They faced one another across a table at Jade House.
It might be unprofessional of her, but she enjoyed the view. Why did males always get such long lashes? Thick and dark, they framed those blue-blue eyes, giving him an innocence she doubted was true at all.
Joe sipped a plain black coffee. "You pick some nice places. But why does it say Jade House, when their sign has a jade horse?"
"That has been a mystery for ages." She stirred honey into her tea. "Rumor has it the place used to be called Jade Horse, but someone shot the middle out of the R and the letter turned upside down, which makes it a U. Of course, that wouldn't work. It wouldn't hang that way." When Joe stared at her, she checked behind herself. "What?"
"I was expecting that to be another joke."
"No, I'm serious. It's a local rumor. Probably not true, but it's more colorful than anything else I've heard." She opened the holographic menu. "Now that we have our drinks, what do you want to eat?"
"I'll have what you have."
"Is that you trying to make a Kin female feel like she's in charge, or are you really unsure what to eat?"
"Why?" He opened his napkin. "Can't a guy do both?"
"There's a fallacy in that reasoning, Mr. Scientist."
He lifted one eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
"A Kin female doesn't need to feel she's in charge. She just is."
"Logic corrected. I have no problem whatsoever with a female in charge." His sly smile relayed volumes. "I don't have a clue what to order. I only dine out during trips like this one. Two or three times a Tradestandard year."
"Got it." He had no problem not being in charge. This self-assigned mission kept getting better.
"Shohn, do they serve Tyran food? I like hofa shrimp."
"Yes, and I love that too." She entered a double order of the shrimp and marinated vegetables, and then minimized the menu. "Most nights, I program my synther and eat on the couch, going over notes."
"Your social life sounds like mine but with much better food."
"The closest I come to being in the presence of others when not working is during a Tyran Ustijuj workout or on the firing range. In the first, no one has any breath left to talk, and in the second, no one can hear a thing." She cupped both hands over her ears. "Protection."
"How does a Kin keep ear coverings on?"
"There are Kin-designed covers. I threaten to shoot mine if it falls off."
He squinted at her. "You what?"
"That was a joke."
"I might have known." He sat back, shaking his head with a smile. "How do you say this stuff with such a straight face?"
She shrugged. "It's a Kin thing." And she was good at it because she lived every day of her life as a lie.
