She closed her eyes as she felt tears prick the back of them. An emotion she couldn’t figure out welled up in her chest. When she felt as if she’d gotten herself back under control, she opened her eyes.
“I’m not built to handle this, to handle you. I don’t have long relationships for a reason. And I know with an assignment like this, it can blur the lines. I just wanted to make sure that during working hours, it’s normal.”
Silence filled the air between them, and he said nothing. Dammit, he was starting to make her feel like a specimen again. She’d spent most of her life like that, but with Rome it bothered her more than she wanted to admit.
“Agreed, as long as you understand that if another man touches you while we’re involved, I’ll tear his arms off and beat him over the head with them.”
He said it in such a cheerful voice she didn’t catch on to what he said for a second.
“That’s barbaric.”
He grinned at her. When he did, he looked much younger. His hazel eyes now looked more green than brown, and dammit, the man had a freaking dimple. She couldn’t say anything at the moment. Any words of admonition stuck in the back of her throat.
Rome winked. “What can I say, love? You bring out the Neanderthal in me.” He grabbed her hand. “Let’s go eat.”
She opened her mouth, but he just kissed her then. Quick, hot, and it had her yearning for more by the time he pulled away.
“Don’t worry about it. Your brain is working without nourishment. That’s never a good idea.”
She wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. Besides, discussing what happened the night before was too much to handle without a cup of coffee.
“Okay, why don’t you show me a cool local place to eat for breakfast?”
· · · · ·
Rome ignored the clatter of dishes down the aisle as he watched Maria eat. Good lord, the woman could pack it away. When she had ordered the breakfast sampler, he had thought he would have a little extra to eat. Women rarely ate much around men, but apparently she had no problem eating in front of a man. It was something else he liked about her.
She looked up from her plate and frowned.
“What?”
He shrugged and smiled. Maria was a normal size woman, and he was glad she had a healthy appetite. He hated eating with women who picked at their food.
“Nothing. You seem to have an appetite.”
“Well, when I was growing up, you never knew when Dad would stop again. I learned to eat whenever there was a chance. When Big John got it in his head to chase a killer, nothing got in his way.”
Apparently not even the health and safety of his daughter, his only child. Rome had always admired her father—still did—but he was starting to get a little pissed on her behalf. What kind of fool dragged a twelve-year-old behind him while chasing scum? You might have to give up something, but family was more important than that.
He brushed aside his aggravation. Getting mad at a dead man when Maria didn’t seem to care would be a useless exercise and a waste of energy.
“I’m not complaining about your appetite. In fact, it’s nice to have a woman eat a meal I paid for.”
She grinned, and his breath caught in his throat again. She was undoing him in simple ways, and she had no idea. After taking a sip of coffee, she glanced around the café.
“Can we talk here?”
He nodded. It was early, and there were very few people in the diner. They had grabbed a corner booth, and no one was around them.
“Did you get those membership rosters?”
He nodded again. “Of course, they’re trusting us not to release the names.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll make sure not to mention them when I’m interviewed by Anderson Cooper next week.”
“The FBI isn’t the best when it comes to discretion, and they have been known to be the morality police.”
She snorted. “Yeah, especially Hoover, and he was a man who wore dresses. I’ll make sure none of it gets out.”
Rome should have known that Maria would have a common sense attitude about the whole thing, He nodded and picked up his fork again. “I don’t know if you’ll find anything. We checked them out a month ago.”
She took another sip of coffee. “Yeah. I was worried about that. We might have someone who isn’t a member but stalking them, you know what I mean?”
It was his fear. It was the one reason he thought they hadn’t been able to nail anyone down. What if it was a friend of a friend of a friend? That was the way it went sometimes. Worse, the fact that he might know the killer, have had drinks with the bastard…it ate at his gut on a daily basis.