In Hope's Shadow. Janice Johnson Kay

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СКАЧАТЬ its single screen to see a foreign film that had been recommended to Eve.

      Dinner was pleasant, but she thought they were both being so careful with each other, neither said anything important. At the theater, they chose seats on the aisle. He helped with her coat before shrugging out of his own parka.

      At least, sitting side by side, their shoulders touched. Making yet more careful conversation, Eve focused on his big hands resting on his thighs. With his long fingers, they could have been a pianist’s hands, or an artist’s. Her heart gave a bump as she wondered what they’d feel like on her. As if reacting to her thought, his right hand flexed, curling into a fist before straightening. She looked up to see he was watching her. Reading her mind?

      They stared at each other, Eve caught feeling unguarded. She couldn’t remember ever having such an intense physical reaction to a man.

      “Excuse me,” a voice said, and she jerked to see a couple laden with popcorn and drinks waiting to get by to empty seats.

      The moment broken, Ben murmured an apology and he and Eve both stood to let them by. Eve straightened her coat on the back of the seat and sat down again, then sneaked a glance at Ben. This time, his expression was wry.

      “Guess this isn’t the place to say I like the way you look at me.”

      Oh, boy. “Um, probably not,” she managed.

      He laughed, lifted his arm and draped it around her. “So, how do you feel about cuddling at the movies?”

      Smiling, Eve shifted closer. “Definitely positive.”

      His breath warm on her ear, he murmured, “Good.” And then, as the lights dimmed, “Ah. Here we go.”

      Now, if only she could concentrate well enough to read the subtitles.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      “SO WE’RE GOING to rerun this dinner, huh?” Eve teased, as she slid into the booth across from Ben at the diner.

      He had hesitated to suggest eating here, but, damn it, there weren’t that many decent choices in town that didn’t have white tablecloths and require more time and effort than he and Eve could spare on a working night. Monday night they’d gone out for pizza and a couple games of pool. Turned out she knew how to wield a cue and had a good eye for trajectory. Her chortle of satisfaction had compensated his male ego after he lost two out of three games. When he’d called her at work Tuesday to ask if they could have dinner again Wednesday, his options were limited.

      So he’d crossed his fingers and said, “What about the café?” and she’d agreed, but sounded distracted enough he hadn’t been sure she’d thought it through.

      Now he agreed, tongue in cheek, “There’s that saying about getting back in the saddle right away.”

      Eve wriggled a little and wrinkled her nose at him. “Now that you mention it, the seats do feel a little like a saddle, and they’re not padded much better, either.”

      “The place could do with some updating,” he conceded. “Ah...maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

      “Don’t be silly,” she retorted. “The food’s good, it’s quiet enough to talk and nine times out of ten you can snag the back booth.”

      Ben gave a crooked smile. “You noticed, huh?”

      “You and Seth,” she said, and bent to study the menu.

      Did she have to remind him she’d dated his partner? Then he had an unwelcome thought. Was she a cop groupie?

      “You gone out with a cop before?” he asked casually.

      “Hmm?” She glanced up. “Oh. No.” An impish grin flashed. “And I was so annoyed at Seth by the time he asked, I couldn’t figure out why I’d agreed.”

      Ben relaxed and laid one arm along the padded back. “He said something about that. Admitted he might have been wrong and you were right about that kid, too.”

      “Did he?” Humor gave her a tiny dimple in one cheek even when she was suppressing a smile, like now. “Funny thing, he never told me that.”

      Ben couldn’t help grinning. “What man likes to admit he’s wrong?”

      Her gaze became more searching. “You don’t, either?”

      “Not my favorite thing to do.” For some reason, he flashed to his divorce. Was that why he couldn’t let go? Because admitting he’d been wrong really meant admitting he and Nicole shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place, and he wasn’t willing to do that?

      He flicked the thought away. “Here comes our waitress. You made up your mind?”

      Eve closed the menu. “I’m going to try again with the same meal.”

      “Since you didn’t get to eat it last time,” he said slowly.

      “Since I was an idiot.” She smiled at the middle-aged waitress and gave her order. Ben did the same.

      When they were alone again, he asked about her day. It sounded a lot like his, the way she described it. Apparently reports figured as largely in her job as they did in his. That and driving from one end of the county to the other, too often finding the person he’d gone to talk to had forgotten he was coming or decided to dodge him. He mentioned a couple of obscure back roads, and she knew them both, laughingly telling him one was a speed trap and she was too smart for it.

      “Yeah, that dip makes a good place to tuck a patrol car out of sight, plus teenagers love to build up speed and try for some air there.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Tell me you don’t speed.”

      “I don’t speed,” she said obediently. Rolled her eyes and added, “Anymore.”

      “There’ve been a couple of ugly accidents on that same road in just the past year or so.”

      “I know. And really I don’t. I was as stupid as any other teenager, but I’ve outgrown that kind of defiance.”

      Their food came and they kept talking, sharing more tidbits from their jobs, likes and dislikes, a book he’d recently read, foods they detested, the concept of diving in the cold waters around the San Juan Islands, something he’d done a few weeks back with friends.

      “In the middle of the winter?”

      Laughing at her horror, he said, “You don’t get cold when you’re wearing a wet suit. The only kinda miserable moment is when you have to peel it off on deck.”

      “Ugh,” was her conclusion. “Now, snorkeling in the Caribbean I could go for.”

      He’d done that, too—on his honeymoon. He figured it was just as well not to say so.

      And, wouldn’t you know, that was when his phone buzzed and he glanced to see he had a text from Nicole asking him to call when he had a minute. That sounded tentative for her, which had him on edge. Was something wrong? She’d have said if it was an emergency, he told himself, and put СКАЧАТЬ