Racing to Love: Eli's Honor by Amy Gregory

Dallas.
    Indulging him further, he even confessed to the shenanigans they actually did get in minor trouble for. Like when he, Carter, and Jesse were about Dallas’s age. When one of the boys, who was not only a major rival but an ass, wasn’t looking, the three of them decided it was a good idea to Krazy Glue all of his water bottles shut so he couldn’t open them.
    Pointing his empty fork at Dallas for emphasis, Eli threatened, “Now, nothing we ever did was truly bad, so you don’t start giving your mom trouble, you understand?”
    He could see the wheels spinning in Dallas’s head, and Eli shook his own head to stop him. Tilting his chin and waiting for the boy to promise to stay on his best behavior, he then turned to Honor and grinned.
    When Dallas looked down to his plate for another bite, she rolled her eyes at him, and kicked at him under the table. She missed, hitting his chair leg instead. The noise caught Dallas’s attention, and it was all Eli could do to contain the deep laughter threatening to escape.
    She was playful and fun through dinner, unless Eli brought up the academy. He noticed how she’d pull back repeatedly, throwing the barriers back up. Letting out a deep breath, he suspected what Molly had said was true.
    Taking in the small home—its decorations limited to pictures of Dallas or pictures drawn by Dallas in his younger years, the furniture sparse, the walls stark white—it was plain to see money was tight. The darkness brought on by the shift in conversation wasn’t only due to sadness, but money. Worry, pride, whatever the case, money was the bottom line. The necessary evil that ruled the world.
    Eli wasn’t rich by any means, at least not what he would have considered rich. But his home was paid for, and it was far more extravagant than Honor’s home. A twinge of guilt twisted his stomach. She never complained or acted like she was embarrassed by their meager belongings. It was accepting the help, in any form, that was going to be the hard part for her.
    Dallas excused himself, ran his plate under the water in the sink to rinse it off, and stacked it neatly, without being told. Apparently, his mother ran a tight ship. Eli smiled proudly at the boy as he stopped at the table to tell Eli he would be right back with something to show him. Eli grabbed the opportunity while he had the chance.
    “You know the position at the academy is a full scholarship, right Honor? You would have no expenses.”
    He saw the fire flare in her eyes. Her hand had been lying flat on the table, but suddenly fisted. Eli covered her hand with his, banking the brewing storm.
    “I didn’t mean that as an insult in any way, Honor. I meant it as reassurance. I can tell you see something special in Dallas. I can too. I wouldn’t tell you that if I didn’t. We don’t go out and recruit students for the academy. I’m not trying to come across as egotistical, and I’m not bullshitting you by telling you something that isn’t true just to get tuition money out of you.
    “This is all expenses paid because we believe in him, Honor. I wouldn’t still be here if we didn’t.”
    Eli could see the doubt in her eyes, but there was more. So many layers to her sadness, her fear, and her pride. He rubbed his thumb across the soft skin of her hand. Taking a leap of faith, he reached with his other hand, enveloping her small, delicate hand between both of his much stronger ones.
    In that moment, he saw fire flash in her eyes again. A different fire. Without breaking eye contact, he squeezed her hand between his and asked for the world.
    “Trust me.”

CHAPTER FOUR

    Honor handed a stack of freshly washed and folded t-shirts to Dallas, mentally tallying everything they were loading into his suitcase. Jeans, shorts, socks, boxers. She glanced around his bed with the open suitcase lying on it, the folded piles surrounding it, and couldn’t help that feeling. They had to be forgetting something. She shook her head,