“Your favorite dinosaur. Everyone has one.”
She walked to the window, smiling. “They do? In that case, tell me yours.”
“Velociraptor.” He didn’t hesitate. “They’re smart, quick on their feet and not afraid to kill.”
“You mean they are the lawyers of the dinosaur world.”
Jack laughed. “Maybe. Now it’s your turn.”
“I don’t know. I’m new to this. Help me out. The only one I know is a T. rex, but it’s a savage meat eater, which is frankly gross, and I’ve always been put off by tiny arms.”
“No tiny arms. Noted. I’m going straight to the gym after this conversation. Hold on a moment—” There was a pause and she could hear voices in the background and then the click of a door closing. “Sorry about that. There are people who think I’m here practicing law, so I have to keep up the pretense. Where were we? Oh yes, dinosaurs. I think you’d like the diplodocus.”
“Is that a savage meat eater?”
“No, it’s a herbivore. Intimidating on the outside, but gentle on the inside. A bit like you.”
“You find me intimidating?”
“You’re forgetting I’ve seen you naked. No one is intimidating when they’re naked.”
She hadn’t forgotten. In fact, she’d thought about it a great deal more than she would have liked.
“I had no idea you were a dinosaur expert.”
“If you’d asked me when I was seven I could have told you anything you wanted to know. I wanted to be a paleontologist for a short time, until I realized that the ratio of digging versus drama was heavily loaded toward the former.”
Their conversation was still light,but they both knew they were dancing around something much more serious.
“So—” He broke the silence. “I assume you called for a reason. Give me the date.”
“The date?”
“Of the event you want me to attend. Black tie?”
She was invited to so many things, most of which she didn’t accept. It would be easy to pick one and use it as an excuse to get together.
But she didn’t want to make an excuse.
“I don’t have a specific event in mind. That wasn’t why I called.”
“Then why don’t you tell me why you called?” His voice was like a caress, and she pressed her fingers to her neck, imagining the brush of his mouth against her skin.
“The last time we saw each other—” She paused, swallowed. “I’ve been thinking about it.”
“Mmm?”
She stared out the window, wondering why she was finding this so hard. “I was thinking that next time we get together, you could leave a few things at my place. A toothbrush. Whatever.”
There was silence, and for a moment she wondered if he’d heard her.
“Jack? Are you still there? I said—”
“I heard what you said, Erica.” The way he said her name made her catch her breath and then she felt a moment of breathless panic.
“You probably don’t want to. You’re very independent and you like your own space as much as I do and—”
“Erica.” There was a smile in his voice. “Breathe.”
