“Are you having a good time?”
Alistaire reached over and took one of Fox’s hands, bringing it to his lips, kissing his fingertips. Alistaire had taken him to Villa Atratinia, an authentic Italian restaurant in the next town over from Vale Valley. They’d just finished eating their appetizer of Caprese salad for Fox and Prosciutto e Melone for Alistaire and were enjoying a delightful conversation while waiting for their main courses to arrive.
“You’ve impressed me so far.” Fox felt more confident as the night went on and less like a schoolboy out with his high school crush.
“So far,” Alistaire smirked. “I guess I have my work cut out for me then.”
“Yes, I say you do. I’m a very hard man to please, Alistaire Vale.” Fox took a sip of his wine, watching Alistaire over the rim of his glass. “So, have you thought about it?”
“What? How to keep impressing you?”
Fox chuckled. “No. I’m talking about the job offer.”
Alistaire leaned back in his chair, still holding Fox’s hand and playing with his wine glass with the other. “I’ve thought about it some, but I’m still not sure if I want to take the job.”
“Would I be prying if I asked you what’s holding you back from saying yes?”
Alistaire bit his lips. “The job sounds too sweet to believe. I’ll have the run of the entire police department. I won’t need to answer to the mayor or anyone else for that matter. An unlimited budget...that sort of thing. But that’s only if Boroson can win the election.”
“That does sound too good to be true. I see why you’re apprehensive, but with all that, wouldn’t you get to change things, run the entire department your way?”
“Yeah, it does. But there’s just this feeling—” Alistaire sighed and shook his head, not finishing his statement. “Let’s not talk about that anymore. I want to do a bit more investigating before I come to a decision.”
Fox nodded. “Okay, I won’t push things for now. But promise to talk to me before you give that guy your answer.”
“Of course, I’ll talk to you first. Let’s talk about something else. I don’t want to talk or think about Boroson right now.”
“Wait, did you say Boroson, as in Odin Boroson?”
“Yeah, the guy you met was Loki Boroson—he’s Odin’s son.”
That’s right, I forgot Alistaire had mentioned that little bit of information. Could he be Nafri’s father or uncle? Gods, why the hell do the Boroson’s keep showing up?
“So what about you? Are you still thinking about a career change?”
“No longer thinking, I’ve made up my mind.”
Fox had sent an email to the dean of admissions, explaining why he was delayed in responding to his admission to the law department. He was still waiting to hear back from them, but he felt he would be accepted anyway. Fox figured he could go to school online and fast-track his way since he knew most of the material. The laws changed from state to state, and he was sure some laws had changed in the past couple of years, so he still had things to learn.
“I’ve decided to go to law school.”
An expression crossed Alistaire’s face, but he masked it quickly before Fox could say anything. “Law…” he cleared his throat and released Fox’s hand, taking a swig of his water. “Law school, why the sudden change?”
“It’s not sudden, actually. I planned on going two years ago after I’d gotten accepted, but—” He looked at Genesis sleeping snuggly in her seat on the empty chair beside him and smiled. “I wasn’t ready.”
“And now you are?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“I see. I can tell you have things all planned out in your head.”
“I think I do.”
“But?” Alistaire quirked a brow.
“How can you tell there’s a but?”
Alistaire leaned closer and lightly rubbed on Fox’s bottom lip. “I noticed something about you the first time I ate lunch at your house. When you’re thinking hard about something, you worry your bottom lip.”
