Violet finally turned, her gaze dropping to his extended hand. She reached out to put her palm in his and he pulled her toward him. He leaned back against the counter and put his arms around her so she couldn’t get away.
“I didn’t know what my plan was when I came down here,” he explained. “Only that I would listen to what Holt had to say, strike up a few conversations, and see if the story unfolded at all.”
“You’ve done that.” Her words were clipped.
“For the most part, yeah. This case is cold enough I could probably go back to Dallas, venture out when I needed to talk to someone. Archer does most of the investigating, so I could rely more on him.”
She nodded, her eyes shifting down to his chest.
“But I’m not ready to go back,” he admitted.
Her eyes snapped to his face again.
“I’d like to stick around for a bit. If that’s all right with you.”
Her dark eyes shined as she nodded.
“Unless you’re done with me already.”
Violet’s expression softened. “I’m not done with you. Not yet.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “Good. And if you need a date for your cousin’s wedding…”
Her dark eyebrows popped up. “You’re offerin’ to go to a wedding with me?”
“Baby, I’m offerin’ to goanywherewith you.”
Simon stood still as her gaze skimmed his face. He couldn’t read her expression, but he hoped she understood he was being sincere. He couldn’t explain what was happening here, but he knew he wasn’t ready for it to be over. In fact, he wanted to stick around more to see where it was going than for the potential story.
“And maybe you could help me with some research if you’ve got time.”
“Really?”
Simon nodded.
“You just said Archer does most of the investigating. And you’ve got Paige for … whatever else.”
“They help me, yeah. Archer does most of the leg work. Paige takes care of the audio. She cleans it up, edits, forces me to make those changes, and adds the sound bites and whatnot. I’m sure she’ll wanna come down here to check it out.”
“That’d be cool.”
Simon thought he heard hesitancy in her tone. “Would it?”
“Are you and Paige … umm…”
He smirked. “No. We’re not.”
“How do you know what I’m askin’?”
He smoothed out the crease in her forehead with his thumb. “I just know.”
“Have you…?”
“Have I ever been with Paige? No. Never. We’re just friends.”
“Paige and Archer?”
I chuckled. “That’s somethin’ you’ll have to ask them, but I don’t think so. Then again, I don’t pay much attention to that stuff.”
