He bit back a groan and tried to shift his weight in his jeans.
“I guess both?” She jumped as the waitress plunked down two ice waters. They ordered dinner, and Brigid took a couple of sips from the sweating glass. “I’ve never been a good liar. My dad will see through me.”
Raider twirled his glass. “Then I guess we start to date for real. We’re attracted to each other, and if we didn’t work together, I can see us hooking up.”
She blinked. “You’re a government drone, and I’m a convicted hacker. We wouldn’t have hooked up in a million years. Not even for a one-night stand, which I’ve never had, by the way.”
“Opposites attract,” he returned, leaning toward her. “Listen. Here’s the deal. The best undercover identities are built on as much truth as possible. The only real lie we have to tell is about my profession, and truth be told, half the time I’ve worked with undercover teams, which means we lie all the time. Which is okay in the professional world.” Not in the personal one, though. Loyalty was all he had.
She lifted her gaze. “I hear a line drawn there.”
“Yes. Lying is unacceptable in friendship or anything more,” he affirmed. “It’s unforgivable.” Did she turn pale? Shoot. He hadn’t meant to scare her. “I’m sorry. I know I’m asking you to lie to your father, which contradicts my personal beliefs and no doubt yours. But it’s the only way to prove him innocent.” Which Raider knew wouldn’t happen. There was no way Sean Banaghan was innocent, based on the fact that Jonny P and Josh the Bear had visited him twice in farm country during the last month. “So your motives are pure. Right?” Man, he hated manipulating her like this.
“You’re so full of crap,” she returned, setting down her glass. “You’re lying to me right now.”
Yeah, but it was professional. “Good point. Okay. New promise. We only tell each other the truth, even if it isn’t pretty.” He reached across the table and took her hand. Her skin was smooth and soft, and he gentled his touch. “What do you say?”
She swallowed but left her hand in place.
Sometimes he forgot that not everybody could see bright lines between right and wrong. Also that some people didn’t see that the ends often justified the means, which meant she was a heck of a better person than was he. But they had to get this right. So, keeping his hand on hers, he stood and slid in next to her on her side of the booth. Then he put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Are you ready to start dating?”
* * *
A slow shiver tumbled through Brigid as Raider’s hand settled on her shoulder. The entire left side of her body warmed against him. How could she pretend to date him when she was lying to everyone? Not that she had a choice. “What are you doing?” she croaked.
He turned his head and brushed his lips across her forehead. “Getting you used to my touch.”
Heat flashed down through her body with an intensity that stole her breath. “I’m not a skittish colt,” she returned, wanting to lean into him more as if she had a right to do so.
“Oh, you’re definitely skittish,” he murmured, running his hand down her arm. “I just want to gentle, not break.” He grinned at his own wordplay.
She rolled her eyes, her body humming. “You are such a complete dork.”
“Look there.” He tugged her closer in a half hug. “We’re getting nicknames for each other. I’m sticking with Irish for you. Dork is fine for me.”
He seemed more like a lethal weapon than a dork, but she couldn’t exactly give him that much. The guy had an ego already. A sizable one. “I think I’ll find another nickname for you. Maybe something to do with the fact that you play the guitar.” Which intrigued the heck out of her.
“Sounds good.” He paused as the waitress set down their food and then released Brigid to dig in.
The man certainly took food seriously. She dumped the dressing onto her Cobb salad. “Do you cook?”
“Yep. Every chance I get. I’ll make you something while we date,” he said, nudging her plate toward her. “Eat up. We have to go for a walk and learn to hold hands after this.”
Her stomach flip-flopped. It was so silly. Holding hands didn’t mean anything, and yet, she felt like she was fifteen years old again with her first crush. Why? What was it about him? “When was the last time you dated somebody?” she asked, taking a bite.
He chewed thoughtfully. “Seriously dated? Probably about three years ago before we started working on the mob case. Her name was Louise, and she was a veterinarian. Nice woman, but we kind of frittered away.”
Frittered? Brigid hadn’t heard that term in way too long. Her phone buzzed, and she read the face. “Finished a deeper background check on Jonny P and Josh the Bear. Jonny has a pretty good rap sheet, but even I couldn’t find a hint of Josh before he met up with Jonny.” She pursed her lips. It was rare, very, for somebody to be that anonymous. “I’ll keep looking.”
Raider finished his burger. “Good luck. Even HDD can’t find a history for him.”
Brigid ate her salad and started to relax at having the hard-bodied Fed next to her. She was almost sorry when he paid the check and escorted her outside to the vacant sidewalk. A slight rain had begun to fall, and dark clouds rolled across the sky.
Raider ushered her to his truck. “Guess our walk will have to wait.”
She jumped inside and waited for him to start the engine and drive toward their apartment building. Even though she knew better, this felt like a date. How far would he take it? As if in answer, he reached across the seat and took her hand when he drove away from the curb.
His palm was warm and calloused. Raider Tanaka hadn’t spent his life behind a desk, now had he? She cleared her throat. “With all the intrigue and going undercover, how do you keep your life straight? I mean, how do you ever trust anybody?” She tried to keep her tone emotionless, but it wasn’t easy. Sometimes it was difficult to know what the truth was when dealing with people. Computer code never lied.
