what eliot should be doing is watching the mark, watching the exits, watching everyone in the room EXCEPT parker, but he can’t drag his eyes away from her as she excuses herself to the restroom. the dress is impossible, but she makes it look effortless, totally oblivious to every head that turns to watch her as she passes. disgruntled wives with raised eyebrows sit across from husbands that can’t help sneaking a peek as a leggy blonde walks past. it’s only when she disappears from his line of sight that eliot manages to FOCUS in on williams. there wasn’t much to miss, it seemed like he had watched parker walk off as well, couldn’t blame the guy ( wanted to rip his throat out, but couldn’t blame him for looking ). there are none of the classic signs of nervousness, which sets eliot even further on edge, dinner with a pretty girl was bound to make any man a little nervous, but not williams it seemed. something wasn’t right with this guy. he checks his watch & his cellphone discreetly, but it’s nothing more than a glance. that’s when nate pipes up, so we get williams to invite his private friends, & uh yeah, he’ll be so caught up in posturing & impressing parker that uh, he’ll give us the location of the other girls, yeah. the rambling is a sure sign that something in williams’ place has caught nate’s attention. hardison’s complaints about having to hack whatever it was he was hacking & set up a poker game don’t have eliot feeling much sympathy & he’s about to growl something into the com to that extent, but parker’s clear voice chimes in & silences anything the hitter was about to say. sophie’s soft voice answers with simple instructions & then he’s watching her walk back to the table. ( his attention just as TRANSFIXED as when she’d walked off ). the dinner loses his attention then, the bitter realization that he wasn’t on his game, & that it was parker related sinks like a stone in his gut. nate had warned him, not in any specific way, just in a few monosyllabic questioning noises & a look that made you feel like the guy knew the inside of your head better than you knew it yourself. but it was enough to plant the seed of doubt, & now he knew just how dishonest he’d been with himself. he had no choice but to be professional through the rest of this job, but after than maybe he needed some time. some DISTANCE to clear his head. by the time eliot keys back into the conversation parker has the mark so far on the hook the guy won’t know what hit him. ‘ good job parker, with that much cash on the line he’ll want to have one of his at that table. ‘ he doesn't have to tell hardison to send the text with the address, they’re a good team, they work well together. now if only eliot could keep himself from screwing that up with whatever it was he was beginning to feel toward parker. something he couldn’t risk putting into words.