Date Shark by DelSheree Gladden

than she expected. “I didn’t … I mean …”
    Why was it so hard for her to say she didn’t sleep with Luke? She trusted Eli. She knew that despite his occasional odd behavior, he was her mentor, basically, and so far out of her realm of possibilities that discussing her sex life with him shouldn’t have been embarrassing in the least. For some reason, she couldn’t force the words from her mouth.
    Luckily for her, Eli seemed to have gotten the message from her sputtering. “You’re calling me from your apartment, not Luke’s. Is that what you’re trying to say?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good,” he said. He sounded relieved, which made Leila smile. It was sweet that he worried about her.
    “So, do you want to hear about last night?”
    “Not over the phone.” Rustling carried over the line, making Leila wonder what he was doing. And what he meant by not over the phone . “You caught me just as I was about to head out for a run. Why don’t you join me? We can talk about your date as we run.”
    “Run?” The horrified tone of her voice made giving any further opinion on the matter unneeded.
    “Yes, run. Meet me at Holstein Park in fifteen minutes. We’ll start there and see how it goes.”
    “But …”
    “See you in a few minutes.”
    The line went dead after that. He did that on purpose , Leila thought, so I wouldn’t have a chance to say no . If she wanted to discuss Luke with him, she had no other option than to meet him. The good mood Eli had inspired just a few minutes ago evaporated. Leila did not enjoy running. She really didn’t like working out in any form. If she hadn’t been blessed with good genetics and a high metabolism, she would most likely weigh twice what she did. Leila planned on letting Eli know exactly how much she appreciated being forced into running with him.
    After digging out a pair of leggings and sport top, and grabbing a bagel to munch on, Leila headed out to meet Eli with a scowl. She only lived two blocks from the park her neighborhood had been named for, so it was a short walk. As her rarely used sneakers trudged along the sidewalk, she wondered where Eli lived. She doubted it was Holstein Park. Her neighborhood was nice, but not high-priced-psychiatrist nice. Surely Eli hadn’t been planning on running there before getting her call. No doubt he realized that if she had to go much farther than two blocks to meet him it wasn’t going to happen and Eli had given her a break.
    When Leila reached the park, Eli was already there. He glanced at his watch just to be irritating. “You’re not the most cheerful person in the morning, are you?”
    “I’m perfectly cheerful when people don’t try to make me run right after I wake up.”
    “I didn’t make you do anything.” His satisfied smirk deepened her scowl. “You wanted to talk, I wanted to run.”
    “No more free advice, huh? Now I’ve got to trade for it?”
    “It’s called compromising, Leila, and it’s the key to any healthy relationship.”
    Relationship. That single word brought up her earlier musings, making her wonder again exactly what Eli was to her. Was this merely an extension of their business arrangement? Were they friends? She wasn’t sure. Whatever they had, Eli didn’t seem to be plagued with a need to define it like she did. He checked his laces and started jogging in place.
    “Are you ready to go?”
    Leila grunted in disgust. “I guess.”
    Eli shook his head at her and took off. Maybe he considered it a slow jog, but Leila certainly didn’t. “Hold up, Speed Racer!”
    He looked back and held up his hands in mocking disbelief. Leila trotted up next to him and he eyed her critically. “I was barely jogging. You’ve got to be able to keep up with that, at least. You’re fit. If you can’t keep up with me, I’d seriously consider getting a new trainer.”
    “New trainer,” Leila scoffed, “I’d have to have a trainer to start with. I’d have to actually exercise first.”
    “Oh,