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It didn’t matter though, Danny didn’t want to speak to anyone. In fact, when he let go of her hand to boost himself up to peer over the counter, she got the impression he’d chosen his moment carefully.
In one slick move, he swiped something from the lower side of the counter, then landed back on his feet to continue walking without missing a beat.
Tess hurried to catch up and watched him take apart a pen until all he had left was the long clip. He slipped everything else in a trash can at the other corner of the counter.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he unfolded the clip, which had been folded back on itself.
“Nothing,” he said, glancing around as he straightened out a paperclip that she hadn’t seen until that second. “What are you doing? Which one we want?”
“Seven across, three down.”
Tess didn’t see him count, but he went to exactly the right place. She expected to keep look out or something. Danny had a different idea. With the pen-clip he’d unfolded hidden in one hand and the straightened paperclip in the other, he scooped an arm around her to put her in front of him.
“Pull your hair over your shoulder,” he said, crouching to kiss her.
“What are you doing?”
“Concentrating,” he said, both hands at the back of her neck, though he wasn’t holding her.
Surprised when he kissed her again and dipped his tongue between her lips, Tess pulled away, which gave his hands less space to work with. Her eyes ascended to his. What was he doing? He was… using the kiss as cover. Her lips curved as his did the same. Tess’s role was to sell this while he was concentrating on something else.
Coiling both arms around his neck, Tess pulled him close and surrendered herself to the kiss.
Prepared to put on a performance, she expected it would take a while. Except, almost before it started, the metal door popped open.
Breaking the kiss, she met his eye again. “You weren’t even looking.”
“You better be quick,” he said, turning her on the spot, crowding in close to give her some cover.
Yes, the teens would get their skates and then pour into the locker area. Putting both hands inside, Tess lifted the sneakers and pushed aside the glasses, running her hands all over the bottom and up the side walls, in a desperate hope that she’d feel paper.
Nothing.
Breathing out, she sagged against him. “Damnit.”
“Give me your hand,” he said, presenting his palm over her shoulder.
She did, and he turned her palm upward. Guiding her hand forward, he separated her fingers so his could feel the ceiling of the locker in sync with hers. The one place she hadn’t touched. Missing that one section was dumb, but she didn’t think it would make the slightest bit of—
Just as she registered the seam under her fingertips, Danny’s hand stopped. He must have felt it too.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “What is that?”
He applied pressure, maybe thinking it was on a spring, it wasn’t. He crouched lower until his breath warmed her ear. “Use your fingernail.”
Yes. Slipping her nail into the line in the metal, she tried to pry it open. At first nothing happened, but she could feel movement, like maybe it wanted to give.
“Don’t fucking test me,” she murmured her magic words.
They’d worked with the trunk of her Corvette. Just like that day, the metal gave and dropped at an angle, just a tiny amount, less than an inch, but it was enough to let an envelope slide out.
When it was on her palm, Tess stopped breathing. It worked. She’d been right.
“Make out time,” Danny whispered in her hair, closing the panel and turning her around. Still in a daze, the paper mesmerized her. “Babe, come on.”
Right. Yeah. They had to cover their asses. Sliding both hands around him, she skimmed them down to his ass to tuck the letter into his back pocket. His hands were working behind her again. The kiss wasn’t as intense as their usual joinings, but tonight was going to be a hot one.
Without him, she would’ve sat all night until someone returned to that locker. Would she have checked the ceiling of the locker? Maybe. If there had been time and she wasn’t worried about being discovered… Maybe. Maybe not.
