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“I seriously did. And the answer is…?”
She reached for a slice of pizza, avoiding his gaze. “Let’s just say it’s been a while.”
“How long is a while?”
“I think I can probably remember how it’s done, but it’s possible my memory has faded with time.” Her cheeks were pink but her eyes were bright with challenge. “Are you scared?”
“I’m carbo-loading as we speak.” He took another large slice of pizza. “So why so long? Because the last guy made you feel guilty, you stopped having sex?”
“He didn’t ‘make’ me feel guilty. I produced that emotion by myself.”
“Spoken like a psychologist.”
“Which I am.”
“Which you are, but not falling in love with someone isn’t a crime, Molly. People fall in and out of love all the time. I see it every day in my work. It’s not something you can control. We all want things in life we can’t have. Happens all the time. Jobs we don’t get, houses we don’t live in, health issues we sure as hell don’t want—people we love who don’t love us back. Not feeling the way someone wants you to feel doesn’t make you a bad person.” There was more to it. He could tell from looking at her face. And he knew she wasn’t ready to talk about it. “And now you can tell me your other innermost secrets. Like whether you like olives on your pizza.”
“I love olives. Did you want a plate or something? You’re wearing a suit and you don’t strike me as a pizza-out-of-the-box kind of guy.”
“I’m wearing a suit because I’ve been in court, and you’re judging again—” He pushed the box toward her.
“My judgments are usually correct. I didn’t think you were a dog kind of guy to begin with, and it turned out I was right.” She took a slice and bit into it with a moan of pleasure. “This is good.”
Daniel stared at the movement of her throat. He never thought watching someone eat pizza could be sexy. “Just because I don’t own a dog doesn’t mean I’m not a dog kind of guy, but I’m flattered to know you were paying me that much attention.”
“It’s what I do. Study people.” She chewed slowly, savoring every mouthful.
“Admit it, you studied me longer than the average person.”
She stopped chewing. “Your ego is bigger than this pizza.”
“I feed it well. And I know you were studying me, because I was studying you, too.” Daniel glanced at the bookshelves. “You read a lot?”
“Yes. You?”
“Yes. Mostly crime and thrillers.”
“Written by your neighbor Lucas Blade. He does get into the mind of his characters. His books are as much about the person as the actual murder.”
“He has a psychology background. Next time he and Eva take pity on me and invite me over for a meal, I’ll take you with me. He’s an interesting guy.” He waited for her to protest, but she didn’t.
“So what else do you read?”
“Apart from fiction?” He took another slice of pizza. “I read biographies, some history, art catalogs.”
“Art catalogs?”
“Catalogs of exhibitions I’m too busy to enjoy in person. There are too many of those. I need to carve out more time.”
“Y
ou work long hours.”
“But I enjoy what I do.” He stretched out his legs. “I wouldn’t do something I didn’t enjoy. How about you? Do you love what you do?”
“Yes.” She stood up and cleared up the pizza box. “That was delicious, thank you. Coffee?” She strolled to the kitchen area and he watched as she ground beans and made it fresh.
She poured it into two cups and then turned. He smoothed her hair away from her face and she planted her hand in the middle of his chest.
