He grinned and nodded in a friendly way, again not creepy.She’d know.She seen all the forms of creepy across a wide expanse of time.
There was an appreciative light in his eyes that put a nice tingle shivering down her back.
She gave a careful smile and a slight return nod, then forced herself to look away.
More people were arriving, a mix of locals and press.A shift in the dry, life-sucking air replaced the tingle from the pilot’s look with a warning lift of the hair on her arms.
The men in black were on the move.They’d left their excellent vantage point and were drifting along the rear of the gathering.They probably thought they looked casual.
Someone needed to teach them how to be casual—if that was even possible in that get-up.
She felt unease increase as she realized they would pass close by her if they stayed on their current course.
They weren’t going to talk to her, were they?If they were from the agency, they should know that was ahugedon’t ever do.
She felt and saw the waver in the air that wasn’t from the heat increasing.Time was fluxing around them.
Something was wrong.
Acting on an impulse she couldn’t explain—they weren’t supposed to be the enemy—she turned and started to stroll toward the cute pilot.
This brought her closer to the men in black, but she did unhurried way better than they did.And she had her timing down.It was, after all, a key skill for a time traveler.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the two men pick up their pace.If they went any faster than that, they’d draw attention and they seemed to realize it because they slowed again.
She saw an alley off to her right.She could head down there and flash out, but that feeling of unease built in her mid-section and time wavered more, giving her flashes of this scene sans people.
She didn’t know why she felt it was the wrong move to flash out.She just did.Her gut and her time senses were clanging.
She needed eyes on her while she figured this out, but not just any eyes.She needed someone that would disconcert them.It was the only thing that would deter them no matter who they were.
She altered course just enough to intercept the cute pilot.Hey, a girl had to do what she needed to do.
His head tipped, a little wary, a little puzzled, but his mouth curved into a smile that could have meant anything from “do I recognize you?”to “casual greeting of strangers as they passed by each other.”
She smiled back, upping the wattage just enough to signal interest without giving him the wrong idea.
She lifted a hand, pointing to him, then to herself.
“Don’t I know you?”She said these words just loud enough to be heard, then—when she was close enough—added softly, “Rita.”
His tone was equally soft.“Red.”
She didn’t have time to be startled.She widened her smile to delighted.“I thought I recognized you.Red, isn’t it?”
“Rita.”He took her outstretched hands and leaned in to press a light kiss to the cheek she angled toward him suggestively.“It’s been way too long.”
“I don’t even want to think about how long,” she said with a laugh that she hoped sounded natural and not as breathless as she felt this close to so much cute.
“You look as wonderful as always.”The sincerity of his tone put the pleasant prickle back down her back.The time flux wavered sharply, then subsided.Her gut settled, too, though it still grumbled a little warningly about the men in black.
Smart gut.And the way time was reacting seemed to indicate she was doing the right thing.
“Do you have time for a soft drink and a catch-up?”Red asked.“Or do you have to…” He gestured toward the press conference that seemed to finally be about to begin.
“I’d love the catch-up, the cold drink, and to get out of this heat.”Did she sound too sincere?She felt pretty sincere.
He was even nicer close up.Clean-shaven, lightly tanned and delicious to look at and smell.It was a heady combination, but a quick look at the men in black as they turned away was both a relief and another confirmation that she’d made the right move.
