Free Playing with Fire by Amy O'Neill Page B

rolled her eyes. “Really
Delphine, I don’t wanna get too far ahead of myself. The last thing
I need is to get all head over heels.”
    “Ok, I’ll zip it.”
    Noelle tilted her head and nodded.
“Thank you.”
    Delphine held up her hand, “I’ll zip
it right after I ask when are you seeing him again?”
    Noelle shook her head and pushed the
cart out the door. “I don’t know that yet. I just said goodbye to
him four hours ago.”
    “Four hours! And all you did was kiss
the entire time?”
    Noelle stopped and put her hands on
her hips. “Delphine please! We talked, too.”
    Delphine arched her eyebrow. “I find
it hard to believe Trent Torres spent most of his night with a
pretty woman just talking.”
    A sultry voice broke into their
conversation. “Well believe it.”
    Noelle and Delphine both turned to see
Trent standing at the front desk.
    Noelle tried to hide her blush and
hoped he hadn’t heard much. “What are you doing here? I thought you
had to get to work.”
    He nodded. “I don’t start for another
twenty minutes so I figured I would stop by to thank you for last
night and see what you thought about going out
tomorrow.”
    Delphine slapped the counter and said,
none-to-subtly, under her breath, “Holy shit. I think Hell is about
to freeze over.”
    Trent ignored her. Noelle was
surprised when he walked over and gave her a gentle peck on the
lips. She knew she was probably beaming as bright as the sun at the
PDA, but didn’t care.
    “I’d like that. What time are you
thinking of picking me up?”
    Trent shrugged. “Does six work for
you? My best friend just got back from his honeymoon and I’d like
to introduce you to him and his wife.”
    Delphine fell back in her chair.
“Trent Torres is having a woman meet his friends. Noelle, honey,
what the hell have you done to this kid?”
    Noelle shrugged and tried not to
blush. She failed.
    Trent answered for her. “Whatever it
is, I hope she keeps it up. And be nice Delphine. You knew this day
would come eventually.”
    She smiled and nodded. “Yeah I guess.
I just assumed I’d be dead by then. But good for you. Now you two
get out of my office before you make me sick with those
doe-eyes.”
    Noelle waited until they were out in
the parking lot before she asked, “What day is she talking
about?”
    Trent put on his sunglasses and gave
her another kiss. He began to walk away and turned so he was
walking backward toward his car. “The day I found someone to tame
me.”
    Before she could say anything he got
in his car and drove off, leaving her standing there,
dumbfounded.
    She might not know a lot of things,
but one thing she knew for sure – taming Trent Torres sounded
exhilarating.
     
     
     
    Trent hummed to the radio and drummed
his fingers on his knees as Fitzer drove past Scripps Aquarium.
“Man it’s a great day.”
    Fitzer gave him a dirty look. “What
the hell is going on with you? Did you get lucky last
night?”
    Trent shook his head. “Nope, and I’m
totally fine with it.”
    “Is it that chick from the
motel?”
    The way Fitzer said the word ‘chick’
didn’t sit well with him, but Trent brushed it off. “Yeah, it
does.”
    “Something about her is shady. It
seems like she’s hiding something.”
    Trent shook his head. “Naw, she’s
not.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because I asked! Why all the
questions?”
    Fitzer shrugged and took a left turn.
“Because I’ve got an investigative nature. It’s why I became a
cop.”
    When it came to his personal life,
Trent wanted to tell Fitzer where he could stick his investigative
nature.
    “Leave Noelle alone.”
    “Are you sure that’s her real name?
Sounds kind of made up to me.”
    Trent wanted to backhand him.
“Seriously? Of course that’s her real name.”
    “What’s her last name?”
    Trent shrugged. “I don’t
know.”
    Fitzer laughed out loud. “So you went
out on a date with a woman you met on a B & E call and you
never found out her last name. That