"I'm still 'ace' after what I just said? I'm glad, Clee. 'Ace' is ever so much nicer than 'chum.'"
"Ace. The top of the deck. You are, and always will be."
"As for meaning it, I wish I didn't." Ready for bed, Belle was much more completely and much less revealingly dressed than during her working hours. She slid into bed beside him, pulled the covers up to her chin, and turned off the light by glancing at the switch. "If I thought anything could ever come of it, though, I'd do it if I had to pound myself unconscious with a club. But I wouldn't be here, then, either—I'd scoot into my own room so fast my head would spin."
"You wouldn't have to. You wouldn't be here."
"I wouldn't, at that. That's one of the things I like so much about you. But honestly, Clee—seriously, screens-down honest
