24
" I once stood in a field in Ireland, alone, a little lost, and wishing for you more than I wished for my next breath. And you came, though I never asked you, you came because you knew I needed you. We don't always do what's right, what's good. Not even for each other. But when it counts, down to the core of it, I believe we do exactly that. What's right and good for each other. There's no rule to that. It's just love."
Just love, she thought when he stepped out. She may have been going into her own personal hell to face a killer, but right at that moment she considered herself the luckiest woman in the world. "
― J.D. Robb , New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)
30
" Task complete. Shut it down."
Unable to comply, the computer responded.
"I finished."
Inaccurate statement. Previous command stipulated all listed reports and evaluations must be complete before system rest. This command by Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, priority basis, can only be countermanded at her order by fire, terrorist attack, alien invasion or an open and active case requiring her attention ...
Jesus, had she really programmed that? "I changed my mind."
Previous command specifies changes of mind, fatigue, boredom, and other lame excuses not acceptable for countermand ...
"Bite me," Eve muttered. "
― J.D. Robb , New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)
31
" She thought she loved him. What do you have in your pocket?”
He smiled, drew out the gray button that had fallen off her very ugly suit the first day they’d met.
“See?” She couldn’t say why that stupid button moved her so damn much. “People in love keep things. Sentimental things.”
“What do you have?”
She pulled the chain, and the tear-shaped diamond from under her shirt. “I wouldn’t wear this for anybody but you. It’s embarrassing. And—”
“Ah, something else.”
“Shit. I’m tired. It makes me gabby. I have one of your shirts.”
His brow creased in absolute bafflement. “My shirts?”
“In my drawer, under a bunch of stuff. You lent it to me the morning after our first night together. It still sort of smells like you.”
For a moment, the worry on his face simply dissolved. “I believe that’s the sweetest thing you’ve said to me in all our time together.”
“Well, I owed you. Besides, you have enough shirts to outfit a Broadway troupe. So, help me toss the room?”
“Absolutely. "
― J.D. Robb , New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)
34
" The wince and muffled oath he gave when he stepped into the water got a laugh out of her.
“It’s not that hot.”
“If I had a lobster, we’d boil it and eat it.”
“You set the temp.”
“So I did, and now, with no lobster in sight, we’re boiling my balls.”
He’d set it for her, she thought, so she could soak in the heat and the scent, turn off her mind with some relaxation program. She thought of what she’d overheard him saying to Mira, how he’d looked.
He needed this as much as she did. "
― J.D. Robb , New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)
36
" He loves me. Roarke, I mean. He loves me.”
“Oh, so very much.”
“Nobody did before. Before Mavis, she just wouldn’t give up and leave me alone. And Feeney. But he’d feel weird saying the whole love thing, so . . .” She mimed zipping fingers over her lips.
“But Roarke doesn’t feel weird about it. He’s full of it, the love, I mean. And when he loves me, things that never worked in me did—do. It was easier when they didn’t work, but it’s better when they do. You know?”
“I do. You should rest now.”
“Want to finish, give my report. Is my face messed up? I hate when that happens. Not like I’m pretty or anything, but—”
“You’re the most beautiful woman ever born,” Roarke said from the doorway, and Eve sent him a woozy, drugged smile.
“See, told ya he’s full of it. "
― J.D. Robb , New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)
37
" I don’t know where to start. How to start. It’s like trying to navigate a maze in the dark, and . . .” Then the cat sprawled weightily over her feet. And that was it, the start. “I miss home. Roarke had you bring the cat, because the cat’s home. I never had anything, didn’t want anything until that cat. I don’t even know why I took him, exactly, but I made him mine.”
She took a long, slow drink of wine. “I missed him. I miss Peabody and her smart mouth and steady ways. I miss Feeney and Mavis and my bullpen. Hell, it’s so bad I even miss Summerset.”
When Roarke made some sound, she turned narrowed eyes on him. “If you ever tell him I said that, I’ll shave you bald in your sleep, dress you in frilly pink panties, and take a vid that I’ll auction and sell for huge amounts of money.”
“So noted,” he said, and thought: There’s Eve. There she is. "
― J.D. Robb , New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)