"Edward Bryant - Flirting With Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bryant Edward)

She shook her head.

"Over there it means serpent. No connotation of something ugly or scaly. Mythic.
The suggestion is one of strength, flexibility, power."

She watched him closely, waiting to see if he was going to turn into some sort
of berserk maniac.

"You're wondering if I'm some sort of serial killer," said the man.

Linda didn't shake her head. The thought had occurred to her, though she knew
rationally that he was probably just an articulate drunk, or perhaps one of the
slightly deranged street people who mixed among the upscale tourists on Paradise
Avenue. He wore jeans with no visibly worn patches or holes. His western shirt
looked pressed. His black leather jacket didn't appear scuffed, and held no
adornment other than a moth-shaped pin on the collar. Then she thought, who
knows what one looks like? He could be a serial killer. He could have
slaughtered hundreds. How do you tell, save by weighing deeds?

"Well maybe I am," he said. "But I'm off-duty for a while. My name is Todd." He
extended his hand.

She took it tentatively at first. His hand was much larger than hers, but his
grip was firm and warm without being intimidating. She admitted surprise to
herself that he didn't offer either the crushing grip or the sensitively limp
gesture she was accustomed to from men. There was heat in his hand, and it
seemed to flow like a live electric current into her own fingers. She was aware,
as she withdrew her hand, that their touching had lasted perhaps a second longer
than it should. By whose standards? the rebellious little voice in her head
said, and then laughed softly. She ordinarily gauged these things by what felt
right. This most assuredly had, and that surprised her.

"I bewilder you," Todd said, half a question, half a statement. "All those
questions in your head will get answers." He cocked his head to one side,
looking down at her, into her eyes. The shadows were too dark; she still
couldn't tell what color his eyes were. "In the meantime, I'm going to ask you
out for a drink. And how about going dancing later?"

"I don't dance," she said automatically.

He laughed. "Don't? Not can't? I don't think you've been dancing in a while, but
I'll bet you could if you decided that was what you wanted."

"Not in a while," Linda conceded. "I can."

"Then you should." Todd turned and gestured down Paradise. "Let's just see what
happens."

Linda felt a pang of caution as she looked at the darkness pooling farther down
the block. "Maybe we should try High Beam."