Page 183 of Things We Hide from the Light
I’d swung by Xandra’s again to talk to her about the initiative I was rolling out and to drop off a toy deputy badge for Alex.
I glanced down at the earrings nestled inside the box. Delicate gold chains ended in sharp, sparkly sunbursts. “I saw them, and I thought of you. Made by the woman who saved my life, worn by the woman who reminded me it’s worth living.”
The mask slipped away again and I saw nothing but pure female enjoyment. “Well, how am I supposed to say no tothat?”
“They’re just earrings, Angel. Not a wedding ring. Besides, a portion of the sales go toward a local autism foundation.”
She took a breath and handed the box back to me. “Why do I get the feeling you’re playing me?” she asked as she removed the hoop from her right ear, then liberated an earring from the box.
She expertly found the hole and secured the earring in place, then did the same with her left ear.
“How do they look?” she asked, giving her head a shake.
“Fucking beautiful.”
I chosea swanky Italian place in Lawlerville. Not because they had the best homemade bread in the tricounty area or because I was hoping to keep the whole “us” thing secret. I just wanted a quiet dinner without any distractions. If I’d taken Lina out in Knockemout, we’d be dealing with a whole town of gossips, and if I’d cooked for her at my place, we wouldn’t have made it past appetizers before I’d gotten her naked.
Unfortunately, this meant I had to bribe Nolan with his own dinner at the bar since the marshal wasn’t willing to take the night off.
But at least he was far enough away from our table that I could pretend he wasn’t there. We’d been given a circular booth tucked away in a quiet corner of the dining room, which meant instead of sitting across from each other, we were next to each other on the bench. Beneath the pristine tablecloth, my thigh was pressed intimately against hers. Her foot was hooked companionably behind my ankle.
“Are you immune to the fact that every man in this restaurant watched you walk in and sit down?” I asked her as she dragged a piece of bread through the plate of olive oil.
She glanced up, a sparkle in those beautiful eyes. “If you’re wondering if I notice attention, I do. If you’re asking if I like it, it depends on the situation. Tonight I didn’t hate it.”
I liked that she didn’t pretend. I was starting to understand her brand of honesty. She didn’t lie or tell the truth. She either opened herself up to you or closed herself off from you. And I was starting to get the difference.
“You’re so goddamn beautiful, sometimes I can’t look directly at you,” I confessed.
The slice of bread tumbled to her plate and landed olive oil side down. “Damn it, Nash. Stop sneaking up on me.”
I smirked and reached for my own slice, surprised when I didn’t feel the familiar twinge in my shoulder. I hadn’t really noticed it at all the night before either. It looked like Lina’s miracles weren’t limited to mental health.
“I thought of something else that I need from you,” she announced.
“Name it.”
“I don’t want to sit on the sidelines while you and the boys have all the fun. I want to be on the team. I want to help find Hugo.”
“Angel, you’ll get your car,” I insisted.
Her eyes narrowed as she picked up her glass and sipped. “IknowI’ll get the car. What I want to make sure of is that you get your man. That you don’t have to live with the fear that at any point, Duncan Hugo could wake up one morning and decide today’s the day he’s going to eliminate witnesses.”
I said nothing. Mostly because I was afraid to spook her. Maybe she didn’t realize what she was saying. But I did. Shewanted me safe. And she wanted it enough to play on a team to make it happen.
Whether she realized it or not, she cared about me and I wasn’t above exploiting the hell out of that to get what I wanted.
“I already promised to keep you in the loop,” I reminded her.
“And now I want you to promise me more. I’ve planned over two dozen asset retrieval operations,” she continued. “I’ve been on hand to actually execute half of those operations. I’m a pro at working in tandem with law enforcement agencies. And I never quit.”
“You packed a suitcase,” I pointed out.
She pinned me with a look.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m debating.”
