“Base of operations beginning in January.”
“Defined boundaries,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Very mature of you.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth, then returned to my eyes. “I’m told it happens.”
“Sofia?”
His jaw shifted, a small movement. “I told her. Her mother too. We’ll figure out a schedule that works. Virginia is easier from Florida than Africa.”
“You’re not trying to solve everything by January.”
“No.” He looked at me. “But I am working on it.”
The office went very quiet.
Somewhere beyond the glass, Daisy laughed over the phone. A printer started. The ordinary world continued its administrative nonsense while Nick stood in my office and changed the shape of January.
I reached for my coffee. My hand wasn't steady, so I let the mug stay where it was.
His gaze dropped to it.
“Careful,” I said. “If you keep observing me, I’ll start billing you.”
“I’ve seen your rates.”
“And yet you accepted.”
“I negotiated danger pay.”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it. His eyes warmed, and the room lost another degree of oxygen. I stood, no longer convinced my desk offered anything useful besides distance.
“I assume dinner is still theoretical.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I don’t make theoretical conditions.”
My stomach tightened.
He had said it through a phone screen and too much distance: dinner, a door he was allowed to lock, and conditions instead of promises.
With Nick, that was the promise.
“Where?” I asked.
“Mar Azul. Seven-thirty.”
My mouth opened.
“How, exactly, did Mar Azul enter the evidence file?”
“I have my ways.”
