Page 20 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“How is your friend doing?” Kostya asked.
“She’s actually doing pretty good. I’m thinking I can fly home to Manhattan tomorrow.”
“That’s good, that’s really good.”
“Why?”
He made another couple of keystrokes. “Can I take you to a late dinner tonight?”
There was a long pause.
“Are you asking as a friend?”
Kostya rubbed the back of his neck as he pictured Lark in the slinky dress she’d been wearing at the Kimpton bar. “No. I’m not asking as a friend,” he admitted.
It was an eternity before she answered. “I thought we agreed this wasn’t a good idea. I specifically told you that you weren’t my type.” Lark’s voice was breathy.
Breathy was good.
“Lark, I have no idea what in the hell is going on either. I’m on standby, and I can’t get my ass to Baltimore, otherwise I would be there in a heartbeat to entertain a hypothesis I have.”
“And what’s that?”
“That friends make a great foundation for something more than just friends.”
“Kostya,” Lark sighed.
That was definitely not a ‘No.’
“Look, Lark, I just want to take you on a date, is that such a big deal? You already said that you intend to fly home tomorrow. You can just as easily catch a flight from Virginia Beach tomorrow.”
He glanced down at his computer. “I already figured out that there’s a plane leaving from Baltimore in an hour. I can be picking you up in less than three hours.”
Kostya winced at Lark’s laughter. “You’re kidding, right?”
This time he kept quiet.
“You’re not kidding,” she finally said. Again, her voice was breathy.
“I’ll get you a hotel, no pressure, Honey. I just want to take you out to dinner.”
“This is insane. You’re crazy, you know that, don’t you Barona?”
“Yep.”
More silence.
“Kostya, I’m not going to sleep with you. Scratch that. I’m not going to have sex with you. You understand that, right?”
“I got that, Lark. I’m not going to ask you to…but.”
“But what?”
He loved that suspicious reporter voice. It turned him on.
“I’m going to be working to tempt you into a goodnight kiss before I leave you at your hotel room door. The hotel room that I’m paying for.”
Lark snorted. “You’re not paying for my damned hotel room. I pay my own way.”
