“A dog. I bet Pop would help pick out a good one.”
“I’m too busy for a dog, Sebastian.”
“Well… maybe you’d be inclined to take one less case or two if you had a pup.”
“It doesn’t really work that way,” Calvin replied.
“Quinn said you’ve just been doing cold case work lately.”
“That doesn’t make them any less important. Maybe they’re even more so. Justice has yet to be served.”
“Man, you’ve got a heart of gold.” I met Calvin’s expression, and he gave me a cute, sort of shy smile. “I can help take care of the dog too.”
Calvin was quiet for a moment. He drove around a taxi and stopped at the next red light. “If we were living together?” he finally asked.
Er… was that what I had suggested? The idea of waking up beside Calvin every morning definitely made me excited.
“Snow and Winter—it’s destiny,” I joked instead, because I didn’t want to make Calvin uncomfortable and it was way too early in our relationship to consider this huge step. “Can’t you see our mailbox now?”
He smiled a little.
I waved my hand. “Not anytime soon.”
“Yeah.”
I dropped the dog and mailbox conversation.
Calvin managed to snag an open parking spot on the side of the road when we reached the precinct, and parallel parked like a goddamn wizard.
I whistled as he turned off the car and we got out. “Show off.”
He laughed quietly. “Don’t be jealous. You get to be chauffeured everywhere.”
“True. It’s great,” I agreed, following him onto the sidewalk and toward the door where a few uniformed officers mingled.
They nodded at Calvin and shared a brief good morning. He opened the door and let me walk in first, then followed. Getting to bypass that same, less-than-chipper woman I had met in December was great. Although she did offer a glare that I suspected was as close as she got to saying hello.
We got into the elevator alone and Calvin pressed the button for his floor. After the doors closed, he reached out, took my hand, and gave it a brief squeeze. The warm strength of Calvin’s touch was like silent love and assurance. “You look good in those shades,” he said as the doors opened and he dropped his hand.
“Yeah? All I need is a dramatic line to say every time I put them on.”
I followed Calvin down a short hall and turned to walk through the open space of desks and detectives who were either early risers or hadn’t yet gone home from the night before. Calvin made for another hall, unlocked his office, and ushered me inside. He left the light off, because he’s a sweetheart, and hung up his jacket.
“So,” he began, opening the window blinds enough for gray light to come in. “Sit down. Let’s talk about Jefferson Davis.”
“Don’t interrogate me,” I warned, unbuttoning my coat as I sat in the chair across from Calvin at his desk.
“You’d be in a smaller and more uncomfortable room if I were doing that.”
“Remember that time you offered to book me and strip me?”
“Behave.”
I grinned.
He took a moment to shuffle some papers and folders around before picking up a pen and filling out a form. “What time did you get home?”
I tugged my phone out of my pocket and checked the time I had called Calvin in a panic. “I called you at 7:18. So just a few minutes before.”
