Page 71 of Whistleblower

But, as I cross the restaurant floor, eyes locked on his burly frame, looking fine as hell in a baby blue dress shirt that matches his eyes, it’s obvious… I would’ve dropped my panties for this man even if he scooped elephant shit at the zoo. Damn, he’s hot. And sweet. And such a gentleman. It’s like he studied a first-date playbook before this evening. He’s executed every single part flawlessly.

When I return, there’s a bottle of Prosecco chilling in an ice bucket and a small plate of halved strawberries.

“Oh, that’s a nice touch,” I say, nodding at the strawberries as I glide back into the booth. My smile is replaced with utter mortification when I see the pink notecard, face down on the table in front of my spot. I realize instantly what Linc has unearthed and my stomach twists. Shit. I completely forgot I stuffed those stupid questions into my purse.

“Ah, dammit,” I huff, hanging my head.

Linc shoots me a teasing smile. “If I knew this date had homework, I might’ve studied.”

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” I groan. “I could die of embarrassment right now.”

“Oh hey, now.” He nudges me with his arm, but when I won’t look up from the table, he hooks his finger under my chin. He has to tilt my chin to the ceiling before I’ll meet his gaze. “Everything you do is either sexy, endearing, or inspiring. You can do no wrong in my eyes.”

“No wrong?” I ask, skeptically.

He lifts the bottle out of the ice bath and fills my empty glass flute. “None. But why the questions, may I ask?” He taps the notecard.

My cheeks puff up as I blow out a slow breath. “Because I’m a little confused.”

“About what?”

“If we’re on a date…and we’re sleeping together…and you stay over at my place… Does that mean we’re together? Is together even something you’re interested in?” I don’t care how gentlemanly Linc is, or how kind he’s being, every woman in the world gets a flood of nervous energy when she asks a man if he’s willing to claim her. I hold my breath, anxiously waiting for a response.

“One or two?” Confused at first, I realize Linc’s asking about the strawberries. I hold up one finger, and he plops a strawberry half into the glass. I watch as the golden liquid bubbles furiously as the fruit sinks to the bottom. He slides the glass closer to me. “You asked for exclusivity. Doesn’t that mean we’re together?”

“Sexually, sure. But there are a lot of things I’d want to know about my boyfriend that I don’t know about you. I brought these notes along just in case, but I don’t want to put you on the spot. I like you, but by now I also know PALADIN a little better, so, I didn’t expect dating you to be conventional.” I slide the notecard off the table and attempt to shove it back into the deepest corner of my silver clutch but Linc grabs my hand. He carefully wrestles the notecard from my grip.

“I answer these questions right and then I’m your boyfriend?”

I scrunch my face at him. “Well, it’s not a pass or fail kind of thing. It’s more like a get-to-know-you kind of thing. I just feel like this is moving a little fast.”

“I see lives end almost every day, Eden. When I want something, I move fast. If you wait, you might miss it forever.”

Linc’s full of these profound truths. It always catches me off guard because he’s so casually conversational with them. He reminds me of an old philosophy professor that I couldn’t get rid of all through my undergrad and on to my doctorate. Professor Ross was a total ass, but he was so intelligent. He taught me how to navigate this world. His opinion was that right versus wrong was a concept that was so overly simple, it was borderline idiotic.

Surviving amongst each other takes a very high pain tolerance. We have to forgive far more often than is comfortable, and our entire existence is a life lesson about upending the biases and assumptions we create ourselves.

Professor Ross was a walking contradiction, and he wanted it that way. My teacher would spend the first few weeks of the semester convincing us he was Nietzsche’s biggest supporter, only to pivot and preach Kantian ethics before midterms. By the time I had my diploma in hand, I only knew one thing—that I knew absolutely nothing… Well, that and studying any more philosophy might drive me to the brink of madness. How do you unify that which is vehemently divided? How do you marry two polar opposites?

How does a woman, who hates violence and guns, fall for a professional killer?

“These are the answers you need to feel comfortable being with me?” Linc waves the card side to side, and I nod. He hands back the questions. “All right, ask away.”

Knowing Linc, he’s already read through all of these. “You’re going to answer these honestly?”

“Yes.”

“Every single one?”

“All eight of them.” Knew it. But if the opportunity is here to get answers from the ghost, I’d be crazy not to take it. Taking a little swig of my drink, I start the impromptu boyfriend interview. The first question is easy.

“Do you have any pets?”

Linc smiles. “Lance is loyal like a dog, and if you spend some time training him he’ll fetch you things, but outside of that—I’ve never had a pet.”

I snort. “Okay, fair enough.”

“How about you? Why don’t you have a pet?”

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