“That’s a little more complicated. They had trouble getting their heads around the fact that I cited you in the first place.”
“I don’t know why,” she said. “I was speeding; you were doing your job.”
“Exactly. That’s what I told them. Trouble is, they knew I was kind of, well, kind of interested in getting to know you, or at least participating in a civil conversation. Am I blushing? I think I might be. My face feels warm.”
He was a little pink-cheeked, but Ramsey didn’t tell him. He probably didn’t want to hear he looked adorable. Hell, she didn’t want to think it. “No,” she said, straight-faced. Adorable.
Sullivan went on. “Since they knew about my leanings, they figured I was an idiot for giving you the ticket and there’d be no chance of ever getting in your good graces. In a weak moment, I asked them what I could do about it. They told me not to show for court.”
“That must have gone against your grain.”
“It did. Maybe not as much as it should have.” He lifted his hands, palms turned up, and pretended to weigh his options. “A speeding fine to fill the city coffers.” He shifted the imaginary weight in his palm scales. “The chance of being on the receiving end of a smile from you. It wasn’t that much of a contest.”
“I’m flattered.”
“You could have smiled just then. I set you up for it.”
She did. Brilliantly.
“Whoa,” he said, rearing back in his chair. “Rein that in.”
Ramsey laughed. “Fool.”
He resettled himself in the chair. “I didn’t realize what I was unleashing.”
Her mouth flattened as she gave him her best contemptuous stare.
Sullivan did not need her to clobber him. A chuckled rumbled deeply in his throat. “All right. Done now.”
Anna Constantinides called over to them from behind the bar. “Dessert?”
Ramsey shook her head. Sullivan placed his hands over his middle and indicated he was full. When Anna announced the baklava was still warm from the oven, they both found room.
At the end of the meal, Sullivan tried to pay and was turned away. “Let me,” said Ramsey. She took some bills from her wallet, but Anna would not accept them either. Not one to accept defeat or a free meal, Ramsey spied the tip jar on the bar and stuffed the money in there. She grabbed the sleeve of Sullivan’s leather jacket while he was collecting their helmets. “Run!”
Grinning helplessly at Anna, Sullivan allowed himself to be pulled along. He and Ramsey were still laughing when they reached the Harley. Ramsey took the helmet Sullivan offered, but before she put it on, she glanced back at the door to Shoot and Shots in anticipation of Anna following. “Clean getaway,” she said when the door remained closed.
Sullivan nodded. “You took her by surprise. Well done.”
They were both hugging their helmets in front of them. Ramsey tapped Sullivan’s helmet with hers and looked up at him. “This was nice. As surprises go, this was a good one, but as Anna pointed out when we arrived, I’m not fond of them.”
“Already noted.”
“I appreciate that, and thank you for this. I had a lovely time.”
“I want to get you home safely and then you can tell me.”
“I might forget.”
“You won’t. I don’t think you forget anything.”
He was right. She didn’t forget, even when she wished she could. The things she didn’t want to remember were the memories that were hard-wired now, the ones that made her believe that razor ribbon fencing was vital.
Sullivan started to lift his helmet, stopped, and lowered it again. “I was reaching for a six pack in one of the refrigerators at the back of a Grab and Go when some knucklehead tried to rob the place. I stopped him from waving his gun in Anna’s face and making off with thirty-seven dollars and eighty-four cents, plus the pennies in the leave one, take one tray at the register.”
Ramsey nodded slowly. “Good to know. Precious short on details, but still good to know.”
“You heard me say thirty-seven dollars and eighty-four cents, didn’t you? I don’t know how many pennies there were.”
