Chapter 7
“You need to relax.”Riley looked at Eric from across the small table.
They’d chosen this particular spot at Roti, a Mediterranean restaurant located in downtown Dallas, because it was near the wall of windows facing the street.
If the killer happened to see the press conference that aired a few hours before, their hope was he’d make his move soon. To help matters, she’d decided they needed to make her as accessible as possible.
Something Eric was none too happy about.
He’d become rather quiet after their soul-reaching moment in the interview room earlier. Like now, Riley assumed he’d been lost in his thoughts about the case.
The case.
Us.
His frown deepened as he stabbed a piece of crisp lettuce with more force than necessary. “Iamrelaxed.”
“Right...” She took a bite of her salad. “Because you always sit ramrod straight with your muscles all bunched up like that whenever we’re eating dinner together.”
Riley watched his shoulders drop some, but only slightly. The man had been wound tighter than a two-dollar clock ever since they left the precinct two hours ago.
“Come on, Eric,” she tried again. “You’ve barely said two words this whole time. If this were any other meal, you’d be talking up a storm. Telling me about some case you worked before I moved here, or a wild time you had as a Marine. That, or I’d hear about some crazy thing you and your brother did when you were little.”
His fork clanged against the side of the porcelain salad bowl as he dropped it. With his elbows now on the table, Eric’s eyes flickered with anger...and fear.
“This isn’t just another meal, Riley. We’re literally sitting here, hoping a fucking serial killer comes after you.”
Her ponytail swung to the side as she took a quick glance around to make sure no one else in the restaurant heard him.
“Wanna say that a little louder?” She arched a brow. “I don’t think the cook in the back heard you.”
Looking down, she noticed his hands were in white-knuckled fists. She itched to reach out to him. To touch him and make him see everything was going to be okay.
But they were in public and, as far as anyone else knew, they were nothing more than partners.
They finished their meal in relative quiet, and the ride home wasn’t much better. But by the time they got to her apartment—and cleared every room—Eric seemed to have eased up a little on the anxiety scale.
“I wish I could stay.” He held her close.
“Me, too.”
“I don’t like leaving you alone. You’re too vulnerable.”
“That’s kind of the whole point, remember? Besides...” Pulling back, Riley unholstered her weapon and held it out to the side. “Not exactly a damsel in distress.”
He didn’t smile. “I know you can handle yourself.” Eric’s warm palm cupped the side of her face. “Doesn’t make me want to protect you any less.”
She slid her weapon back into her Kydex holster and wrapped her fingers around his thick wrist. “I know. And I love you for it. I just—”
Riley sucked in a breath.
Oh shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Realizing what she’d just said, she began stumbling over her own words.
“That wasn’t...uh...I mean...what I was trying to was—”
