Page 17 of Agent Zero
“But really,” he continued, “it would just add up to me wanting to talk to you.So I’ll settle for a cliché, I guess.Would you...I mean, do you think you could have a cup of coffee with me?”
Oh, Lord.“Um.”
“I kept trying to figure out how to ask you.”Was he nervous?Reese shifted a little, shot another glance at the front window.“Then I thought, well, just come right out and say it, and...because, well, hanging out here and just staring is sort of...creepy.”
It is.“Um.”I’ve gone preverbal.Great.She licked her lips, wished she hadn’t, because he kept looking at her mouth.“It’s not exactly...”Professional?I’m a waitress, not a therapist.“I guess.I mean, sure.Okay.”
Wait.What did I just say?
For a second she was sure he would laugh, that it was a joke.Instead, he rocked back on the stool a fraction.He even looked surprised.
Well, that made two of them.The thudding in her ears and throat was her heart.Outside, a semi shifted and nosed past, rattling the window.
“Really?”As if he didn’t believe her.
Last chance to back out, Holly.Don’t do this.You don’t have time for it.“Really.But not here.”
“Where, then?And when?”
“I work.You do, too.So?—”
“I’ll make time.”
Well, maybe I can’t just duck out whenever I feel like it.“It’s just coffee.”
“I know.”He ducked his head, just like a teenager.“Look, I’m rusty.I haven’t asked a girl out in years.”
“I’m not a girl.”
A quick lift of one eyebrow, and his expression plainly shouted he was very aware she wasn’t agirl.“So tell me when and where.”
Am I blushing?Either that or her cheeks had just acquired a sunburn from nowhere.“Give me a minute to think, all right?”How long had it been since someone had looked at her like this?It was awkward as hell, sure, and maybe he could still turn out to be a creeper.
Or maybe he wouldn’t.And having coffee wasn’t a proposal or anything.She could see what it felt like again.One last time around the block, so to speak, before she took matters into her own hands.
Is that what I’ve decided to do?Some things you couldn’t think about straight on—they crept up on you until you knew, all at once, that you’d decided.
A cup of coffee with a guy who somehow found her mildly attractive would relieve some of the crushing loneliness, and it didn’t have to go anywhere, right?
“Are you going to change your mind?”Quick downward tilt to his mouth, rueful and oddly vulnerable.
I guess a nice tip or two gets you the benefit of the doubt.“No.”Was that a big stupid grin on her face?
It was.That was probably all right, though, because he was wearing one, too.It did great things for those velvet-dark eyes, wrinkles fanning at the corners telling her he was maybe too old for this crap too.Maybe old enough to have a little sense.
Not that it mattered.She tried to shove that thought away.Even though something in her cringed at knowing another person here in this city, she still...well, shewanted.There was no harm in it, was there?One coffee date, then she’d make her arrangements.
He’d never see her again afterward.
“Good.”He set the mug back down, and she remembered she had a job to do.The entire place was deserted, though.Barbara was due back any minute from her break, unable to keep her nose out of whatever was going on.
Still, just this once, maybe Holly could steal a minute or two.One of the benefits of finally making a big decision, maybe.Funny how knowing something so final made it feel as if she had all the time in the world.
So Holly pushed the coffeepot aside and leaned against the counter.“So.Reese.We’ll do coffee.You got a last name?”
TWELVE
It was still sunny,but you wouldn’t know it down here.No guns, just the ceramknife because Reese was coming in from street level, getting onbase with the ID kept just for these visits.Signing the consent form, giving the same answers over and over again.
