Daddy, Unexpectedly. Lee Mckenzie

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      Hmm. That good. Here’s hoping the ride home had the same effect.

      He held the door and followed her inside. The bar was packed with the usual Friday mix of tourists and the downtown happy hour crowd. He spotted a table for two that was being vacated near the back, and before two other couples could swoop in to grab it, he was holding a chair for Claire.

      She sat and slid the helmet underneath. “That was lucky.”

      Nope. That was experience.

      The server stopped and pocketed the change left by the previous customers. “Menus?”

      “Sure.”

      She picked up the empty glasses and put them on her tray, then gave the table a halfhearted swipe with a damp cloth. Claire’s reaction had him second-guessing his decision to bring her here, but taking her to a fancier place might have sent the wrong message.

      “Do you know what you want to drink?” the server asked.

      The way Claire studied the drink list, she could have been cramming for an exam.

      “Give us a minute?” he asked.

      “Sure thing.”

      After the woman moved on to another table, he watched Claire suck the ripe fullness of her lower lip between her teeth, release it and slowly run the tip of her tongue across the luscious curve of her upper lip. During their many study sessions back in college, he’d watched her do that a hundred times. And he’d known then, as he did now, that she had no idea how seductive it was. She wasn’t trying to tantalize, and that made it even more of a turn-on.

      During those study sessions of old he had wanted to kiss that freshly moistened mouth and tease that tongue into coming out to play. But even in those days, when he had been a stereotypical college student with an overactive libido and his party mode in overdrive, he’d had enough sense not to ruin a good thing. The good thing being a study-buddy and a friend. He had never had a female friend who was just a friend, and he’d never had a study partner, period.

      Their first kiss had been less than half an hour ago. He had simply wanted to send a message to the jerk of an ex-husband, but now, watching her tongue play with her lips, he wondered if she would let him bookend this date with another kiss when he took her home.

      Was this a date? It would be if she let him kiss her again. Was that a good idea? Sure as hell seemed like one from where he was sitting. A kiss was just a kiss, after all. It didn’t have to end with them setting the sheets on fire. Besides, he would never use Claire DeAngelo to scratch an itch, and she’d never let him anyway.

      The server returned. “Have you decided on drinks?”

      “Coffee for me,” he said.

      “Cream and sugar?”

      “Black, thanks.”

      Over the top of the drink list, surprise registered in Claire’s eyes. He couldn’t fault her for that.

      She set the tattered menu on the table. “I’ll have a Diet Coke.”

      That was no surprise at all.

      “Coffee and a Coke. Be right back to take your food order.”

      “So, Luke Devlin in a bar drinking coffee,” Claire said. “That’s...different.”

      “I’m driving.”

      “Of course. Good point.”

      “But you could have had something with a little more kick than a diet soft drink.”

      Something akin to alarm flickered in her eyes and vanished, leaving him wondering if maybe he imagined it. “I’m not much of a drinker.”

      “Me, neither.”

      That made her laugh.

      Should he tell her the truth? Step one, he reminded himself. “I’m serious. I’ve been sober almost two years.”

      The amusement drained from her face. “Oh. Luke, I’m sorry I laughed. I shouldn’t have.”

      He leaned closer and touched her hand. “No apology necessary. Sometimes even badasses grow up.”

      “Not always.”

      He guessed she was talking about her ex.

      “Some of us do,” he said. Too bad it sometimes took a disaster to make it happen.

      She slowly withdrew her hand. “So, here we are. Ten years out of college and a couple of teetotalers.”

      “Wow. It’s been ten years?”

      “It has.”

      The server set Claire’s soft drink and his coffee on the table. “You folks ready to order?” she asked.

      Claire gave the menu another quick scan. “What’s good here?”

      “They have the best burgers in Seattle. The Emerald Isle is my favorite.”

      She read the description and grimaced. “Two beef patties and bacon and cheese? I see your appetite hasn’t changed.”

      “I worked hard today. I need the calories.”

      “And I sat at my desk most of the day, so I definitely don’t. I’ll have the O’Chicken burger,” she said, smiling at the name as she handed her menu to the server.

      “Fries or salad with those?”

      “Fries for me,” Luke said.

      “I should have a salad.” Obviously that’s not what she wanted.

      “Have a salad,” he said. “We can share my fries.”

      The server confirmed their order and drifted away.

      “I was surprised to see you this afternoon,” she said. “I bumped into one of your old dorm-mates a couple of years ago and he told me you’d joined the Seattle P.D.”

      So she did know. “Yeah, I got in a couple of years after I graduated college.”

      “And you’re moonlighting as a window washer?”

      He didn’t want to let her believe that, mostly because it wasn’t true. But because of where she lived, and the reason he was working there, he needed to be careful what he did tell her.

      “I’m with vice. Sometimes an investigation is easier when the bad guys don’t know who we are.”

      “So you’re...what? Working undercover?”

      He tipped his head in agreement.

      “I thought things like that only happened in the movies.”

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