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“Date now. Justice later,” Anton told her, not slowing his march out of the room. Date was all the word needed to sway Grace into leaving with him. Anton was pleased by that.
He’d much rather have Grace on a date with him than doing whatever it was that was happening on that bulletin board. It called up the fact that his own research had been hit by a thief. Who was still at large. If he thought too much about that he’d get broody, and Mindy hated it when he did that. Said it made him pissy. There was nothing wrong with a good brood, but the fact was that he couldn’t do much about the thief currently. There were teams working on tracking the incident and all he could do was look forward.
It wasn’t easy, but it had to be done. It was the only way to stay sane.
Grace, it seemed, was of another mind when it came to coping with her own loss. And not even a date could sway her from it.
Instead of coffee and conversation with his new girlfriend, a break they very much needed from the chaos of the labs, Grace had made a beeline for a window table for two. It should have been cute, could be really, since it was just a small little bistro table made for cozy seating. But Grace slid into the chair and immediately eyed the restaurant.
“What are you looking for?” He asked, fearing he already knew the answer.
“Clues, duh,” she answered him, craning her neck to look out the window.
“And why are you wearing that ridiculous hat?” He nodded at the oversized yellow beanie with a large knitted daisy perched on top. It looked like what would happen if a Cabbage Patch Kid managed to drag itself from the field and come of age.
Grace’s eyes slid to his, and she let out a beleaguered sigh. “It’s called fashion, honey. Look it up.”
Anton rolled his eyes and lifted his latte to his mouth, choosing not to share what he thought of the sunny monstrosity sitting atop his girlfriend's head. He might not know much about women, but he knew enough.
“And if you must know, I’m incognito, okay? This hat is my disguise. How do you think I’m going to get clues out in the open?”
“That’s a disguise?” He scoffed. “For what? A Xanadu reunion tour?”
“I’m going to stuff you into a garbage can, Kovalev.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You know, when I thought you’d talk dirty to me, that’s not quite what I imagined.”
“All this is critical to this caper stakeout.”
“How?”
“It’s hiding my pink hair. Hello! People would see that a mile off.”
He couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips at her explanation. It was adorable. Misguided, but adorable all the same.
“You have an actual flower on your head,” he pointed out.
She pulled a face. “And?”
He bit his lip. “It’s yellow and the size of your head.”
“That’s your opin-'' She sat up straight and then leaned over to grab his hand. “Quick! Look like we are on a date,” she hissed at him as she sank low in her seat.
He pursed his lips. Her words bothered him a lot more than he wanted them to.
“Shouldn’t be hard, since I thought that was the actual reason we came here,” he told her, leaning across the table.
“Don’t pout. It’s caper time.”
Grace’s order fell on deaf ears as Anton hunched over his coffee with a barely muffled growl.
She inclined her head. “Did you just growl?” she asked.
He glared at her. “What of it, shortcake?”
“Because it was hot as shit, but put this on. Table the growl for later, because I am going to want a full exploration of that. ” Grace slid a hat—blessedly, not a knot flower beanie—at him.
Nevertheless, he took one look at it and scowled. “I’d rather be sucked out of an airlock into deep space than put this on.”
