French Fries and Danish Pastry

A Canadian bacon appetizer, Frankfurters and French fries followed by Belgian waffles and Danish pastry.

Dan was a peculiar man.

Shelly had expected it and she'd been prepared for the impeccable, business professional attire complete with D&G flip flops. She almost ignored now the slight Tourette squinting of his left eye. Perhaps because of the unexpected intensity of his blue eyes watching her with unbridled curiosity.

He wasn't just peculiar. He was disconcerting and not only because of his obvious interest. He had also brought her flowers and held the chair for her. He stood when she did and waited for her to sit first.

'What do you do for a living?', He had asked between two bites of an elaborate Canadian bacon sandwich.

His eyes never left her and she gave him her rehearsed answer. She swallowed and she asked the same question in turn.

He only smiled and invited her to dance. She hesitated, but then he put his large hand over hers. She had closed her eyes and swore silently for the breach in protocol. She then nodded. The rules were already broken, what difference would a dance make?

It turned out it made a monumental difference.

It had been the breakthrough she had waited for months.

'I am a wizard.' he'd whispered then she felt his splayed hand on her back bringing her closer to him.

'A data wizard. I have an uncanny ability to see patterns where others only see numbers.'

Shelly smiled brightly in admiration and her smile was genuine. She'd known his abilities ten years ago when...

'Would you like to see my latest project?' he startled her with a whisper. She didn't know which was more intoxicating. The request she'd waited for months to come or the heat seeping from his chest into her body?

She steeled her heart against this new feeling then relaxed. Sincerity worked and there was no telling which patterns he studied. In fact, this is what she was after.

'Or was it?', she asked herself as she let her forehead rest on his shoulder under his gentle lead.

She nodded and he whirled her around in an elaborate dance move. He hadn't forgot how to dance and she smiled brightly at the memory.

He then paid and lead her to his red Camaro. Why only a Camaro when he could afford a Ferrari? She shrugged the question and since everything went according to the plan she let herself revel in the feeling of his hand holding hers.

Just as ten years ago, he drove with assured ease, never missing a light. He stopped in the front of a nondescript house in a nondescript neighborhood. Except for the floor mat.

'Speak friend and enter.'

'Mellon' she had laughed then turned her head in question as the door opened.

'It's a honeypot.' he whispered against her ear. She shrugged and was thankful for the breach in protocol since she honestly forgot for a moment what a honeypot was.

'I study thieves, the difference between someone who enters as a friend and someone who enters as a thief. Come!' He pulled her gently through the door and she hoped he didn't feel her slight hesitation.

He pulled her in the dark hall and brushed his lips to hers. Just like ten years ago her arms twined around his neck and the moment of hesitation dissolved.

'Aziz, Light!' she joked as she remembered the boy of ten years past and the shyness of his first kiss.

The shyness was gone and she swallowed under the intensity of his blue gaze, under the light that flooded the hall.

Her heart seized. Did he recognize her? That had been a big mistake and she'd better remember the past was gone.

'The mat and the light filters specialized criminals. There is a camera that deactivates the door if patterns in data would say the thief already knows about the honeypot.'

Was it a questioning tone in his voice?

'They must go down the corridor where cameras analyze every movement. I have the patterns almost figured out. A thief has unique movements that would give him away while a curious visitor doesn't.'

Shelly smiled but made no attempt to move. She knew well she was a thief, although she wasn't sure what she wanted to steal anymore.  The restraint of a woman on her first date shouldn't surprise him so she schooled her features and asked in a bored tone:

'What's a thief's pattern?' He only smiled and whisked her  in his arms.

'For now it's a secret. And no one I know could ever fake it.' He laughed.

                                                                  ***

Shelly sighed and thought of the night that was not as she looked at Dan's prone body. He'd wake up soon and he must be beyond the reach of her boss. She looked at the corridor and shook her head. She was still a thief. The memory of of Dan's arms as he carried her through it filled her with the grief of what couldn't be. Her head jerked and her eyes sparkled as it dawned on her. Shelly had her first charitable thought about her boss and the grueling physical drill he put her through. She strained and lifted Dan then stepped confidently through the hallway.

She dumped him on the bed and flexed her aching arms. She placed a kiss on his lips then turned to leave. A strong hand grabbed her arm and she winced in pain.

'Your boss could just have subpoenaed my lab for the results." His eyebrows united in a baffled frown she hadn't seen in ten years.

'He wanted to, however it would have taken an act of congress to do so. Then...'

Dan's blue eyes pierced hers again and held her stare for what seemed an eternity. She didn't shy, not this time. Then his eyebrows relaxed in recognition.

'Then you offered for the job.' he smiled and he pulled her down for a ten years long awaited kiss.