by E. R. Fallon
“All right,” Tommy said with a smile, looking around. “There’s a place at that corner.” He gestured to down the street.
“You’re sure? You don’t sound sure,” she teased him.
“I’m sure,” he said with a smile, that smile she couldn’t resist.
They walked down the street and reached the pub. From the outside, Dana could see that the place was packed with customers and knew she and Tommy would have to wait a while to get a table, or they’d have to sit at the bar. Tommy opened the door for Dana and gestured for her to go inside. Dana went in and the bartender, a big, burly fellow with a headful of black curls, greeted them.
“You’re here for dinner or just to drink?” he asked with a toothy grin.
“Dinner,” Tommy said, and Dana liked that he’d answered for them. Typically, she liked to be in control, even with men, but Tommy’s charm made her want to give in.
The bartender made a clicking sound with his tongue. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait, then. Unless you wouldn’t mind sitting at the bar?”
Just like Dana had thought.
Tommy looked at Dana, who nodded, then he answered for the both of them, “The bar will be fine, thanks.”
Dana looked at the crowded bar and didn’t know where they would find an empty seat, but the bartender indicated to farther down from where they stood waiting, and Dana noticed two vacant bar stools. Tommy led the way to them, and Dana kept telling herself that they were simply two work colleagues having a drink and a meal after work, nothing more. But one look at Tommy’s tall, strong build, and dark, handsome features, made him hard to resist.
They elbowed their way into their seats, and Tommy tried to get the bartender’s attention so that he’d bring them a menu. They waited patiently while he finished fulfilling other customers’ orders, and he finally reached them.
“What would you like to drink?” he asked them as he set the menu between them on the bar.
“Bring us a bottle of whiskey,” Tommy said.
Dana looked at him incredulously. Not only would it set him back a few good dollars, but just how drunk did he want to get?
“Just kidding,” Tommy said to Dana with a wink.
And she wanted to slap him. And then grab him and kiss him.
Tommy smiled at her and waited for her to order first, like a true gentleman.
“I’ll have a glass of red wine,” Dana told the bartender.
“I’ll take a beer,” Tommy said when it was his turn. “I’m paying,” he said to Dana, looking at her.
“No, that’s okay.”
“It’s fine. I’ve got it,” he insisted.
“All right, if it really means that much to you. I think we pay for our drinks and everything at the end, since we’ll be ordering food.”
The bartender left to make their drinks, and Tommy and Dana looked through the menu together. His hand, warm and rough, brushed past hers as he turned the menu over, and sent a little shiver down her thighs. Tommy looked at her next to him and smiled.
“You said you were hungry, otherwise I’d have asked you to share something,” he said.
“You’re a cheap date,” she teased him, and Tommy grinned at her.
They both ordered sandwiches, and the bartender brought them their drinks first. Usually, Dana had no problem starting a conversation, but with Tommy, it felt different. She had so many things she wanted to ask him, to say to him, that she didn’t know where she should begin.
“Why did you become a cop?” she asked him, as she sipped her red wine. She felt so nervous that she wanted to gulp down the whole glass quickly, but restrained herself.
For some reason, Tommy seemed to hesitate.
“There were lots of reasons,” he said, drinking his beer.
“Can you tell me one of them?” she asked, unsure what was bothering him.
“To tell you the truth,” Tommy said after a pause. “It was because of my father.”
“Was he a police officer?”
Tommy shook his head.
“Oh, was he somehow involved with law enforcement?” she asked him.
“You could say that.”
It was hard to hear him above the noise in the pub, but she thought she’d heard him right, and it quickly dawned on Dana what he meant. “Oh, was he a criminal?” she said, then she wished she hadn’t, but it had come out so quickly.
Tommy nodded slowly, and she admired his honesty.
“Do the guys at work know?” she asked, because that was the first thing that came to her mind.
“We don’t really talk about it, but I’m sure they know,” Tommy said. “Doesn’t matter now, my dad died a long time ago, when I was just a kid.”
“I’m so sorry, Tommy,” she said, touching his arm in sympathy.
“Thanks.”
Dana didn’t know what to say next. She’d never really known the child of a criminal before Tommy. She did recall that her mother, Lucille, told her stories about Lucille’s gangster friend she had growing up in the city. That was before her mother met her father.
“What did he do, if you don’t mind my asking?” Dana said. She had never been good at being subtle, and she assumed Tommy’s father must have been a small-time criminal.
“He was involved with some bad characters, there’s not much more to say.”
But why did she get the feeling there was more to say? A lot more. But Tommy had opened up to her, and she sensed he didn’t just open up to anyone, so she nodded, noticed her glass was empty, and motioned for the bartender. Both ordered another round of drinks.
“What’s your family like?” Tommy suddenly asked her, his face slightly flushed. “I’m sure they’re nothing like mine,” he said, and she wanted to ask him what he meant, but he’d been so guarded before.
“My dad was a policeman,” she said after a moment. “My mother a housewife. You know, you never told me about your mother.”
“You could say my mother has a colorful past,” he said, but didn’t elaborate.
“Mine, too,” Dana said.
“Really?” he said, tilting his head in surprise.
“You sound surprised,” she said with a smile. “But I’m not making it up. My mother really does have an interesting past.”
“Was she a policewoman?”
Dana shook her head. “No, nothing like that. But, like your dad, she hung around with some interesting characters.”
“Care to elaborate?” he said with a smile.
She didn’t, but didn’t want to sound rude, then their second order of drinks arrived and she breathed a sigh of relief.
But Tommy wouldn’t let it go. He’d shielded himself off from her questions, but wanted to know everything about her.
“Did you become a cop because of your father, or was it your mother’s past that made you do it?”
“Yeah, my dad inspired me. You’re not going to stop until I tell you about my mother, isn’t that right?”
Tommy rested his elbow on the table and rested his face in the palm of his hand. He smiled, that beautiful smile, and nodded.
“But you won’t tell me about yours?” she asked.
He nodded again, and she rolled her eyes.
“Maybe I’ll tell you someday. Might be soon. Might be a long time. Who knows?” He smiled again, and she could barely sit still. “Tell me about your mother,” he said.
“My mother is originally from the city. She and my dad live in the suburbs now.”
“And?”
“You really aren’t going to stop until I tell you?”
Tommy nodded, watching her with his intense, dark eyes.
“It’s not that unusual of a story, but my mother, she had this friend…” Dana paused and got comfortable with revealing the truth to him. It would be okay to tell Tommy because she felt he’d understand. “And this friend of hers, he was a gangster. He was kind of a legend around here. I never met him, but she told me stories about him. He died young.”
“What was his name?” T
ommy asked.
“Colin, I think, Colin O’Brien,” she said, and a look of recognition passed over Tommy’s face. “That look,” she said with a grin. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing,” Tommy said, but he blushed a little.
“No, tell me,” she said, and her hand touched his briefly.
“Maybe some other time,” he said. Then he signaled to the bartender and ordered another drink. “Want one?” he asked her.
“Sure,” she said, and he ordered her another glass of wine.
Another drink turned into yet another one, and then more for him, and soon they were both drunk.
Dana gradually traced the outline of Tommy’s wrist tattoo, a black thorny rose, lightly with her finger.
“You like it?” he asked.
She nodded and giggled, and she couldn’t believe she’d giggled. She never did that. But Tommy brought out her feminine side.
“Do you have any tattoos?” he said, and his touch felt hot against her skin as he pushed up her sleeves and searched her arms. “In places I can’t see, maybe?” He said faintly and glanced at her breasts through her shirt.
It had been a long time since Dana enjoyed flirting with a man, but she pulled her hand back, suddenly remembering her place as his colleague even in her state of drunkenness.
“I don’t have any,” she said quietly, looking away from him at a couple seated quietly in the back of the room.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Tommy said, and gave her a tender pat on the shoulder. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You haven’t,” she said, looking at him again, but still unwilling to offer more than hints about her attraction to him. “I’m a tough girl, not a delicate flower. I can handle it.”
Tommy smiled a little at her, and she wanted to ask him more about his father: Was he a gangster? Had he known Colin? But she didn’t want to upset him, so she held back.
“Yeah, but I’m really sorry, Dana,” Tommy said, again, with sincerity
“Hey, it’s fine, really,” she said, patting his hand to assure him, as she felt his remorse was genuine.
“I know we’re working together, and I know we don’t really know each other that well, but I like you, Dana. I like you a lot.”
She wondered how to reply as he held her gaze. Was this him doing the talking, or the drink?
“I like you, too, Tommy,” she said after a moment. Then, she took a risk, because she did really like him, and there was a certain vulnerability about him despite his hardened exterior. “What do you say we get out of here?”
“Don’t you want another drink?” he said, and she briefly wondered whether he had a problem. He paused then looked at her. “Wait you actually mean it, don’t you?”
“Tommy, I’m not asking you if you’d like to sleep with me,” she said, and her face felt hot. “I’m asking if you like to leave and eat someplace else. It’s too loud in here.”
“Oh, that’s what you meant,” Tommy said, looking at her with a distant gaze and he didn’t blush.
Dana detected a touch of disappointment in his voice. “How loose do you think I am, Tommy?” she said with a laugh.
“I wasn’t thinking that way,” he said, and now he blushed.
“You were,” Dana said with a smile. “It’s fine.”
“Well, maybe a little,” he admitted with a shrug.
Tommy signaled to the bartender and asked for the bill.
“I’m not going to let you pay for me,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied in a casual way.
“No, Tommy, I mean it. I don’t want you to pay for me,” she said, putting her hand over his as he set his wallet on the table.
“Why not?” Tommy asked. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“We’re colleagues,” she said.
“Friends. Colleagues. Still, can’t I buy you a drink?”
“All right, you can,” she said, reasoning it wouldn’t hurt.
“Why do I sense there’s a ‘but’ coming?” he said with a grin.
“That’s because there is,” she replied. “But I’m buying dinner.”
Tommy didn’t say anything as he put some money down on the bar for the bill. “I can’t let you do that,” he said after a while, in a firm tone.
“Are you being serious?” she asked him.
“You don’t very much like being told what to do, do you?”
“Well, I’m the boss,” she suddenly said, remembering her place and feeling awkward. What the hell was she doing, flirting with him?
“Right, you are,” he said, seeming to recall his place as well, and blushing.
They got up and made their way past the tightly packed crowd, still having not decided who would buy dinner.
The street had thickened with people going about their night-time lives, and Tommy and Dana fell into a quiet rhythm as they stood outside the pub, wondering where to go next.
“I’m not hungry anymore,” Dana said.
“You mean, you want to go home?”
“Yes, with you,” Dana replied, and felt her pulse quicken as she spoke. She reached up and grabbed his shirt collar and he pulled her against the wall outside the pub, out of view from the street.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked her, barely able to keep his hands off her.
She nodded and held onto his belt, pulling him closer to her, and kissing him furiously.
“Where do you live?” she quickly asked him.
“Not nearby,” he said, his thinking in line with hers.
“I live a few streets away,” she said.
“Let’s go to your place, then,” he said.
She didn’t say anything as she considered what to do, because she knew that agreeing would change their dynamic indefinitely. It wouldn’t be something she could just put away and forget.
Then she nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling him down the street as they half ran to her apartment.
“It’s this way, not much longer,” she kept telling him, and he’d laugh at her enthusiasm.
9
Outside her building, Dana struggled to find her house key in her handbag.
“Damn it, I can’t find my key,” she said.
Tommy smiled at her then took her bag from her. He went through it carefully until he found her key.
“Here,” he said, handing it to her.
“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile. She didn’t want to seem too eager.
They walked into the hallway, up a set of stairs, and he squeezed her hand as she opened the door to her apartment, then she led him into the living room, where she felt for the light switch on the wall.
Inside her brightened place, he changed and became more assertive, displaying his earlier confidence. He took her by surprise when he lifted her off her feet and set her on the couch. Dana tossed her purse to the floor as he stood over her, watching her in silence, with those intense, dark eyes.
“What?” she said, and laughed a little.
“I’m just thinking how badly I want you,” he said, with his voice sounding hoarse from their sprint to her place.
She reached up for him, apprehensive but giving in.
Afterwards, he sat up in her bed with her head on his bare, firm chest, and him stroking her hair. Whether she had made the right decision kept playing over in her mind. His lovemaking hadn’t surprised her, but he hadn’t been as gentle as she expected.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her, sounding more sober now that time had passed. His hand looked large touching her breast.
“Nothing,” she said, not wanting to reveal her doubt. She reached up to his face and traced his scar. “How did that happen?” she asked him, reasoning they knew each other well enough now for her to ask.
“It’s a long story,” he said.
“Tell me,” she said, figuring they had time.
“It’s not very interesting.”
“I still want to know,” she said, with a smile.<
br />
“I got into a bad fight when I was younger, in my teens. The other guy had a knife, I didn’t. That’s what it’s like growing up in the city,” he said with a smile and a shrug.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, because she didn’t know what else to say, and because she had grown up in the suburbs, she couldn’t really relate. “What happened to the other guy?” she said.
“You don’t want to know,” he replied.
She laughed then stopped when he made a serious face, and she gave him a shocked look.
“Just kidding,” he said with a grin.
Again, she wanted to slap him, and kiss him. That, she could do. She leaned up, and her lips touched his.
He pulled away.
“Tommy, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“You need to know something about me,” he said faintly, and stopped touching her hair.
“What is it?” she asked, and she moved out of his large, hard arms when he didn’t reply. “What’s going on?” she asked, sensing something wrong. Did he, too, have doubts about what they’d done?
“It’s about the case we’re working on.”
“Oh,” she said, somewhat relieved. “What is it?”
Tommy sighed. “If I tell you, it’ll change things. Hell, I might not even be working this case anymore, if I tell you.”
“Tommy, what is it?” she asked, now worried. She sat up.
“But I don’t know if I can keep lying to you,” he continued to ruminate to himself.
“What is it?” she asked, feeling the need to grab him and shake him, but not knowing how he’d react. “Tell me!” she finally shouted.
“It’s about my mother.”
“Oh,” Dana said softly. “What does she have to do with our case?”
“My mother’s Violet McCarthy.”
Dana jumped out of bed and stood looking at him in her underwear in silence for a few moments. “You’re joking,” she insisted. “But it’s not funny.”
He looked at her and shook his head.
“But it doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “They never would have let you worked on the case if they knew.”
“No one knows. I haven’t told anyone. I took my dad’s last name after he died.”
“Then why are you telling me?” she asked, because that was the first thing that came to her mind. She couldn’t keep a secret like that, because doing so would be against everything she stood for. She was the type of cop who did everything by the book. “We don’t know each other that well.”
