Our host nodded as he lit the single votive in the middle of our table. “Ivan will be your server this evening. He’ll be with you shortly to review this evening’s specials.” I set aside the dinner menu, too distracted to focus on the descriptions of the entrées when Ivan arrived to take our orders. Soft music played. The restaurant hummed with quiet conversations and the dull clatter and hiss of cooking sounds through the service doors from the kitchen. Silver clinked against fancy blue-and-white plates.
Who was I kidding? This was definitely a date.
“Rough day?” Nick asked, ducking his head to catch my eyes.
“You could say that.”
“Things not going well with your new book?”
“Not exactly,” I said as our server slid a tray of gleaming shot glasses in front of me. “I’m pretty sure the entire plot’s gone off the rails.” As soon as the waiter was gone, I downed the first one. My eyes watered, and I quickly chased it with another.
“Maybe I can help,” Nick offered, taking a slow pull off his beer. A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled out of me as I reached for a piroshki. “I’m serious,” he said, toying lazily with the fancy imported bottle in his hand. “Ask me anything.”
“Anything?”
He rested his elbows on the table, his teeth sinking into his lower lip as he watched me eat. “Anything.”
It felt like a loaded question. But he was offering. “Okay,” I said, clearing my throat. “So, this website your CI told you about. What happens if the cyber guys find something?”
Nick slumped back in his seat, shaking his head. He set down his beer, threading his fingers behind his neck. “You really want to talk about that?”
“Why not? You offered to help me with research for my book.”
“From what I read, you had the crime angles all figured out. I thought maybe I could help you with the other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
“You know, the romantic bits.”
I stopped chewing. “What’s wrong with my romantic bits?”
“Nothing.” His gaze fell to the plunging neckline of my dress as he nursed a long, slow sip. “I admit it. That book Pete let me borrow was pretty hot. Especially the part during the stakeout, when she made out with the cop in the front seat of his car, and then she climbed on his lap and—”
“Just dinner.” My face warmed and I slugged down another shot.
He grinned into his beer. “Right. Just dinner.”
His eyes flicked over the room. “I did say you could ask me anything.” I paused, my piroshki poised halfway to my lips as he leaned his elbows on the table and lowered his voice. “If the kid’s right and the forum is being used as a front, we’ll probably send an undercover in. We’ll set up a sting, make a few arrests, and find a canary. Then we’ll dangle a deal in front of them and hope they sing.” Nick leaned back in his seat, lips pressed shut as our waiter approached the table with the rest of our meal. Ivan placed a heaping plate of stroganoff in front of me, and it was all I could do to keep from kissing him.
Nick waited for Ivan to leave before continuing. “Joey’s back in the office on Monday. Hopefully by then, I’ll know what we’re dealing with.” He forked into his chicken Kiev, his eyes roving around the restaurant as he ate. “What’s your new book about anyway?” he asked between bites.
“It’s just the next book in the series. The same character. You know … a hit woman … getting framed … solving crimes.”
“Is the hotshot cop still in the picture?”
I gave a tentative nod. “He’s in the story. For now.”
“For now?”
“It’s still a rough draft.”
“How about the lawyer?”
Our eyes caught across the table. How much had Vero told him when he’d been sitting at my kitchen table while I was with Bree? I twirled my fork through my noodles. “He went missing.”
“Is she looking for him?”
“I don’t know. It’s a little early in the story for that. Maybe she’s worrying for nothing.”
“Maybe not. She’s smart. She should trust her instincts.”
“And do what?”
He shrugged. “She could ask the cop for help.”
I laughed, the vodka dissolving the walls I’d been holding up. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea. She and the cop have a history. He’s too close to her. There’d be a clear conflict of interest.”