Local Hero

hold off. “We’ll let it ride for a while. Are you and Rad up to hitting a few arcades in Times Square tonight?”
    “Sure. He’d love it.” She stepped toward him again. “So would I.”
    “You say that now, but you won’t after I humiliate you with my superior skill.”
    “I love you.”
    He let out a long breath, fighting back the urge to grab her again and refuse to let go. “You going to let me know when you’re comfortable with that?”
    “You’ll be the first.”
    He picked up the card Radley had made him. “Tell Rad I’ll see him later.”
    “I will.” He was halfway to the door when she started after him. “Mitch, why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow? I’ll fix a pot roast.”
    He tilted his head. “The kind with the little potatoes and carrots all around?”
    “Sure.”
    “And biscuits?”
    She smiled. “If you want.”
    “Sounds great, but I’m tied up.”
    “Oh.” She struggled with the need to ask how but reminded herself she didn’t have the right.
    Mitch smiled, selfishly pleased to see her disappointment. “Can I have a rain check?”
    “Sure.” She tried to answer the smile. “I guess Radley told you about his birthday next week,” she said when Mitch reached the door.
    “Only five or six times.” He paused, his hand on the knob.
    “He’s having a party next Saturday afternoon. I know he’d like you to come if you can.”
    “I’ll be there. Look, why don’t we take off about seven? I’ll bring the quarters.”
    “We’ll be ready.” He wasn’t going to kiss her goodbye, she thought. “Mitch, I—”
    “I almost forgot.” Casually he reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small box.
    “What is it?”
    “It’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?” He put it in her hand. “So this is a Valentine’s Day present.”
    “A Valentine’s Day present,” she repeated dumbly.
    “Yeah, tradition, remember? I thought about candy, but I figured you’d spend a whole lot of time making sure Radley didn’t eat too much of it. But look, if you’d rather have candy, I’ll just take this back and—”
    “No.” She pulled the box out of his reach, then laughed. “I don’t even know what it is.”
    “You’d probably find out if you open the box.”
    Flipping the lid, she saw the thin gold chain that held a heart no bigger than her thumbnail. It glittered with the diamonds that formed it. “Oh, Mitch, it’s gorgeous.”
    “Something told me it’d be a bigger hit with you than candy. Candy would have made you think about oral hygiene.”
    “I’m not that bad,” she countered, then lifted the heart out of the box. “Mitch, it’s really beautiful, I love it, but it’s too—”
    “Conventional, I know,” he interrupted as he took it from her. “But I’m just that kind of guy.”
    “You are?”
    “Just turn around and let me hook it for you.”
    She obeyed, lifting one hand up under her hair. “I do love it, but I don’t expect you to buy me expensive presents.”
    “Um-hmm.” His brows were drawn together as he worked the clasp. “I didn’t expect bacon and eggs, but you seemed to get a kick out of fixing them.” The clasp secured, he turned her around to face him. “I get a kick out of seeing you wear my heart around your neck.”
    “Thank you.” She touched a finger to the heart. “I didn’t buy you any candy, either, but maybe I can give you something else.”
    She was smiling when she kissed him, gently, teasingly, with a power that surprised them both. It took only an instant, an instant to be lost, to need, to imagine. His back was to the door as he moved his hands from her face to her hair to her shoulders, then to her hips to mold her even more truly against him. The fire burned, hot and fast, so that even when she drew away he felt singed by it. With his eyes on hers, Mitch let out a very long, very slow breath.
    “I guess those kids will be coming back.”
    “Any minute.”
    “Uh-huh.” He kissed her lightly on the brow before he turned and opened the door. “See you later.”
    He would go down to get Taz, Mitch thought as he started down the hall. Then he was going for a walk. A long one.
    ***
    True to his word Mitch’s pockets were filled with quarters. The arcades were packed with people and echoed with the pings and whistles and machine-gun sound effects of the games. Hester stood to the side as Mitch and Radley used their combined talents to save the world from intergalactic wars.
    “Nice shooting,