“Um, is there?—”
“Did you?—”
They both spoke and stopped at the same time and, surprisingly, a little giggle erupted out of her. She was rewarded with a chuckle coming from Dalton.
“You first,” she managed to get out before he did.
“I was going to ask if you’re having a good day.”
“It’s okay. How about you?” Perhaps if they did the mundane the nervousness of talking to him would pass. She hadn’t felt it when she’d been sitting opposite him at the party.
“Today’s been long. Busy and frustrating.”
The tiredness in his voice was evident now. “I’m sorry, doesn’t sound like a fun day at all.”
“It is what it is.” He paused, and she wondered what he was doing. Was he home sitting on his couch? Or was he still at the office? Considering it wasn’t even five in the afternoon, he had to still be at work.
Were there other people around, listening in?
Did it matter if there were? It wasn’t like they could really hear what she was saying. All they could hear was Dalton’s side of the conversation. Unless he had her on speaker, but shesquashed that thought, because there wasn’t the echo, or tinny sound, associated with being on loudspeaker.
She was overthinking things. All she needed to do was go with the flow and see what happened.
“Still, I’m sorry it’s been all that. Do you finish soon?”
“Yeah, not long to go. Don’t have any security jobs on tonight.”
“Do you have a lot of them?”
“We can do, but if my team and I are getting ready to go away, the other guys will take them, seeing as they all have significant others.”
“How often do you go away?” Steff knew that SEALs got deployed often, sometimes for months on end. Is that what happened with Dalton now, even though he was working for a private security company?
“Not often, and if we do, it’s usually quick trips. We get in, do what we have to do, and get out as quickly as possible. Most of what we do, even though sanctioned by the government, are missions that if they go pear-shaped, they’ll disavow all knowledge, and we’ll be left out to hang.”
“They can do that to you? Doesn’t seem fair. They’re sending you to do their dirty work, the least they could do is support you.” Had there been times when that had happened to Dalton in the past? If that was the case, then how did he get out of not being put to death? Or being kept captive?
She shuddered at the thought, and coldness swept over her. She brought her knees up, and one arm hugged them.
“We’re good at what we do, so we don’t get caught. And we know the risks. Knew them when we agreed to work with the FBI.”
Another thought struck her. “Should you be telling me this? If what you do is so secretive, then you shouldn’t talk about it, right?”
Dalton chuckled again, and the sound chased away some of the cold. “I’m not telling you about specifics of the missions we go on, but I can tell you about the basics like that. Plus, now you know what you’re getting in to.”
It took a second for his words to sink, and when they did, she inhaled deeply. It sounded like he wanted to date her. Or was going to ask her out, but she didn’t want to assume anything.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I want to get to know you better, Steff. I want to take you out. Or, if you don’t want to go out, I’ll cook or bring food to you. Either at my place or yours. The choice is yours.”
He sounded so casual as if this was something he’d always done. And maybe it was, but the fact of the matter was, he wasn’t seeing anyone right this moment, and he wanted to see her.
The question was, did she want to see him?
Did she want to date him knowing what she did now about his job?
More accurately, would Dalton want to date her, when some days, opening her front door was a mountain she couldn’t climb?
