“Serves you right. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to tug on Superman’s cape?”
“Jim Croce.”
He chuckled. “Okay, so you know your oldies. I’ll keep that in mind.” His features changed again, neither hard nor soft, just concerned. “Are you all right?”
“Did the chief tell you to come out and ask me that?”
“No. I’m showing initiative.”
A genuine smile made the corners of her mouth twitch. She nodded. “I’m fine.” Another pause, then, “Now.”
“You didn’t have much color in your face back there.”
“I’m sure.” She touched a cheek with her hand. There was heat again so she supposed that meant there was color. “Was it your idea? About applying to the department.”
“No. That was all the chief. He might have talked to some of the other guys about it since they’ve known you longer, but he didn’t ask my opinion.”
“Do you have one?”
“I do, but I’ve been thinking about asking you out, so I don’t know if sharing that opinion will improve my chances of you saying yes or ruin them for all time.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes?” Now he was stupefied and unable not to show it. “You mean it? You don’t even know what I had in mind.”
“Is it dinner and movie?”
“No.”
“Are you going to get drunk?”
“No.”
“Are you married?”
“No.”
“Then it’s still yes. Now tell me. I want to know what you think.” Ramsey saw he had to get his feet under him. She guessed she’d pulled pretty hard on that rug. He probably thought he was lucky, or that he was going to get lucky. He didn’t know she only had bad dates.
“Well, I thought it was a pretty good idea when the chief proposed it, then I watched your face as he was talking and reconsidered. It’s only a good idea if you think it is. No one should be a cop who doesn’t want to be, and I don’t think you want to be.”
“Do you think I should feel flattered that he chose to plant his seed in me?”
“I don’t know about flattered, but you sure as hell need to find another way of saying it.”
Ramsey heard the echo of her question in her mind and had to laugh. “You’re right. That didnotcome out the way I meant it.” Heroines in Regency romances, even those in full recline on their chaise longues, had better lines than that. “I’ll work on it,” she promised. “And your opinion’s been duly noted as they say.”
“Theysay that? I hadn’t realized.” His head tilted as he studied her contemplative expression. “You’re going to think about it, aren’t you?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. No.” She offered the last denial with more finality than she had offered the first one and then changed the subject. “So when’s the date? And what’s the date? I might need to ask for time off depending what shift I’m working.”
“Saturday two weeks away. I think that’s the tenth. Prepare yourself. It’s my mother’s half-sister’s daughter’s wedding.”
“Your cousin, then.”
“Half-cousin. My half-Aunt Kay prefers the distinction. Never said aloud, of course, but always in the back of her tiny mind. She and my mother were not close, but Linda and I get along just fine, mostly because we ignore her mother. Are you still in? I have to RSVP. I should have done it already but I was trying to decide about the plus one. Linda called me yesterday and told me she could wait until Monday to hear back from me. Aunt Kay wanted an answer a month ago so I can hardly make her pissier than she is.”
“I’m still in, although this has bad date written all over it.”
