Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ty waited by the hood of his truck in the early evening heat as Lydia pulled into a parking space at the busy bar and grill.
Moments later, she got out, wearing cute black shorts and a snug white tank top that accentuated her excellent figure.
She’d pushed her hair back with a headband, giving him a good look at mutinous hazel eyes as she walked his way. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She kept moving toward the restaurant. “Let’s get this over with.”
He sidled up next to her, wearing blue chino shorts and a white collared shirt, breathing in her familiar flower and vanilla scent as he snagged her by the elbow. “Why don’t we take a minute before we head inside.”
She stopped, looking at him. “Why?”
“I don’t know. Typically, when people meet up for conversation and a drink, they’re happier about it. Maybe you could look a little less like you want to kill me.”
She huffed out a laugh as she crossed her arms. “Oh, it’s tempting.”
He grinned, feeling absolutely no danger. He was confident that Lydia didn’t have a violent bone in her body. “You know, I can’t deny that I like you.”
“Good. Hopefully, that means you can erase that part.”
He frowned. “Erase that part?” He shook his head now, still trying to figure out what that meant. “I’m not following you.”
“On the recording.” She stepped closer, talking to his chest. “I was mostly just kidding.”
His frown deepened as he took a step back. “What are you doing?”
“I want them to understand that I wasn’t really threatening you.”
“Who?”
“The people listening.”
He grinned again, getting a hell of a kick out of her as the last few moments now made sense. “I’m not wearing a wire.”
She raised her brow. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say?”
He lifted his shirt, showing her his stomach and chest. “See? No wire. And there’s no one here but you and me.”
Her gaze tracked around the parking lot, most likely looking for some sort of stakeout van. “But my family’s under investigation.”
“Yeah, but you’re not. Our meetups don’t require any sort of surveillance. I’m a one-man operation at this point.”
She frowned as she looked at him again. “Oh.”
“Should we head inside?”
She nodded.
“Maybe we can figure out how you can start trusting me a little.”
She said nothing as they opened the door to loud pop music playing through ceiling speakers and dozens of patrons seated at full tables.
A harried blonde glanced up from her chart at the hostess stand. “A table for two?”
He nodded, sending her a friendly smile. “That would be great.”
“Right this way,” their hostess said, bringing them to a corner booth where it was a bit quieter, which was perfect. “Chelsea will be right with you.”
“Thanks,” he said as he sat down and picked up the menu, scanning his options as Lydia settled in across from him. “So, what’s good here?”
She shrugged. “I don’t come here very often. Sometimes my friends and I share a plate of nachos.”
He set the menu down. “Nachos it is then.”
Their waitress came over—another blonde, most likely in her early thirties. “Hello, folks. What can I bring you two tonight?”
“I’ll have a water,” Lydia said with a small smile, clearly still uncomfortable.
“If you could make that two waters. And we’ll take a plate of your nachos grande for the table, please.”
“Sure thing,” the woman said as she collected their menus and walked off.
He met Lydia’s gaze again, sending her a small smile.
She barely smiled back.
He rested his forearms on the table and laced his fingers, hoping that they could move beyond the constant tension radiating between them. “So, should we start with small talk or get right to it?”
She jerked her shoulders. “I guess I don’t understand how this is going to work.”
Apparently, they were going to get right to it. “We need to create a solid cover if we’re going to pull this off. That’s our first step.”
“No one’s going to buy that you and I are in a relationship. Certainly not my family.”
“They will if we sell it.”
She shook her head. “Will’s wife is one of my best friends. Mac and I tell each other pretty much everything. She would know if I was dating someone seriously.”
He shrugged. “So, you didn’t want to mention anything until you knew we were the real deal.”
The waitress came back with their waters.
“Thanks,” they said at the same time.
Lydia pulled her glass closer, taking a sip. “So, how long have we been secretly dating?”
He puffed up his cheeks, then blew out a long breath. “I don’t know. Five or six months.”
Her eyes grew wide. “I haven’t told anyone that I’ve been dating you for six months?”
He winced. “I know. It’s not ideal. But our relationship would have to be serious enough that you would want to bring me to the compound with you. It takes time to build something solid like that.”
She sighed quietly as she stared at her water.
He studied the various emotions playing over her gorgeous face—the worry and skepticism.
He could read her like a book, which was great for him but bad for their situation.
Her family would know her even better. “We don’t have a lot of time to pull this off, so we need to spend time together.
A lot of time. We need to get to know each other. The way that a couple would.”
Her eyes met his.
“I’ll need to go to your house—get familiar with your place and your everyday life. I want to meet your friends and your grandparents.”
“My grandparents are out of town for the rest of the summer—until mid-August.”
“Okay, so your friends, then. We’ll need to take pictures so IT can backdate images into our cell phones.”
Lydia sipped at her water again. “If you’re going to know everything about my life, I want to know about yours.”
He nodded. “We’ll make sure you’re well briefed on my legend.”
She frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”
“My backstory for this operation. For the foreseeable future, I’m Ty, a personal trainer who just moved to Oliver Heights.”
She shook her head. “No. I want to know you. The real you.”
“That’s not how operations like this work.” Not that he’d ever participated in an undercover operation quite like this one before.
“You know everything about me. Or I assume you do.”
He shook his head. “Not everything.”
“But a lot.”
He nodded. “On paper, I do.”
“I can’t say the same about you. You want my trust, but you’re one-dimensional—a stranger.”
He nodded again. “Okay. That’s a fair point.”
The waitress brought over a huge plate of nachos covered in cheese, meat, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.
“Man, this looks great,” Ty said.
Their waitress beamed at him. “Do you folks need anything else?”
He looked at Lydia. “I don’t think so.”
She smiled at the waitress. “I think we’re all set.”
“Holler if you change your mind.”
“We will,” Lydia said.
Ty immediately dove in, grabbing a cheesy, meaty chip, dipping it in the guacamole, then bit in. “Not bad.”
Lydia sipped at her water again.
He reached for another chip, noting that her shoulders were still stiff, but she was relaxing by degrees. “So, how can we even out our knowledge gap? What do you want to know about me?”
She shrugged. “Basic things, I guess. We could start with your age. And is Ty even your real name?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, Ty’s my real name. Or Tyler, if we’re getting technical. I’m thirty-two. I just had a birthday in May. On the fifth.”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Christopher.”
“Do you really have a sister?”
He nodded. “Zoey. She’s two years younger than me. And I really have a niece. Charlotte.”
“Where does Zoey live?”
“In Austin, Texas. With her husband. My mom’s down there, too.”
She finally grabbed a chip as he helped himself to another one. “Did you go to college?”
He nodded. “College is a definite prerequisite if you want to be an FBI agent. I have a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice. I graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park.”
“Where do you live?”
He grabbed another cheesy chip. “Here. In a staged condo over on Wallace Street. Number 2050. It’s pretty nice.”
She shook her head. “For real. In real life, where do you live?”
“In DC. I have an apartment a couple of blocks from FBI Headquarters.”
She took another chip, dipping it in the salsa. “I want to see it.”
He raised his brow. “You want me to take you to my place in DC?”
She nodded. “I do.”
He clenched his jaw as he held her stare, recognizing the challenge in her eyes. Two days ago, he’d walked into her life and more or less blew it up with a flash of his badge. Clearly, she wanted an all-access pass to his. “Okay. Fine.”
She wiped her hands on her napkin. “Okay.”
He paused to take a drink of his water. “So, do you want to get together tomorrow? We could do lunch or take a walk or something.”
She shook her head. “I still have work. Tomorrow’s my last contracted day. I need to take care of my classroom.”
He reached for another chip, adding sour cream and salsa to his bite. “I can come give you a hand.”
She shook her head again. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Actually, it’s a great idea,” he said as he wiped his greasy fingertips on his napkin. “I’ll get a chance to see where you work, which is important. Every experience we share. Every truth we can tell will be better for both of us. I can bring you a coffee.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I hate coffee.”
“There you go. That’s something your boyfriend would know. You hate coffee. What do you like? What’s your favorite?”
“I like chai lattes. Iced now that it’s warm outside.”
“Got it. What’s your room number?”
She took her time selecting her next chip, clearly debating whether she planned to tell him.
“If we’re doing this, we need to start moving things forward.”
Her gaze darted to his. “Room 104. You’ll have to check in at the office. I’ll let them know you’re coming.”
“Okay. What’s a good time to stop by?”
“We don’t have meetings tomorrow, so pretty much anytime.”
“Sounds good.” He went after another bite with plenty of taco-flavored meat. “You know, this would be a great opportunity for a picture.”
She froze as she wiped her mouth.
“Anytime we can grab one, we should.”