Kate looked up from the case file on her desk and found herself staring right at a grinning Tony DiNozzo. She gasped in surprise. “Tony!” her voice carried that distinct note of annoyance she had perfected since joining Gibbs’ team at NCIS.
“Kate dear,” he intoned in his deep, mellow timbre. With hands planted firmly on her desk, he leaned over her. His body blocked Kate’s view of the office. At any moment Gibbs might stride out of the elevator, cup of coffee in hand, snapping them to attention. She liked her view of Gibbs’ normal pathway unobstructed. “But this,” she thought to herself as she raked her eyes up Tony’s torso to rest on his smile, “isn’t half bad.”
“What is it, Tony?” she asked, trying hard not to let her voice betray her thoughts. If Tony got even a hint that she might look at him in anything other than a professional capacity, all hell would break loose. He would have so much ammo for ridicule he wouldn’t know where to start.
“Who called your phone earlier?” he asked in an almost sing-song tone.
“No one.” Kate returned her attention to the case file. Tony reached over and snatched it from her desk. “Hey!” she shouted as she jumped to her feet.
“Come on, Kate. Who was it?”
Her hands immediately went to her hips, her defensive reaction against her inquisitive co-worker. “None of your business.”
“Kate,” Tony took a serious tone. “You’ve got to tell me. Gibbs’ been up in MTAC all day. We’re not doing anything. McGee’s in chat room right now trying to trick some woman into actually being interested in him.”
“Hey!” McGee interjected from behind his desk. “I am not!”
“They’re only talking to you because they haven’t met you McGeek. Think about that,” Tony called over his shoulder before turning back to face Kate. “So come on. Who was it?’
“Why do you want to know?” Kate racked her brain trying to figure out what she should tell Tony. He would never accept the truth, that the male caller was, in fact, a college friend in DC for a conference who wanted to catch up over lunch. He would press for details, details about an affair that didn’t exist.
Kate gave a mental sigh. Her love life recently was…non-existent. Her last date was nearly three months ago. He had been a loud-mouthed stockbroker cultivating an impressive crop of hair plugs on his forehead. It was the blind date from Hell. She cursed herself afterwards for being desperate enough to even consider going out with a guy she didn’t even know. In the back of her head a low voice moaned, “it’s been so long since you’ve had a man in your life, even Tony’s starting to look good.”
As Tony continued to pry the information from her, Kate felt a minute pull of guilt in her forcing her to admit that Tony didn’t look good just because of her frustration. He’d always looked good. It was a fact she often tried to forget.
“I’m trying to get to know you better, Kate,” he explained, pulling her away from her thoughts. “Co-workers should get to know each other.”
“We’ve been working together for over a year, Tony. I think you know enough.”
“You won’t even tell me where you live!” he exclaimed in defense.
She leaned over and snatched the case file away from him. “That’s because, if you knew, you would actually show up.” She sat back down and pulled her chair up to the desk once again.
“You afraid of me interrupting something?” he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“Not likely,” flashed through her head before she could censure herself.
“DiNozzo, leave Kate alone and get the van. Kate, get Ducky. McGee, come with me,” Gibbs voice filled the office, cutting off any opportunity Kate had to send a barb back Tony’s way. Their boss strode into their cluster of desks, tossed an empty coffee cup into the trash, and extracted his gun from his top desk drawer.
“Got it, Boss.” Tony spun away from Kate’s desk and grabbed his pack before heading for the elevator. Kate picked up the phone and dialed down to the morgue, watching DiNozzo leave. At the elevator he turned and caught her looking. He laughed and gave her a wink. A blush immediately spread across her cheeks, and she had to force herself to keep from taking one more peek.
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