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want on your pizza?”
    The first thing that came to her lips was ‘um’, but she fought it off valiantly. “Pepperoni’s fine.” It was difficult to screw up pepperoni pizza, not impossible, but the odds were long. Anything more complicated increased the risk, and most people from regular pizzerias had no idea what a heart of palm was, much less how to cook with it.
    “Well, you’re easy!” he said on a laugh as the car engine died.
    “And I think you don’t know me well enough to make such a sweeping generalization!” she responded immediately, sending them both into giggles. “Okay, well, when you’re done, come on by. I’ll be here. Park in back and I’ll let you in the door off the alley.”
    “I’m refraining from making a comment about ‘back door action’.” She could tell he was still tickled and feeling as silly as she was.
    “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. I don’t know you well enough for that yet, either.” When she looked down and found herself twirling the end of her braid between her fingers, she started. She was, apparently, in full-on sixteen-year-old-girl mode.
    “I’ll take heart that you inserted ‘yet’ into that sentence and see you in a few.”
    Nahia said her goodbyes and scrubbed a hand down her face as she dropped her head in shame. This was going to a long damn night.
     

     
    Nico checked the numbers on the door before he kicked it instead of knocking. Her store was easy to find from the front, much more difficult when cruising up the alley. He had just juggled the folder with his findings, pizza, and six-pack of longnecks to one hand to knock properly when the door popped open.
    In the back of his mind, Nico had somewhat convinced himself she was not that breathtaking, and his reaction to her was merely due to adrenaline and heightened circumstances. Seeing her now, though, proved that part of his brain was an idiot. Her hair was still braided, and even the streak of white chalk on her cheek couldn’t diminish the radiance of her smile and sparkling eyes.  Today she was in a close fitting Pink Floyd t-shirt from Dark Side of the Moon, and another pair of jeans that were old enough to work full-time. What was curious, though, were the bare feet with silver-painted toenails he saw peeking out from beneath their hem.
    “Bare feet?” He couldn’t imagine working a full day without shoes, but then, it wasn’t his shop and they weren’t his rules.
    She shrugged and let him pass into the back storage area. “You caught me finishing up for the day. Just little odds and ends.”
    After she closed and locked the door behind him, he noticed the cavernous feel of the room, with a single fluorescent light overhead and boxes labeled and stacked high, making her nearness that much more evident. She smelled like heaven, a mix of oranges and maybe jasmine, and if his hands hadn’t been full, he would have validated his theory about the softness of her hair. He also saw the chalk on her face matched that on her palms, the floor just inside the threshold of the door, and a random palm print on the back of her thigh. “You got an ant problem or something?”
    She tilted her head with her eyes narrowed until he looked at her hands and at the door, then she blinked and smiled nervously. “Oh, yeah, not so much. Chalk is good for keeping lots of things out besides ants.”
    He looked at her in confusion, but she didn’t elaborate. He could see the lights on in the storefront, and the curiosity he’d squelched when she’d mentioned it the night before when they’d agreed to meet came roaring back in full force. “May I?”
    Whatever thought she’d been lost in vanished and she snapped to. “Of course! This way.” She took the beer from him and stuck it in the fridge as they emerged behind the white marble countertop.
    The store looked like he’d expected, part head shop, part wizard’s tower; all it was missing was the dramatic music. And while he expected the