All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I'm just playing.

A/N: Includes my take on the "I was kind of hoping we could go grab a coffee and fall in love or something" prompt from the Janet Evanovich Fan Fiction Facebook group.

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Chapter 6: Hal

It's lunchtime, and I'm just one of the dozen or so guys crowded in the breakroom catching lunch. Lester and Junior are slinging shit back and forth, trying to one up each other with tall tales about their dates last weekend. If I hadn't been drug to a club or two in the past and seen them in action, I'd say they're lying. Having seen the way women flock to them, they probably aren't. I tune Junior out as he launches into a story about twins he met after everyone else left. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Stephanie heading my way and fight the rising panic. Everyone knows she's setting the guys up on dates with varying levels of success. I hope it's not my turn. Please don't let it be my turn. That would be hard to explain.

"Hey, Hal."

"Steph."

"I was wondering—"

"I have a girlfriend!" Damn. I can't believe I just blurted that out in front of everyone! And I guess it's not that hard to explain why I'm not down with a set-up. Several sets of eyes shift my way and I resist the urge to fidget.

Steph gives me a gentle smile. "You could have just told me you weren't interested in meeting someone."

"I'm not. I don't need to. I mean…"

Santos sits up a little straighter and I know I'm going to catch a ration of shit over this. I seriously need to get over Stephanie making me nervous. I wasn't hiding Kate's existence, just not advertising it. Yet. That's all blown to hell now.

"It's ok, Hal. I just met a really nice lady earlier today and I thought of you."

"I have a nice lady."

Lester smirks at me. "Blow up Barbie doesn't count."

"Fuck off, Santos."

Steph's eyes are wide, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm seeing someone or because I used the F word. Better to err on the side of caution. "I apologize for the language, ma'am."

"The ma'am is more offensive than the fuck, Hal." She narrows her eyes at me. "Do you really have a girlfriend?" I swallow and nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"A couple months." That gets me a smile.

"How come we haven't met her?"

Well, that's easy. "Why would I introduce her to these assholes?"

Steph purses her lips and tilts her head. "That's a fair point."

"Hey!"

She turns to Santos. "Don't stand there and pretend you wouldn't go out of your way to embarrass him."

Lester shrugs. "Of course, I would. Trial by fire is the best way to make sure she's good enough for our little Halibut."

Steph snorts and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, that would totally be the reason."

Tank enters the breakroom, looking from Steph to Lester. He opens his mouth, thinks better of asking what's going on, and instead grabs a water bottle from the fridge. A couple of the guys head out, not wanting to risk Tank asking why they're hanging out in the breakroom instead of working. Steph confirms with Tank that they have a meeting set for Monday morning before she turns back to me. "I'm happy for you, Hal. I hope I get to meet her sometime."

We all watch her leave, and a part of me wishes I could follow her out and avoid the inquisition. As soon as she clears the door, Santos rounds on me. "You've been holding out on us. Spill."

I meet his stare, doing my best to wait him out. Junior throws his empty water bottle at me, tagging me in the shoulder. "Give it up, Olsen. Spare some details before he gets annoying."

"And now that Miss Matchmaker's gone, it's ok to admit that you told a fib to avoid a set-up." Santos raises one fucking eyebrow in my direction. Is it really that hard to believe someone would want to be with me?

"Yes, I have a girlfriend." God, that makes me sound like I'm in high school.

"Does she know she's your girlfriend?"

I hear Tank snort and grind my teeth. "Yes."

Junior and Lester share a look before Junior aims a smirk my way. "And she's a real girl, not battery operated?"

Fuckers. That doesn't even deserve an answer.

"Human, right? Not a four legged farm animal?"

"The fuck kinky shit are you into, Santos?" That came from Kong, one of the newer guys. He recently transferred to Trenton from the Boston office to be with his girlfriend. I don't know him well, but he seems like a solid operator and he's fitting in well.

Lester rolls his eyes. "Just trying to determine if Halibut is trying to pull a fast one on us." He turns his attention back to me. "This isn't some $4.99 a minute let's play pretend nonsense, is it? We've talked about online safety."

Do not engage. Just let them get it out of their systems.

Junior gives me a shrewd look. "Does she live here in town or is this a long-distance mail-order bride type of thing?"

"Yes."

"Well, which is it?"

"She's local." That's all they're getting.

"And?" Lester's bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking like the overeager golden retriever puppy I had as a kid. In hindsight, they have a lot in common, the main thing being not knowing when to quit. "For Christ's sake, Olsen. How did you meet her?"

If it wouldn't lead to shitty karma, I'd wish for an emergency right about now. With a sigh, I begrudgingly give a little info. "I stopped to help her change a flat tire, and she invited me for coffee as a thank you."

Remembering that night always brings a smile to my face, but I refuse to let them see it now. It was raining cats and dogs and I was headed home from working security at an event in Princeton. Zip was my partner that night, but he ended up catching a ride back to Haywood with one of the other teams. On the way, I saw a car stopped on the shoulder of the road. No one else was stopping, so I pulled up behind the Jetta and flipped on my hazards. When I got close, I saw a woman wrestling the flat off the car. I tried to make noise to alert her to my presence, but she was so focused on the task that my, "Do you need some help?" caused her to let out a small scream and flail backwards onto her ass. Luckily, the tire stayed in place and didn't fall on her foot. I held up my hands to indicate I wasn't a threat and repeated my question. I know my size tends to be off-putting, but I really was just trying to be a nice guy.

She took several glances around, before looking fully at me. The headlights of the company SUV provided just enough illumination to let me see the blush that formed on her cheeks. She wiped her hands on her skirt before scrambling to her feet. "Sorry, didn't see you there."

After repeating my offer of help, she gave me a small nod. "Thanks, I'd appreciated that. I can do it, but it just takes me a long time and the rain doesn't seem to be letting up."

"No problem. Would you like to wait in my vehicle, out of the rain?"

She looked back and forth between me and the SUV, before stating, "I'll just…keep you company? If that's ok?" I nodded, and with that, I got to work swapping out the tire while she imparted random facts about tires, rain, and even the road we were on. It didn't take long for me to be as soaked as her, but I didn't mind. I was happy to be of help and to listen to her talk. When I stood back up after letting down the jack and giving the lug nuts another quick tightening, she looked at me and blushed again. "Sorry. I tend to talk when I'm nervous."

"No worries, ma'am."

"Kate."

"Kate. I'm Hal." I offered my hand and marveled at how small hers felt in mine. I was totally ignoring the warm feeling in my chest, too. I wasn't smooth like some of the other guys and searched for something else to say, settling on, "That was an impressive amount of stuff you knew about… everything."

That got me another blush. "Sorry. Hazard of the job." At my silence, she added on, "Librarian."

"I love reading." Did I mention I'm not smooth like the other guys? Pretty sure I had a blush to match hers.

"Cool." We stood there in the rain, neither of us moving. There was definitely some sort of vibe going on and stepping back from her felt like a loss. We both started speaking at the same time. I don't remember what I said, but I definitely remember her, "Maybe we could go grab a coffee and fall in love or something?" The blush that took over her face was pretty damn sweet. She stammered a little after that, and it actually calmed me down that she might be as awkward at this as me.

Santos interrupts my musing. "Nice! Rocking up like a hero. So, you took her up on her offer?"

"Yep." I did. Not that night, though. I was still technically on the clock and both of us were wet and uncomfortable. We exchanged numbers and met two days later. I almost screwed it up. Because her hair was soaked and messy, and it was nighttime, I didn't have a real frame of reference for what color hair she had, so no easy cue to find her in the crowd. I stood there in the doorway of the coffee shop, internally panicking, when a cute little thing in skinny jeans and a green Librarians Do It by the Book t-shirt approached me with a timid, "Hey, Hal. I'm glad you could make it." We had coffee and that was it. From that day, I was smitten and within weeks I was full on gone for her.

"Don't leave us hanging, dude. You gotta give us more than that. What's she do?"

"Librarian."

Lester's eyes light up and I know I'm screwed. "Aw, man, you bagged a librarian! Please tell me she wears the sexy tight skirts. And the glasses! Gotta have the glasses and the hair piled up on her head so she can pull the glasses off and shake out her hair. Does she shush you during sex if you get too loud? Details, man! We need details."

Done. I'm so done with this conversation. My fists clench involuntarily, wanting to wipe that smirk of his face. I look over at Tank. "How much longer are you going to be here?"

He looks at me with understanding. "Until after you leave. As much as I wouldn't mind letting the internal cameras catch your fist meeting his face and being able to play it back any time I wanted, it would require a write-up, and it's too late on a Friday for that bullshit. I've got plans."

Lester smirks. "Ah yes, the lovely Jocelyn."

"Stuff it, Santos. Unless you'd like extra monitor time."

The idiot smirks at Tank and makes a show of zipping his lips and throwing away the key. If only it were that simple to keep him quiet. Honestly, the write-up might be worth it. Word leaked out that Tank was seeing a woman that Steph introduced him to, even though he disputes that it was a set-up. The more he protests, the less we believe him. Either way, he seems to like her and that's cool.

I won't tell Santos, because that will just open a can of worms, but Kate is sexy, especially in a skirt. But she's also funny, sweet, quick-witted, kindhearted, smart, and more. We've been exclusive from the beginning, and I like where it's going, but I've been holding back on bringing her to meet the guys. I'm not worried she'll dump me for one of them; she's loyal and has a bullshit meter that would have her tossing Santos aside. Like me, she's kind of an introvert and the guys around me can be a bit much, especially in a large group. And even though there's no one I'd rather have at my back, I've often thought of them as a pack of sharks circling blood in the water when they get going. It's been years, and they still bring up Steph tagging me with my own stun gun. It's a story I've already told Kate, so at least if it ever comes up, she already knows that embarrassment. Unfortunately, they have a lot of stories they can tell, not to mention the shit slinging like what's going on now. I guess I like the little honeymoon phase bubble we've been in and I'm reluctant to break out of it.

"When do we get to meet her?" Lester is back to rocking on his feet.

Never. "You don't."

"Come on, Halibut, that hurts. That blush on your face makes me want to meet her."

God damn blushing. I look around, and see everyone looking at me, expectantly. Fuck. I can't hold in the sigh. Santos is never going to let this go. "I'll let you know."

Tank tosses his water bottle into the recycling bin. "Great. Now everyone can get back to work."

The guys shuffle out, leaving Tank and me alone in the breakroom. "I don't suppose I can transfer to another office."

"Nope."

"They're not going to let me out of this, are they?"

"Nope."

"Are we going to meet Jocelyn soon?"

"Nope."

With that, he ambles off, leaving me to mutter, "Great, nice talk."

Work drags on the rest of the day and I'm nervous by the time Kate comes over to my apartment. We generally take turns cooking dinner when we can get together and tonight, I'm making my grandmother's Swedish meatballs. My heart does a little extra thumping when she knocks on the door, knowing she's nearby. My heart's not the only thing excited and I adjust myself on the way to let her in. Staying over at each other's place is a relatively new development, one we're both enjoying.

"Hey!" She greets me with a quick kiss before kicking off her heels by the door. I follow her to the kitchen, my eyes on her ass as she drops her purse on one of the bar chairs. "How was work?"

Best to rip off the Band-Aid. "My co-workers want to meet you."

I guess my delivery was a little abrupt, because she answers with a drawn out, "Okay…"

"They don't think you really exist and I'm making you up."

She huffs out a laugh. "Well, I guess that's fair. You saw how Jamie reacted when you picked me up from the library."

That brings a smile to my face. Two weeks ago, I made reservations for a nice restaurant in Princeton and arranged to pick Kate up from work. Because she had changed into a pretty blue dress, her co-worker knew something was up and I got an interrogation worthy of a seasoned detective before we made our escape. Later, Kate let me know that I got props for the restaurant, bringing flowers, and walking her to the door. I doubt Jamie knows that the kiss at the door led to our first night together. We were both smiling like loons when we drove back to the library the next day for Kate's car.

Pulling her to me now, I kiss her the way I've wanted to all day. Her hands go around my back and fist into my shirt. My hand is inching its way down to the hem of her skirt when the timer I set on the stove startles us. We reluctantly break apart. "To be continued?"

She blushes and puffs out a bust of air. "Definitely."

Sitting at the table with our meal, she asks, "So. Meeting your co-workers. A few, or a lot? All of them?"

"Unknown." I tell her about the scene in the breakroom earlier, gratified that she seems a little cheesed on my behalf. I've told her a little bit here and there about the guys, so I know she's probably imagining the entire conversation in her head as I'm telling it.

"Lester's definitely a troublemaker," she succinctly states when I'm done.

"Yeah. Good guy to have at your back, but an unrepentant shit stirrer."

She nods. "Go ahead and set something up. It'll be fine."

I'm not sure about fine, but it'll be something. I work a morning shift tomorrow, and then we already have plans that don't include Santos and company, so we settle on an open invitation to join us for an early dinner at Big Jim's BBQ on Sunday. I tap out a text, already regretting it.

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We get to Big Jim's ten minutes early. I can already see several cars I recognize, not to mention a couple Rangeman SUVs in the parking lot. And shit. The 911 is parked right up front. I didn't really expect Ranger to be here. Kate brushes a hand across my arm as she scoots past me holding the door. She stops and leans her head back for a kiss that I gladly give. "Relax, Hal. It's going to be fine."

I wish I could believe that.

As we approach a group of tables shoved together toward the back of the restaurant, my smartass co-workers yell out, "Hal!" like we're in a stupid sitcom or something. My steps falter, and Kate gives my hand a squeeze. A fast perusal shows just how many of the guys are here. "Is anyone still on shift?"

Steph leaps forward from her chair beside the boss. "Ranger offered to cover dinner. I guess no one wanted to miss it." She turns to Kate and offers her hand. "Hi, I'm Stephanie."

"Kate. It's nice to meet you; Hal's told me a little bit about you."

I watch as Steph grimaces. "Not too much, I hope."

"Just that you're good at your job and that other than stunning him, you've always been super nice to him."

Steph makes an exaggerated face. "I'm never going to live that down."

Junior yells out, "Hal, either!"

Kate squeezes my hand again and Steph pulls her over to meet a few of the guys. Ranger catches my eye and I note a partial smile. Not sure what that's about; probably for Steph. I watch as the guys greet Kate, happy that they seem to be behaving themselves and not overwhelming her. Finally, they're almost back to me when Lester pops up and graces her with one of his "ladykiller" smiles and introduces himself. I move a little closer, ready to cut him off if he gets inappropriate. I should have known I didn't need to worry.

Kate's got a reserved smile on her face as she says, "Nice to meet you, Lester. I've heard a lot about you."

"All good, I'm sure."

"I guess." Kate pauses just long enough to make Lester curious about what I've told her. "It sounds like you have some sort of fascination with farm animals and blow-up dolls. I'm sure a good therapist could help with that. If that's not your jam, I could direct you to some self-help books we stock at the library."

Dead. Silence. Lester looks like a fish out of water, opening and closing his mouth, fighting for words. Kate tries, but only manages to hold back her smile for ten seconds before a snicker escapes. That snicker blooms into a full laugh that I join. The rest of the guys do, too. Steph is laughing so hard she's wiping away tears. Santos is good natured about it, just shaking his head as he smiles at me. "Well done, Mrs. Halibut. You're a keeper."

I already knew that, but it's nice that others see it, too. After the introductions, we settle into some seats. The guys draw Kate, and even me, into conversations here and there. Steph masterfully redirects when the attention on us gets to be too much, for which I am thankful. Everything is better than I expected. Granted, I came in with pretty low expectations, but it's still nice that it's not the Embarrass Hal Shitfest I was expecting. When we get ready to leave, Santos waits until Kate's back is turned to give me a thumbs up. He's been noticeably tame since his opening salvo and a time or two I even caught him looking at Kate and Steph with something that on someone else would have looked wistful. Probably my imagination, but it makes me wonder if some of his bluster is an act.

Kate squeezes my hand on the way to the car. After I open the door for her, she tugs on my shirt to get me to lean down. She places a kiss just below my ear. "We survived. Maybe we should go home and celebrate."

Ma'am, yes ma'am.