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“Fair enough.” Nikolas met her gaze, unblinking and direct. It should have made her feel uncomfortable, only it didn’t. Instead, she saw something warm unfurl deep in his eyes. “Why don’t we go grab lunch?”
“Lunch?” Her voice came out on a small squeak at the same moment the baby let out a swift kick just beneath one of her ribs.
“Yeah, lunch.” A small smile ghosted his lips as he stood. “You know. Food consumed at midday.”
Was she really willing to give up the precious few dollars she had on a restaurant lunch? And wasn’t it funny that her thoughts had shifted so drastically after only a few months?
There was a time she’d gone out for lunch every day, either with friends at work or with Ferdy down near his office. Dinner had been the same, eating out several nights a week.
And now... Now she was rapidly calculating how she was going to make her last sixty-eight dollars last her until she could pick up some work. Well, sixty-seven after she paid him the dollar.
If she’d used brass before now it was time to use a bald-faced lie. “I know what lunch is but I just had crackers. I’m not hungry.”
“I am. And lunch is on me, so if you’re not hungry maybe you order something to take with you for dinner.”
On him?
“You can’t do that. I came to you for help. And you’re only getting a dollar.” Nova barely held back a wince at the squeaky tone in her voice.
“Consider it an investment.”
“In what?”
He shrugged. “I’ll come up with something later.”
Fifteen minutes later, Nova was still puzzling over what excuse Nikolas Slater would possibly put in his business expenses, as they were being seated at a welcoming pub about two blocks from his office.
He might have kept the confidence of the person who’d hired him to track down Ace Colton, but Nova suspected that his client would be sorely upset to know Nikolas had even spoken to her, let alone spent time with her. Or taken on her case, even if she was a charity.
Nikolas opened the menu th
eir waitress had left for him. “The fish and chips here are awesome. So are the burgers.”
Nova’s stomach gave an involuntary growl at the idea of a burger but it was the fish and chips that lodged in her mind. She hadn’t touched any sort of fish since that morning so many months ago that had preceded her visit to Ferdy’s office.
Was it possible she’d rediscovered the taste for it?
Her morning sickness was long gone, but she hadn’t risked anything in the fish family for fear of losing it. But now, with the seed of the idea of deep-fried cod and equally deep-fried potatoes having been planted, she found she could think of little else.
When their waitress came back, Nova quickly ordered the dish before she could change her mind, and added a glass of water. The fried food might not be good for her but she could at least keep on top of her hydration. Even if it would mean about eight stops that afternoon for a ladies’ room as she hunted for work and a place to stay while she looked for her father.
Nikolas ordered a burger, then waited until their waitress had left, before returning to their earlier conversation. “If you did want to try and reach out, we could connect you with one of Ace’s siblings.”
An emotion that felt a lot like belonging speared through her chest before she tamped down on her reaction. For the same reasons her father may not be excited to meet her, his family might not, either.
Even if they were somehow okay with having a surprise show up out of the blue.
“That’s not really fair to him.”
“Fair’s got nothing to do with it. He’s not here and you are.” He took a sip of the iced tea the waitress had set down along with Nova’s water. “I’d say you deserve at least an equal chance to find out about your father as he does about you.”
Nova wasn’t sure how she’d found one Nikolas Slater, Private Investigator, but somehow, she had. And whatever she might have expected, the man sitting before her didn’t match up with a single thing she’d imagined in that short walk from her perch on the town bench to his office.
He didn’t mince words, which she appreciated.
He was far too attractive for his own good, with that olive skin and thick, dark curls.
He had an interesting sense of honor, which had come through in the way he’d sneakily got her out to lunch, as well as the way he’d protected his existing client’s confidentiality.
