When she slid into the booth, he sat across from her.
The server bustled over, cleared away the coffee mugs. “What can I get you?”
“Coffee,” Brit said. “Extra leaded.”
“Same,” Rebel replied.
The server jetted toward the kitchen.
As they stared into each other’s eyes, Rebel said, “I missed you today.”
She hitched an eyebrow. “No one at DEA told me they missed me. I never head that from Z either.” She put her hand over her heart. “Swoon. My partner is definitely?—”
He leaned across the booth, planted a kiss on her mouth. “Smart ass,” he murmured. “I didn’t miss you half as much as you missed me.”
She threw her arms around him and kissed him back. “My dad told me to stay away from you. He was right. You’ve cast some spell over me.”
“A big one,” he said as she sat back down.
The waiter brought them coffees along with cream and sugar.
Brit poured cream in hers, sipped the warm drink. “Did you have a productive day, and can we go somewhere to update each other?”
“Who was that woman you and Addison were with?” he asked.
“No one important,” she replied. “Was your day good?”
“I got a lot done,” he said. “And yes, we can go somewhere private.”
He drank his coffee and stared into her eyes. She returned his gaze.
No words, no need to fill the void with idle chatter. After his day, which began after three hours of sleep, sitting in silence with Brit felt damn near perfect.
When they’d finished their drinks, he dropped cash on the table. As she passed the shelved record albums in the middle of the room, he pulled her to a stop.
“Dance with me.”
He wasn’t asking. He was telling her what he needed. It was up to her if she wanted to accept or decline.
“I’d love to,” she murmured.
He flipped through the record albums, stopping at the Rolling Stones’Sticky Fingers.
This is perfect.
He cued up “Wild Horses”. As the achingly hypnotic voice of Mick Jagger filled the room, Rebel pulled her into his arms, held her close, and they started dancing.
Within seconds, she pressed close, her soft hand wrapped around the back of his neck, while gentle fingers played in his hair. He gazed into her eyes, letting everything Brit fill his tortured soul.
He leaned down, dropped a light kiss onto her lips. Streams of delight rained down on him. Even something as minor as a peck was magnified a thousand-fold… because it was Brit. Everything about her drew him to her. Her sweet scent, her delicate touch, the softness in her gaze.
They had a hard climb ahead of them. Tracking down a malicious killer who left no tracks would steal their time and turn their dreams to nightmares while they slept.
As he held her close, he had every confidence thattogetherthey would get the job done.
When she song ended, she leaned up, kissed his cheek. “Thank you. You have this amazing way of grounding me and making me soar, all at the same time.”
“Same,” he said and kissed her again.