Chapter 15: Ask Me Again in a Year

Thane was sitting on the stairs of his building when the patrol car drove me there at ten.

He had a coat on and no shoes.

He stood up when he saw me.

"Bernie has a retired cop on the porch and a cruiser at the curb," I said.

"She sent me out because I was making the kitchen tense."

"I'm glad she did."

We rode the elevator up without touching.

In his hall he took my coat, hung it on the hook and stayed with his hand on the collar.

"You're quiet," he said.

"I'm scared."

"Of Friday?"

"Of Saturday."

He turned me around by the shoulders.

"On Saturday the case is over," I said.

"You won't have to put your name on anything."

"I keep thinking I'm the file you needed to close."

He took a slow breath.

"You think I'm doing this because you're a project."

"I think a decent man sees a woman robbed and goes a long way to fix it. Then it's fixed."

"Nadine."

"Say it plain."

"Then listen." His voice was low and level and did not shake.

"I have wanted you since the week you walked into my office and corrected my numbers."

"I corrected them politely."

"You corrected them in red ink. I framed the page."

I stared at him.

"It's in my desk drawer," he said. "I looked at it every year when I signed your raise."

My throat closed.

I took his hand off my collar and put it flat on my chest.

He could feel my heart going.

"Then take me to bed," I said, "and don't be careful tonight."

He kissed me against the door.

It was nothing like the first night, which had been a collision.

This one was slow, deliberate and hungry, his mouth opening mine while his hands undid my blouse button by button.