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She’d expected a return message, not this. A cold shower would have shocked her less.
Sitting up, Lexie answered, trying her best to sound in complete control of her faculties, which she absolutely was not.
“Lexie?”
Nico’s deep voice was thick with sleep, and it caused a wonderful clench inside her.
“Oh my god.” She covered her face with one hand. “I’m so sorry, I should have waited until the morning—”
“It’s okay.” The sound of rustling sheets hit her ear. “What time is it?”
Lexie cringed. “Late. Why don’t we talk tomorrow?”
“Or we could talk now.”
She sensed him smiling on the other end, her own lips curling up at the corners. “We could. If you’re not too tired . . .”
“I’m never too tired.”
Lexie bit her lip at that.
“So,” he said. “You changed your mind.”
“I did.”
“And you want to take me out for Italian?”
She laughed at the irony. “Please don’t tell me you hate Italian food. I don’t think I could handle that.”
“Are you kidding? A life without Italian food isn’t a life worth living.”
“Good,” she said. “Because I also happen to know they make the best Spaghetti Bolognese you’ll ever taste.”
“That’s a bold claim, Miss Bowen. You’ve never tasted my mother’s.”
“Well then, I guess you’ve got no choice but to accept and defend her honor.”
“I guess you’re right.” For a moment, the line went quiet. “Uh, but the timing isn’t exactly—I mean—it’s not that I don’t want to—just—the new lieutenant wining and dining while there’s a killer at large probably isn’t the best look . . .”
“Say no more,” she said. “I understand.”
“You sure? Because I don’t know how long . . .”
“I’ll wait.” With a grin, she asked, “Any suggestions for what we can do in the meantime?”
Inside, she slapped her own forehead. That was bad. Clearly, she was no longer in the driver’s seat, alcohol having tied her up and locked her in the trunk while it wreaked havoc on her brain-to-mouth filter. Time to hang up. Say goodbye and—
Nico’s laugh was like warm honey drizzling over her skin. “I can think of plenty of things I’d like to do with you.”
Lexie couldn’t speak. Couldn’t focus on anything except the erratic beating of her heart. The quickening of her breath. The throbbing deep down below. She listened to the silence, stretching longer and longer until—
“But I’d hate for you to think I wasn’t a gentleman.”
Incapable of anything more than a whisper, Lexie asked, “Why would I think that?”
More silence. She heard him take a deep breath.
“Let me take you out, buy you a nice meal. You deserve that.”
