Page 20 of Dancing in the Dark

How flawless her hair always is.

She tilts her head gently to the side and looks me up and down. “Are you, uh…” She gulps, noticeable enough that I catch the slide of her throat and a slight pink tinge in her cheeks. “Is everything okay? Is Mia alright?”

I love you, Sera! I love you so fucking much, it hurts to breathe when we’re not in the same space.

But those are inside thoughts I keep locked away. They’re private and personal and absolutely not something I throw in her face the way I throw pretty much every other absurd thought I’ve ever had her way.

“Mia’s fine. I’m fine.” I move down the stairs at a jog, which is fractionally better than the sprint I kinda want to sprint. Coming to a stop a single step in front of her, I search her eyes and daydream, if only for a second, about a world where I could pull her in and kiss her purely because I fuckin’ want to. “Everyone’s fine. I had to collect something for work.”

Ish.

“I was kinda hoping I’d see you while I was here,” I admit sheepishly. “I wouldn’t have gone up to your office and interrupted your day, though, so when I didn’t see you in the lobby, my heart broke a little.”

“Oh… well…” She moves around me and up a single step. Two. “I’m glad we crossed paths out here. I suppose I should⁠—”

“Do you have twenty minutes?” I grab her wrist and tug her to a stop. Here I go again, demanding things I have no right to. Hoping for things I really shouldn’t. “I know you’re at work, and I know you’re a busy woman. But m-maybe you could spare a few minutes?”

Her pulse thunders wildly against the side of her throat as she glances longingly toward City Hall’s front doors. Then down to me. Up again. Then back to me. “For what?”

“Coffee?” I study her empty hands. No to-go cup in sight. “There’s a cart over—” I gesture toward the street. “Down there. Justin’s putty for you and Mayet and anyone else he deems adoptable, so he probably wouldn’t even be mad if you’re twenty minutes late, right?”

“On the contrary.” She carefully twists her arm from my hold. “Twenty minutes is a big deal, depending on who they inconvenienced.”

Dun, dun, dun. Rejected.

Again.

“However…” Hope pulses in my blood as a small smile curls along her lips. “I’m half an hour early today. So⁠—”

“Dibs!” I grab on again and drag her down the remaining stairs, catching her when my roughness would have her stumble. “Why are you half an hour early for work, anyway? Only nerds and losers do that shit.”

She rolls her eyes. But fuck me up and bury me in the ground, because she walks close to me. Close. So close, some might even say she’s hugging my arm.

It’s me. I’m saying it.

“Then I suppose that makes me a nerd or a loser,” she quips. “Or both.”

Fuck, she smells good.

“I have some pretty busy days coming up over the next week or two, so I wanted to get in and tackle a few of my administrative chores before Justin arrived. However, since I only had two coffees this morning, and you’ve so gallantly offered me a third, I figure saying no might turn out to be bad juju.”

Pleasure zings through my veins as I drag her all the way to the cart and to the front of the line, then ordering two standard cappuccinos and handing over enough cash to cover them and a tip, I bring her ten feet to the side and consider releasing her hand.

Ha! Yeah, right.

“What’s happening at work over the next two weeks?” I come around and stand in front of her so I become everything she sees. The only thing she sees. And since I am, I flash a smile wide enough it might buy me another twenty minutes tomorrow. Or the next day. Or literally any day she wants to give.

I’m not too proud to accept scraps.

“Preparing to launch Lawrence’s presidential campaign?”

She scoffs. “God no. Not today, anyway. But we have Chinese delegates flying in to discuss a new trade deal. I received confirmation an hour ago that they’ve boarded their flight and are on their way.”

“Seems like a long way to come for a business meeting. They’ve never heard of Zoom?”

She’s amused by me. Fuckin’ A. “It’s not a standard thirty-minute meeting, Detective. We have several full days on the agenda, plus an evening banquet later this week. The commute is long, but the benefits will hopefully prove worthwhile.”

“Do you speak Chinese?”