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Dammit. I knew I’d be hearing about this forever.

“It might,” he confessed.

“Have you gotten a hold of her?”

“She and I have traded voicemails and emails. She said she’d make herself available whenever I could make it up to DC, or she’d come down to Virginia Beach.”

Gideon’s expression changed. “She’s willing to come here for a date? That’s cool.”

Linc grinned. “That’s what I thought too. But it’s not how I want things to start. I’m going to go rent a room at a nice hotel, and we’ll see the sights, have dinner, maybe dance. The whole nine yards.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

“Wanted to get Thursday to Monday off.”

“Put it into the system. I’ll let Kostya know I approved it.”

“Thanks,” Linc said with a grin.

“Since it’s slow today, why don’t you leave early and get an early start on your trip?” Gideon suggested.

Linc’s smile went brighter. “I’ll do that.”

Linc left the Little Creek base with a spring in his step. He headed to his town home and got packed. His good suit was still in the dry-cleaning wrapper from the last time he’d worn it, so that was taken care of. He sat down at his laptop and checked out hotels in the DC area and flinched when he saw the prices.

When he saw the pictures of the rooms, he was even more surprised.

Four hundred a night for this?

Too bad it was DC instead of New York, because then he’d text Jada, Gideon’s fiancé. She knew her way around the city.

“Amy!” he called out.

Amy Linden, Ryker’s woman, fiancée, whatever, would know all about DC He pulled out his phone and texted her for some recommendations.

He waited, then his phone rang.

Shit. Now I’m going to have to answer questions.

“Hi Amy,” he answered the phone.

“Hi Prettyboy,” she laughed.

Linc groaned. “Everybody knows what she said, right?”

“Oh yeah. I think that kind of gossip made its way to the West Coast.”

Linc looked heavenward but knew he would not get any help from there.

“Can you help me feel not so bad about that?” Linc asked.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I’m going up to DC for a couple of days. I’m renting a room, and I’d like to come home and not have to eat only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the next month.”

Amy giggled. “That’s DC for you. Those rates are killer. And that’s before you see what the parking costs.”

“You mean parking isn’t included with that highway robbery?”