The silence spun out until Bull spoke up. “I believe that this is as much an offer of mating as it is of new employment, Mister Joe.”
“I believe you’re right, old friend,” he answered, his gaze still locked with hers.
“So what do you think?” she asked softly, the faintest hint of vulnerability creeping into her voice.
He cleared his throat. “What you’re proposing sounds like a dangerously cozy relationship between the BAA and BCT.”
“I know. But cozy isn’t always bad. It might even be kind of nice.”
“It might at that,” he said, feeling a rush of heat. He wanted to say yes. She wanted him to say yes. But if he just gave in, would she respect him in the morning? He tried to adopt a severe tone. “I’m sure you’re aware that there would have to be very strict ground rules for something like this to work.”
She arched one dark eyebrow. “Like a treaty, you mean?”
He nodded. “Something like that.”
“You are both exceptionally good at maintaining a treaty,” Bull offered. “This I know to be quite true.”
“Listen to him,” Serena said in a soft, hopeful voice. “He’s very wise.”
Joe shot the big alien a look, then snorted. “He’s a wiseGuy, that’s what he is.”
His inadvertent bad joke broke them both up. Laughing made it impossible to maintain the solemn faces they were hiding behind.
“I do not believe I understand what is so humorous,” Bull said, sounding amused anyway.
Joe came around from behind his desk. “Come on, let’s all go finish that tour Frank screwed up, and we’ll explain it to you.” He offered Serena his hand.
She took it.
He hadn’t agreed to her proposal yet, but they both knew he would. So with that gesture began the first stages of negotiating a pact that would remain sacred and unbroken for decades.