She waited until Dillan disappeared down the hall before clearing her throat and taking a step back toward the center of the room. When she realized she was wringing her hands, she shoved them deep inside her jacket pockets.
Her palms were sweaty.
So was her upper lip.
The comforting feel of the cat making figure eights around her ankles was the only thing keeping her Jell-O knees from giving out completely.
How do men do this?
“Are you seeing anyone, Sergeant?” she blurted, horrified by how much her voice shook.
Britt’s beard-covered chin jerked back. “What does me seeing someone have to do with my broth?—”
“This isn’t about Knox,” she interjected.
He blinked when he realized what she was asking. “No.” He shook his head, his voice suddenly quieter…gentler. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
She felt equal parts relieved—woot! He’s not seeing anyone!—and dismayed because now came the truly hard part. The part where she had to lay all her cards on the table and see if he was interested in playing a hand.
“I know this is bad timing. I mean, I came to inform you that your brother’s done the worst thing possible and is in the biggest trouble of his life. And I get it if you tell me to fuck off. But if I’ve learned anything in my thirty-three years, it’s that I’ll never get what I want unless I ask for it. And if I don’t ask this now, I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to ask it again. So…would you like to maybe meet me for a drink sometime?Afterthis thing with your brother is settled, of course. I know that’ll be weighing on your mind in the meantime.”
Whew! She’d done it. She’d asked him out.
She waited for his response with bated breath. Then, she waited some more. And then she waited somemore, and while she waited, she replayed her question in her head, wondering if she’d worded it correctly.
Yup.
She’d definitely asked him out. She’d preceded the invitation with a lot of words—she tended to ramble when she got nervous. And she could have left out the wordmaybewhen she’d asked if he wanted to meet her for a drink. But evenwiththe maybe thrown in there, there was no way anyone could have misconstrued her meaning.
As the silence stretched on, she began to wonder if it were possible to die from mortification. And, as usually happened when she felt backed into a corner, the Southsider in her took over. “Yo, Rollins. In case you missed it, that’s the conversational baton I passed you.”
His usually expressionless face suddenly looked…pained?
Oh, god. Okay. He’s going to try to let me down easy.
“I think you’re beautiful and brilliant and one of the most intriguing women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting,” he said quietly.
Her heart burned like it had a hundred papercuts doused in rubbing alcohol. “Please.” She held up her hand. “Don’t damn me with faint praise.”
His brow wrinkled. “That’s not what I’m doing. I’m sorry if that’s?—”
She interrupted before he could finish. “And please don’t apologize.Ishould be the one apologizing. Given the situation, my asking you out is wildly inappropriate. I see that now. You think you could chalk this whole catastrophe up to me getting too little sleep last night and just forget I ever said anything?”
“Never.” He shook his head, humor flashing in his eyes. “The unmatched Agent Julia O’Toole asked me out. This is a Dear Diary entry.”
“Ugh.” She screwed her eyes shut. “I’m going to turn around now, walk out that door, and pretend this never happened.”
She started to do exactly that. But before she’d taken two steps, his voice stopped her. “My reason for not jumping on the opportunity to meet you for drinks has nothing to do with my brother, bad timing, or the fact that you came here on business.”
Her shoulders threatened to droop. She firmed them as she swung around so she could face him.
“I’m turning you down because I don’t believe in happily-ever-afters, and I get the impression you do,” he continued.
Well…she hadn’t been expectingthat.Blinking in confusion, she asked, “You don’t believe in happily-ever-afters?”
He rounded the island to stand in front of her.
She wished he hadn’t. Up close, she could smell his aftershave. It was exotic and spicy, like black orchid and cinnamon. She wanted to pull him down so she could bury her face in his neck and inhale. Just drag his scent deep into her lungs.
