“Sure there is.”
“A single night of passion? And while I won’t say it’s nothing, it shouldn’t stand in the way of what each of us wants to accomplish.”
“Why are you so insistent on relating the two things at all?”
“Oh, come on, Gavin. Of course those two things are entwined. They’re intimately entwined.” She leaned closer before seeming to catch herself. “We’ve seen each other naked.”
While he assumed she’d brought up that enticing fact to make a point, he couldn’t help but needle her a bit. “We most certainly did.”
“Be serious.”
“I’m certainly not laughing. In fact, I’m remembering a few things in rather vivid detail.”
“You’re impossible.”
“And you’re combining two things together like they somehow cancel each other out. I’d like to know why.”
“My work is important to me.”
“As mine is to me.”
“We slept together. Do you think anyone on that task force is going to take us seriously if we suddenly start up an affair?”
Although there was a thread of irritation starting to simmer in his blood at her continued pushback, he fought to maintain the steady, easy, nearly carefree notes in his voice. If she didn’t want to go out with him, he could live with that. But her arguments centered around what others would think or why they couldn’t have a shot at something, not basic disinterest.
He just couldn’t let it go.
“Two single people having a relationship isn’t an affair.”
“It is when they’re paired up on a work project and keeping it a secret.”
“So make it public.” As he said the words, Gavin realized them for solid truth. “To my earlier point, it’s not a crime if the city’s employees date each other.”
“That won’t keep people from talking.”
“So let them talk.”
Their ice cream arrived, cutting into the argument that was steadily building between them. He wasn’t going to get anywhere in this conversation behaving like a petulant child. And he certainly wasn’t looking to date someone who didn’t want to be with him.
So why was he pushing this?
He’d never put that much stock in the romance dance. You saw someone. You liked them. You spent some time with them. Was it simplistic? Sure. But he’d always had far more important priorities in his life, and no one had ever made him see a reason to change them.
Until Sera.
Something in that time they spent with each other—less than twenty-four hours of his life—had wrecked him. He hated the vulnerability, but more, he hated the idea that what they did for a living needed to dictate their private moments.
Sera had already taken a few small bites of her ice cream and he opted to dig into his banana split, hoping the mix of sugar and heavy cream would cool their conversation off a bit.
“Can we maybe chalk it all up to a complicated situation that we don’t have to decide right now?” she finally asked.
“Yeah. We can do that.”
And he could. While he wasn’t ready to fully back off, Gavin could appreciate that a lot had been thrown at both of them and a bit of time to figure it out would go a long way.
“How’s your ice cream?” he asked, their heated conversation fading. He’d brought her here to take her out for a treat and it was actually quite nice to sit and enjoy her company.
“Delicious. I haven’t been here in a while. Dessert was a good idea.”
“Sugar usually solves most problems. Or at least makes them seem less fraught.”
“As someone who solves problems for a living, I’d like to say we’re more evolved as a species, but—” She stared down at her ice cream, tapping the side of the small metal dish with her spoon. “It’s hard to argue with sugar therapy.”
Their dessert seemed to diffuse the tension that had spiked when he’d brought up their relationship status, and they sank back into that easy conversation that had been there between them from the first.
It ebbed and flowed, until they both looked down and realized they hadn’t just finished their dessert, but their dishes had long been whisked away by the bored server.
With dessert completed, Gavin collected their coats once more, and then they were weaving their way back out into the early spring night.
“Thanks for the ice cream.”
“My pleasure.”
Gavin fought the suddenly desperate desire to lay a hand low on her back and shoved his hands into his pockets as they headed back in the direction of her apartment. The lights of the pharmacy spilled back onto the sidewalk and illuminated the deep red tones of her hair.
The rain that had dogged them for days had faded, and in its place was a cool breeze that promised spring, even if winter hadn’t quite relinquished its cold grip.
“I still think your lack of ice cream in the home is a crime against nature, but I’ll do my best to reserve further judgment.”
