Chapter 8

Jordan sighed as she saw the sincerity in his eyes. Still afraid of how fast he seemed to be moving, she asked, "Will you give me time to catch up to where you are?"

"Of course I will," he smiled cockily at her, and then added with a laugh, "As long as you don't take too long."

He had been hoping to get a laugh from her, but settled for the strained smile that was all she could seem to manage instead. Giving her a gentle push he said, "Why don't you change out of your work clothes while I get dinner going?"

"Okay," she agreed and gave him another smile. This one was less forced than the last one.

"Hey, that smells really good," Jordan told him as she came into the kitchen after changing clothes. Peering into the pan on the stove she exclaimed, "There's shrimp in there! Aren't you planning on eating?"

"Actually I'm vegetarian for health rather than moral reasons so beef and pork are out. Occasionally I allow myself chicken and turkey. However, seafood is okay. And fish is actually good for you."

"Oh," was all she could say, and then with a grin, "I like most seafood except oysters, so that solves any eating issues that may have pop up."

"Have you ever tried octopus or squid?" he asked hiding his teasing grin by turning his head back to what he was cooking.

He could see Jordan's grimace reflected in the window above the sink as she tried to keep her distaste from her voice, but the gulp was audible at the end of her reply, "Ummm, no…"

"Neither have I…we should try them together sometime," he suggested repressing the desire to chuckle at her dismayed look.

"Not anytime in the foreseeable future," she muttered as she reached into the cupboard to get out dishes so she could set the table.

When she finished he asked, "Will you pour the wine I brought? The food will be ready in just a minute."

"Ooooh fancy," she commented with a grin.

"Only the best for you," he replied, bringing the steaming food to the table and then dishing it up.

"Darn right!" she teased with a light blush.

Once they were both seated and ready to eat, he asked, "Do you like sushi?"

"Only if it's cooked," she admitted sheepishly, and he laughed.

The stir fry was wonderful and she told him so several times over. As they finished eating, Harm poured them each more wine emptying the bottle as he did so. Jordan was surprised that they had drunk the entire bottle. However, when she stood up she was able to feel it in the slight wobbliness of her legs.

Harm chuckled at the startled look on her face and asked, "You okay there, kiddo?"

"Yeah. I just wasn't expecting the wine to hit me that hard," she answered.

"Well, if you can toddle over to the sofa, I was going to offer to rub your shoulders. You looked a bit tense when we started dinner."

"I might have been, but the wine seems to have taken care of that for me," she said as they reached the couch.

"Bad day at work?" he inquired solicitously.

Jordan sighed as he began to massage her shoulders and replied unthinkingly, "Oh, Woody was a bit put out with me."

"Why would that be?"

"He found out you were back in town and Nigel also felt the need to inform him that you and I had sex last night."

"How did Nigel find that out?"

Blushing, she told him, "I guess my happy face gave me away this morning. When I entered the break room they all guessed."

"I hope you weren't embarrassed."

"I didn't really care if they knew, but I was sorry Woody found out."

"That would be, because he has feelings for you, I'm guessing."

"He seems to think he does, however, I have a feeling that I'm just the first non-Wisconsin girl he met and because I'm new and different…at least I hope that's it, because that he can get over easier. If it's not, I don't want to be the one who ends up breaking his heart."

"Detective Hoyt is a grown man. He will have to learn to deal with emotional upsets and loss. If I have anything to say about it, he's lost his chance at getting you."

To be continued…