The smell of the food had her halting in her stride down the city street, her mouth watering as her empty stomach grumbled. She was looking for her wallet when he spoke.
"Stella- what are you doing?"
She heard the slight anxiety in his voice and turned to face him. He had continued walking after she had stopped at the cart, and was a few long paces away. "I'm hungry," she said, then shook her head. "It's been two weeks Flack."
"Yeah, I know," he said evenly.
"Maybe you should have taken that psych leave after all." She stared longingly at the hot dog stand before giving in and walking away. In truth, she only ever ate on the street when she was too busy to get something else. And, admittedly, the scene they had stumbled on in the search for Fiona Chisholm's murderer had made her think twice about eating food from street vendors.
He was right- no New Yorker should ever see what they saw.
"It's just not hygienic," he said, and ended on a mock shudder that had her rolling her eyes.
"And I haven't eaten since breakfast," she grumbled, her stomach still protesting.
He reached out a hand to stop her. "We can put off the rest of the interviews for an hour or so. Have some lunch."
She eyed him suspiciously. Low blood sugar had made her a little cranky. "I suspect you have an ulterior motive, Detective."
"Hey, I'm hungry too," he replied. "And I get the pleasure of your company of course." He smirked at her.
She rolled her eyes at him, but allowed herself to be flattered into a small smile. "What if I want a hot dog?"
"We'll get anything you want- as long as it's not on the street," he asserted.
"Okay fine," she consented, knowing they were only two blocks away from one of her favorite cafes. "Are you planning on checking everything I eat?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Do I have to?" he asked. He was grinning again now that he'd won the argument. The two of them started walking again, easy merging into the flow of traffic on the sidewalk.
Stella waited for a moment as he shortened his long stride to match hers, something she suspect he did without even noticing. Then she stepped over the line. "Then maybe you should buy me dinner sometime this week- to make sure." She sent him a smirk and a sideways glance.
She had to wait a moment before he replied, looking down at her with serious blue eyes that betrayed the cocky half smile on his face. "Yeah, I could do that. You feel like anything in particular?"
She didn't know if he was asking about lunch, or dinner, or something else. But her answer was the same anyway. "I don't know. Surprise me."
"Okay," he said, and his hand brushed against hers, their fingers tangling for a second or two. "I will."
------------------
Little disclaimer here- I have nothing against street food. In fact, when I go to New York at the end of this year, I'm probably going to be eating a lot of it. :P
But I just had to turn those gorgeous Stella and Flack scenes in Happily Never After into something a little Fiesta. Please let me know what you thought!