Chace kept talking.
“Maybe it’s too soon for him. You told me Krystal said she’d take yesterday’s shift. If Krystal said she’d do that, she did it. There were no bags here when we got here. So he came yesterday. Today you’re here, visible. Maybe he’s not ready for a meet.”
I stopped biting my lip and nodded.
Chace kept going.
“I should have signed in over an hour ago. I gotta go.”
I’d never thought of that. He told me his schedule pretty much adhered to when crime was committed but his scheduled hours were eight to five with every other weekend on call. We’d been staking out the return bin for two weeks so this meant he’d been late to work every day for two weeks.
I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Are you going to get into trouble because you’re late?”
“Cap knows about Malachi and the stakeouts. I got my phone, they need me, they know where I am so no. But I’m never in this late so, now, I gotta go.”
I nodded.
“What’re you gonna do?” he asked.
“Um… walk home, get changed, get in my car and come back, see if the bags are gone. Park on the street and watch awhile if they aren’t.”
Chace nodded this time. “You want a ride?”
I shook my head. “No, a walk will do me good.”
His hand gave me a squeeze and then he asked a question I really, really liked.
“We doin’ your place or my place tonight?”
He wanted to see me again and soon.
Yippee!
After celebrating inside, I contemplated his question. His house was better than mine. So was his kitchen. But my house had my clothes in it. I wasn’t one of those people who knew what they were going to wear throughout the week. Not even the next day. I usually stood in front of my wardrobe for ten minutes making my selection the morning of.
Though, I was assuming his question of my place or his meant not only where we’d be meeting and eating but also sleeping.
Maybe I was wrong.
But I hoped I wasn’t.
Belatedly and hesitantly, I answered, “Mine.”
“Good,” he muttered dipping his head to touch his mouth to mine then moving back a scant inch. “There’s a piece of furniture in your house that’s on display I been lookin’ forward to tryin’ out.”
He was spending the night.
Yippee!
I moved into him, his hand slid to the back of the neck and he gave me a kiss that wasn’t a touch on the lips.
When he moved away again, he didn’t let me go but he did say, “I’ll run after work. I’ll be at your place around six thirty.”
“Okay, I’ll see you there.”
“Right,” he murmured, moved in for the lip touch again then moved back and gave my neck another squeeze. “Later, baby.”
“Later, Chace.”