“Thank you.” He tried to control his stammer. Was she hitting on him? Or did the alcohol make her talk even faster than usual?
“This is playful, flirty banter.” She waved a finger between them. “We’re off duty. And I’ve had four drinks because we’re Ubering. Tell your sister it was nice to meet her, and I don’t recommend theRomulan Ale. It’s not even beer. TheShooting Starwas good, even if it’s a mimosa.”
Noah tried to keep up. Drinks, they were talking about drinks now. “Assuming again? I might like mimosas, and Abby likes beer.”
“See, fun banter between us.” Hudgens abruptly switched to anger. “Now it’s okay? It’s not. We may not be on duty, but there is no ‘us.’ Later or never, Chief-Jedi-robot.”
She adjusted her purse and stalked out.
Noah wanted to bury his head in his hands. What a cliché. He’d told her yesterday she meant nothing to him, even when it was a full bald-faced lie. No matter how hard he pretended, he was drawn to her.
When he got back to his seat, Abby pounced. “You going to tell me what that was about?”
“What ‘that’ was about?” He wasn’t sure what it was, and he didn’t want to discuss it.
“Don’t play coy with me, Noah Lincoln Baker. You and Erin.” Abby crossed her arms, giving her best ‘Mom’ look.
“Erin?” He pretended not to understand. “Oh, Hudgens.”
She kicked him in the shin. “If you’re going to lie to me, think again. What’s going on between you two?”
“Nothing,” he insisted.
“You sure about that? You’d start leaning into her and then jerk away as if you suddenly remembered you shouldn’t. She kept doing the same thing.”
“We did not.”
“Don’t lie.” Again, the look.
He gave up. She’d get it out of him anyway. “Something did happen. We bumped into each other at a yoga class, flirted, and then met again when I was disciplining her officers.”
“Oh. I can see where that would put a damper on your relationship.”
“There is no relationship. Professionally, we both know any relationship is out of bounds.” Noah exhaled. “End of story.”
“You two talked about this?” she pressed.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Too busy having sex to talk about it? Too busy ‘talking.’” His sister made air quotes.
“Abby,” he warned her. If he wasn’t going to treat the women in the department like sex objects, neither could she.
“Too far? Nothing’s happened?”
“And nothing will.” Internally, he almost winced at the admission. “It would get me fired, and she’d be blackballed in CCFD forever.”
“Good point, but you’re awfully prickly about her.” She tipped her head. “Blue balls?”
He choked. “For the love of God, can you drop it? She’s not a conquest, a piece of meat, or a friend with benefits. Leave it.”
“You’re right. I only push because your whole life seems joyless. I didn’t think teasing you about your almost schoolboy crush was that big of a deal.”
“It’s not a big deal. It was an awkward misunderstanding. And I don’t have a crush.” He kept telling himself the more he repeated it, the more true it would become.
He had a hell of a lot more of than a crush on her. The sexual attraction was only one facet of Hudgens. He genuinely liked her. He wanted to have full conversations with her, find out how much more aboutStar Trekshe knew. Yes, he wanted those things to be asked over pancakes while they lay in bed, but still. “This matter is closed.”
“Fine,” Abby said just as the waiter brought them Alternate Timeline Pancakes, his order of Flying Saucer Burger, Stardust Fries, and a Light Speed Cake Tour sampler. “I have to compliment your new method of meeting women. Way better chances than at your boxing gym.”
