Part 2 (2/2)
He swept back the hair and brushed his lips across my ear.
Oh yes.
”Sure, Ryan. I'll wear my thong panties.”
”I always encourage that.”
I gave him my ”yeah, right” look.
”Will you spring for Chinese?”
”Chinese is good,” he said, drawing my hair upward and swirling it into a topknot. Then he let it fall and wrapped both arms around my back. Before I could object he pulled me close and kissed me, his tongue teasing the edges of my lips, then gently probing the inside of my mouth.
His lips felt soft, his chest hard against mine. I started to push away, but knew that was not what I wanted to do. Sighing, I relaxed and my body molded to his. The horrors of the day evaporated, and for that moment I was safe from the madness of bombs and murdered children.
Eventually we needed air.
”You're sure you don't want to come in?” I asked, stepping back and holding the door open. My knees felt like Jell-O salad.
Ryan looked at his watch.
”I'm sure a half hour won't matter.”
At that moment his pager sounded. He checked the number.
”s.h.i.+t.”
s.h.i.+t.
He rehooked the pager to the waist of his jeans.
”Sorry,” he said, grinning sheepishly. ”You know I'd really rath-”
”Go.” Smiling, I placed two palms on his chest and shoved him gently. ”I'll see you tomorrow night. Seven-thirty.”
”Think about me,” he said, as he turned and headed down the hall.
When he'd gone I went back to the sus.h.i.+, definitely thinking about Andrew Ryan.
Ryan is SQ, a homicide detective, and occasionally we work the same cases. Though he'd been asking for years, only recently had I started seeing him socially. It had taken some self-persuasion, but I'd come around to his point of view. Technically, we didn't work together, so my ”no office romance rule” didn't apply unless I wanted it to.
Nevertheless, the arrangement made me edgy. After twenty years of marriage, and several as a not-so-swinging single, new relations.h.i.+ps just weren't that easy for me. But I enjoyed Ryan's company, so I'd decided to give it a whirl. To ”date” him, as my sister would say.
Oh, G.o.d. Dating.
I had to admit that I found Ryan s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. Most women did. Wherever we went, I'd notice female eyes checking him out. Wondering, no doubt.
I was wondering, too. But at the moment that s.h.i.+p was still in port, the engines stoked and ready to go. The Jell-O knees had just reconfirmed that. Dinner out was definitely a better idea.
The phone rang as I was clearing the table.
”Mon Dieu, you're back.” Deep, throaty English with a heavy French accent.
”Hi, Isabelle. What's up?”
Though I'd known Isabelle Caille only two years, in that time we'd grown quite close. We'd met during a difficult time in my life. In the s.p.a.ce of one bleak summer I was targeted by a violent psychopath, my best friend was murdered, and I was finally forced to face the reality of a failed marriage. In a display of self-indulgence, I had booked a single at a Club Med, and flown off to play tennis and overeat.
I'd met Isabelle on the flight to Na.s.sau, and we were later paired for doubles. We won, discovered we were there for similar reasons, and pa.s.sed an enjoyable week together. We'd been friends ever since.
”I didn't expect you until next week. I was going to leave a message about getting together, but since you are home, what about dinner tomorrow?”
I told her about Ryan.
”That one's a keeper, Tempe. You get tired of that chevalier chevalier, you send him over and I'll give him something to think about. Why are you back early?”
I explained about the bombing.
”Ah, oui. I read about that in La Presse La Presse. Is it just terribly gruesome?”
”The victims are not in good shape,” I said.
”Les motards. If you ask me, these outlaw bikers get what they deserve.”
Isabelle never lacked opinions, and was rarely hesitant to share them.
”The police should just let these gangsters blow each other up. Then we wouldn't have to look at their dirty bodies with filthy tattoos anymore.”
”Hm.”
”I mean, it's not like they're murdering babies.”
”No,” I agreed. ”It's not.”
The next morning Emily Anne Toussaint died while walking to her ballet lesson.
4.
HOWARD AND K KIT HAD ARRIVED AT SEVEN, LEFT B BIRDIE, AND continued on their way. Birdie was ignoring me and checking the condo for canine intruders when I left for the lab at eight to resume work on the bomb victims. continued on their way. Birdie was ignoring me and checking the condo for canine intruders when I left for the lab at eight to resume work on the bomb victims.
Emily Anne had arrived shortly after noon.
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