Tommy was fast losing patience. He should have just let this be. He should have moved on a long time ago but what she said on the street bugged him. The office was nearly empty, Hickman had gone back to his trailer at the carnival, Sebastian was currently on a train back to his new found family and Arabela, was doing Arabela type things. A date maybe?
Eva was still typing away on her computer, occasionally her phone would chime and she'd get a little smile on her face. Tommy wanted to know who was so amusing. Her old partner? A friend? He dipped his head back sighing at the ceiling wondering when this had all started and when, more importantly, it was going to be over. It was messing with his head making him feel off kilter. Tommy hated feeling off kilter. It reminded him of living in the camp too much which reminded him of not being able to go back and that reminded him of how lonely he felt. He didn't need to be focusing on that again it was a slippery slope that ended in him drinking far too much liquor and waking up the next morning with rancid breath and a hell of a hangover. Sure he could put it away but his body was always sore about it the next morning.
Eva's phone chimed again.
"Can you turn that thing on silent I'm trying to concentrate." he exploded.
Eva scoffed like she hadn't even registered his tone "You finished your reports ages ago you're just moping about because you don't want to go home to your empty apartment." she gave him a smart little smile.
He wanted to kiss it right off of her.
Instead Tommy glared at her, "You're very perceptive." he said sarcastically.
"Not just a pretty face." she replied sourly.
"Oh come on Eva," Tommy groaned loudly, "Are we still on this?"
Uncertainty flickered across her face but it was soon erased in favour of Eva's favourite cool expression. The one she wore for the outside world. It made him feel like a casual stranger like she considered him to be nothing more than an acquaintance to her and not a man who had been partnered with her for the last year. Hell they'd gotten wrecked together how could she look at him like that?
"You want me to apologise for thinking you're beautiful?" He looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you kidding me? I am not apologising for finding you attractive. I apologise if knowing makes you uncomfortable but I'm just calling it like I see it. I would be happy to forget about it but ya can't let it go can ya?"
"Knowing doesn't make me uncomfortable," she rolled her eyes impatiently. "At least not in the way you think." she added as a considerate after thought.
Tommy leant forward "Then could you kindly explain it to me?"
"You wouldn't understand." she sighed.
"I may be a simple traveller but try me."
She glared at him, "Don't start with me McConnel you know I don't think of you the way Lennon does."
"Then please," he begged, "tell me why you're so upset."
"Because you said I was beautiful." she mumbled.
This again. God was she really that creeped out by him? He felt horrible, like a rejected pre-teen at school. This was Moira Clark at the church disco all over again. A wave of self consciousness overtook him. "This is going to end in my transfer isn't it? I didn't realise it was such a problem." it certainly hadn't seemed like a problem when she leant into him that night blushing at his words. Had he read the situation all wrong. Had her bashfulness been a result of discomfort?
"Oh Tommy stop!" she snapped. Everybody said the Italians were a passionate lot but he'd yet to see her explode, her snapping was the closest he'd ever seen her to losing her temper. It didn't however impact its effectiveness and he tried to make his recoil look more like a casual leaning back in his chair. "It is not because of that."
"Then why do you keep saying it is? I can't read your bloody mind so you're gonna have to either spell it out or get over it." he snapped.
"I find you attractive." she admitted forcing the words out through tight lips.
The announcement was like a gift box right to the face. It was nice to receive but it took him by surprise. He gaped at her "What?"
"I don't think you're beneath me, at all, I never have. In fact I am quite attracted to you." she blushed.
He rubbed the back of his neck "When I said explain this isn't exactly-"
"I am, what some would consider, pretty." she announced it rather than asked.
What most of the male population would consider drop dead gorgeous. Those feline eyes, that pouty mouth, the accent. Tommy had had some very naughty visions about her and he dared anyone to tell him they wouldn't. "Yes..."
"But I am not just a pretty girl. I am not a stuck up pretty girl who got to where I am because of my looks. I worked hard to get where I am. I worked hard to prove that I could get to where I needed to be on my own merits and not because someone else decided to help me because of how I looked." she took a breath clearly getting riled up.
Tommy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He held up a hand, "Wait a minute," he fought a dazed smile, "are you telling me that you hate being beautiful?"
Who hated being beautiful? Girls all over the world wished they were beautiful and here was someone who had been gifted with it and she didn't want it? For the hundredth time in his life Tommy thought to himself 'Women!' with frustration.
She wouldn't look at him but she nodded. Her phone chimed in the background. She ignored it. He had all of her attention now.
Eventually he said, "I have never in my life known someone to be troubled by that."
Eva tipped her chin up in defiance. He could see a spark of challenge in them. "How many times have you dismissed a woman because of how she looks. Ugly or beautiful? Have you ever held the door for a beautiful woman but forgotten to for a not so attractive woman? Have you ever looked at a powerful woman and thought that she got to where she is because of how she looked? When I was training people thought I was an airhead. I was in danger of being dismissed as nothing more than a spoilt little Mafia princess who would drop her pants to get what she wanted. Forced to play honey trap characters on cases. Never taken seriously. Men told me pretty girls didn't play cops and robbers, they weren't smart enough and there was only so far my looks would get me."
Tommy blinked at her flabbergasted.
"And then you call me pretty and all I can think is that's all you see."
Tommy took a deep breath now he understood. "Are you seriously telling me being beautiful is a problem?"
"I told you you wouldn't understand." she scowled prettily. Everything she did was pretty which was the problem.
"I do not understand but what I do know is that anyone who thought of you as nothing more than a pretty face is an idiot." perhaps the conviction in his tone surprised her because she opened her mouth into a perfect o and blinked at him in surprise. He cocked his head, "You're a good agent, hell you're great and it has nothing to do with how you look but who you are. Eva you are the most intelligent, kind hearted person I have ever met. Yes you're beautiful but that's no' why I like ya. It's a bonus sure," he ignored her eye roll, "but it's because of who you are and what you do that makes me want to kiss you."
Eva blushed harder her cheeks colouring. He had no idea how she could think of herself the same way the people she loathed did. She said she despised how no one could see beneath her skin but she also let her surface layer get in her way.
"You do?" she mumbled.
"Oh aye." he grinned what he hoped was dashingly. McConnel rose crossed to her desk and reached his hand out tentatively for hers.
Eva slid her hand into his and letting him guide her to standing. He pulled her body to his, their chests flush with one another. She could feel the heat of him through his thick knit jumper, could feel how firm he was.
"Face it Eva," Tommy said matter of factly, "you're a natural. So if it's okay with you I'm going to kiss you right here," he pressed a finger gently on her plump lips feeling her smile beneath his skin, "and it's not because of how you look but because of how you made me feel two nights ago. Of how you make me feel right now."
"Oh yeah? And how is that?" she asked sassily.
"Like I'm going to really regret not showing you before it's too late."
Her boldness ended then and she tilted her face away. "You're just trying to charm me."
"Believe me I haven't even started with the charming yet. There will be much less clothing when that time comes." He said lewdly.
"You're very confident." She let him guide her arms around his shoulders.
Tommy smiled at her bringing his lips close but not quite touching hers. "I am." he whispered before kissing her.