Victoria’s gaze flicked to Isabel, unreadable. “Trust me. I’m well aware.”
The heat in that look was enough to make Isabel sit up a little straighter.
“Another spritz for you?” Lavender asked Isabel, already half-turning toward the bar.
Isabel hesitated, then shook her head. “Whiskey. Rocks.”
Victoria’s eyebrow arched just a fraction.
“What?” Isabel teased. “Figured I’d try something age-appropriate, since I’m apparently having dinner with someone who pre-dates the internet.”
Victoria leaned back in her chair, unbothered. “Careful, Torres. The last person who made an age joke in my presence ended up on desk duty for a month.”
“Worth it,” Isabel shot back, grinning. She turned her head toward Lavender and added. “I’m also going to have the burger.” Isabel smirked at Victoria, arching a brow sarcastically. “I’msupposedto be eating.”
Lavender snorted and walked away, leaving them in the soft hum of conversation and mellow music.
Isabel stretched her legs out under the table, her boot brushing against Victoria’s polished shoe.Accidental?Definitely not.
“So,” Isabel said, watching Victoria carefully, “how does someone like you end up somewhere like this? Lavender’s doesn’t exactly scream ‘no-nonsense captain.’”
Victoria’s lips twitched. “You think I live at the precinct?”
“I think youwantpeople to think that,” Isabel countered. “Easier to keep walls up when everyone assumes you don’t have a life outside of work.”
That earned her a considering look.
“Lavender’s was a recommendation,” Victoria finally said, glancing toward the bar where Lavender was chatting with a customer. “One of my first cases as lieutenant—domestic situation. Messy. Lavender testified as a character witness for one of the victims. After the trial, she told me I looked like I needed a drink and dragged me here.”
Isabel blinked. “Wait.Lavenderdraggedyousomewhere?”
Victoria’s smile was faint but real. “She’s pushier than she looks.”
So you can be pushed,Isabel thought, filing that information away for later.
Their food and drinks arrived, clinking softly against the worn wooden table. Isabel picked up her glass, watching the way Victoria cradled hers—fingers wrapped around the heavy glass, thumb tracing the rim absently.
“All right, Langley,” Isabel drawled, tipping her glass toward the captain. “To unlikely dinner companions.”
Victoria clinked her glass against Isabel’s. “And even unlikelier peace and quiet.”
They drank. It surprised Isabel how easy it was after that.
The conversation drifted, lighter than she expected. Isabel poked fun at the precinct’s terrible coffee, Victoria rolled her eyes but admitted she kept her own stash in her desk (“You mean you’ve been hoarding the good stuff this whole time?” “Captain’s privilege.”), and somewhere between the first and second round, they stopped sounding like a captain and a detective and started sounding likepeople.
It was the first time Isabel had ever seen Victoria without the weight of command pressing down on her shoulders.
And damn if that didn’t make her more attractive.
It wasn’t just the sharp mind and cool authority anymore. It was the dry humor. The faint smile lines around her eyes. The way she relaxed—not fully, but enough—for Isabel to glimpse the woman underneath the uniform.
She wanted more of this.
God,Isabel realized,I’m already in too deep.
Somewhere around drink two (or was it three?), Lavender wandered by, dropping a fresh bowl of pretzels on the table with the practiced ease of someone who’d seen more late-night heart-to-hearts than she could count.
“You two look like you’re either plotting a heist or falling in love,” she teased, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
