“I’ve wished for it,” she corrected, “because I’d be ready.”
“You terrify me,” he managed.
“You said I was the best.” She grinned, patted his cheek. “Relax, Roarke, I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“Oh, I’ll sleep easy now.”
“How much longer before we land?” Impatient, she turned to walk to the viewscreen.
“Thirty minutes or so, I imagine.”
“I need Nadine.”
“What are you planning, Eve?”
“Me? Oh, I’m planning on getting lots of press.” She shoveled her fingers through her untidy hair. “Haven’t you got some ritzy affairs, the kind the media just love to cover, that we can go to?”
He let out a sigh. “I suppose I could come up with a few.”
“Great. Let’s set some up.” She plopped down in a seat and tapped her fingers on her knee. “I guess I can even push it to getting a couple of new outfits.”
“Above and beyond.” He scooped her up and sat her on his lap. “But I’m sticking close, Lieutenant.”
“I don’t work with civilians.”
“I was talking about the shopping.”
Her eyes narrowed as his hand snaked under her shirt. “Is that a dig?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She swiveled around to straddle him. “Just checking.”
chapter ten
“I’m going to do my lead-in first.” Nadine looked around Eve’s office and cocked a brow. “Not much of a sanctum.”
“Excuse me?”
Casually, Nadine adjusted the angle of Eve’s monitor. It squeaked. “Up till now, you’ve guarded this room like holy ground. I expected something more than a closet with a desk and a couple of ratty chairs.”
“Home’s where the heart is,” Eve said mildly, and leaned back in one of those ratty chairs.
Nadine had never considered herself claustrophobic, but the industrial beige walls were awfully close together, making her rethink the notion. And the single, stingy window, though undoubtedly blast treated, was unshaded and offered a narrow view of an air traffic snarl over a local transport station.
The little room, Nadine mused, was full of crowds.
“I’d have thought after you broke the DeBlass case last winter, you’d have rated a snazzier office. With a real window and maybe a little carpet.”
“Are you here to decorate or to do a story?”
“And your equipment’s pathetic.” Enjoying herself, Nadine clucked her tongue over Eve’s work units. “At the station, relics like this would be delegated to some low-level drone, or more likely, kicked to a charity rehab center.”
She would not scowl, Eve told herself. She would not scowl. “Remember that, the next time you’re tagged for a donation to the Police and Security Fund.”
Nadine smiled, leaned back on the desk. “At Channel 75, even drones have their own AutoChef.”
“I’m learning to hate you, Nadine.”