He heard rather than saw chairs being moved, people getting out of the way. He sensed a couple of guys moving in on his right. "Parker?" he said quietly.

"Oh, come on, let me hit at least one of them," she said, sounding pissed still.

"Parker," he said again, watching Dumbass get himself together, fists clenching and mad on his face.

She huffed a breath. "Fine. But make it quick. You're right, I'm hungry."

Eliot was still nursing a good bit of mad later that night as he sat alone in the hotel bar. Yeah, sure, he'd gotten to break some heads, and didn't THAT always make him feel just a bit better, but still… He flexed his hand with a glare. Parker shouldn't have been in that bar without him. He was her backup, not Sophie. And Nate was just plain nuts if he'd thought otherwise.

He scowled at his beer and ignored at the tv over the hotel bar. Sure, ESPN was running the current baseball stats, but he wasn't terribly interested at the moment. He swallowed another mouthful of brew. Nope. He kind of wanted to to go back and beat Dumbass all over again. Sure, he'd ragged on Parker plenty of times, but not for being a chick. When he'd questioned her driving skills, her gender had never crossed his mind. He'd been more worried about all the crazy she carried around. Parker had been well and truly pissed, and if he wasn't mistaken, more than a little upset at being written off for being a girl.

Eliot lifted the bottle again and drank. So maybe he'd put a few extra hits on the guy, just for that. Nothing wrong with sending the right message, right? He was just backing up his partner, being a good friend.

For some reason, what was running in a loop through his brain was how Parker had relaxed when he'd put his hand on her shoulder. He started peeling the label from the beer bottle. They all knew how jumpy the little blonde thief was, they knew not to invade her personal space. Parker wasn't touchy-feely, hell, neither was he. Both Eliot and Parker had issues with people touching them, and he'd contemplated the problem before. Hell, that had been half the reason he'd agreed to train Parker. He'd figured fighting, she'd have to get used to him in her space, up against her in a fight. Less chance of her going off her rocker in a real fight because he needed to put a hand on her.

It apparently had worked, since she felt… safe? he guessed, when he'd shown up. He shook his head. Jesus, when did he start going all girly and thinking about Parker so much? Oh, right, when he saw her drive. Dammit. He sighed and pushed the empty bottle away from him, label in one smooth piece on the bar in front of him.

Something had changed in how he viewed Parker, and he wasn't real comfortable with that. She was his partner. His teammate. And… she was hot. Crap. He was attracted to Parker. This wasn't going to go well, he just knew it.

He registered Sophie sliding onto the stool next to him, and gave a mental groan. Great, just great. Here's something else that's not going to go well, he thought glumly.

"Well, I think I've got Parker convinced that the best revenge will be to kick Darrien's butt in the race," Sophie said with a sigh. She shook her dark head. "What she really wanted to do was break into his hotel room tonight and cut off some of his body parts."

Eliot grunted. "I can guess which ones," he said, signaling the bartender for another beer. Wasn't altogether a bad idea, he mused while he waited for his drink. Sophie was silent until the bottle arrived, cold and clean and crisp.

"Eliot, why are you so protective of Parker?" Sophie asked, just as he'd taken a good mouthful of brew. Eliot swallowed harder than he'd expected and sputtered a little.

"What?" he said, not looking at her. That would give anything and everything away. Not that there was anything to give away. Excepting maybe his little moment of revelation a few minutes ago, but that wasn't something he was about to share with Miss Nosey-Pants next to him. "It's my job, I protect the team. Of course I'm protective."

Sophie was studying him with those eagle eyes, dammit, she always seemed to see things that weren't supposed to be seen. "You've always paid more attention to Parker," she said. "Usually because of the con. But…" she paused and cocked her head, "I've gotten the feeling before that while you'd stand up and put yourself in front of the rest of us, it's something a little more with Parker."

"You're crazy," Eliot muttered, taking another drink.

"Am I?" Sophie said, and he could just hear the smile in her voice. "Seems to me you could have just carried Parker out of there today. Instead, you beat up the guy that hurt her feelings."

"I felt like a fight," he said flatly. "Besides, you don't talk to a woman that way."

"Hmmm…." Sophie said, and he didn't have to look to see the wheels turning. "That might be one of the first times you've talked about Parker as a woman. Not a thief, not a teammate, but a woman." Well, crap. This is what he'd just known was going to happen, Sophie on a little digging mission, coming up with all kinds of crazy theories and stories and messing with his mind. "It seems to me that maybe something's finally changed with you and Parker, that you're finally seeing her as someone attractive, desirable…"

"Whoa, just stop right there," Eliot interrupted her, getting a nice little panicky ball lodged in his stomach. This was getting way out of hand. He looked over at Sophie, who was leaning her hand against her cheek and watching him with smiling eyes. "Just back up a little, woman, and step off. Parker's my partner, ok? She just happens to be a woman. And a thief," he added hastily. After all, that was the point, right? "So I take a little extra time with her, it's 'cause of the job. Girl needs to have my back, needs to know how to stay outta trouble and when to jump in and lend a taser. Needs not to be jumpy with me, or the wrong people start getting hurt."

"Oh, absolutely," Sophie said promptly. Her eyes were sparkling suspiciously bright. Was she laughing at him? Eliot scowled. He didn't trust her agreement. "The fact that she's a sexy little blonde who's more flexible than a pipe cleaner never crossed your mind."

Well, crap, now it had.

Eliot just glared. "I'm going to bed," he told Sophie. "You're full of shit tonight, and I'm not listening to it." He tossed down a couple of bills and pushed away from the bar.

"Eliot," Sophie called after him. "If it helps, she certainly takes extra time with you, too."

Nope. Didn't help, not at all.

Thanks for the reviews! Yes, there will be some smut later on in the story… we're just not there yet. I like a little danger with my romance. Hence my fixation on Eliot and Parker.