Page 68 of A Labor of Hate
“Thinking about what?”I accused.
Another monstrous boom blasted through the sky, and I shut my eyes.My heart accelerated like it always did during these storms.Dread settled across my shoulders like a familiar wet blanket, heavy and unwelcome.
I scurried to the bed, carefully balancing my plate as I pulled my legs up under me.It was remarkably easier to sit cross-legged without the belly strapped to me.I unrolled my silverware and cast Colt a wary glance.He hadn’t moved, choosing instead to continue studying me like I was some otherworldly specimen.
“I’m going to inhale this like a feral cat who hasn’t eaten in days, and you’re going to be okay with that.”I arched an eyebrow at him, conveying the unspokenor leave now if you have a problem with it.
The corner of his mouth inched upward with the threat of a smile.“I don’t carehowyou eat it, as long as you’re eating.”
I waggled my fork at him, a piece of spiced and saucy chicken already skewered on the tines.“Famous last words right there.”
And right, I was.After one bite, nothing could’ve ripped the delectable piece of divinity out of my hands.The chicken was tender and perfectly seasoned, the mashed potatoes even better than my own—a fact which I would never admit to him, thank you very much—and the beans surprisingly delicious.For being green and vegetable-y and not a potato, that is.
At some point during my feasting, Colt moved to sit beside me on the bed, watching with disgusted fascination.To his credit, though, he hadn’t run screaming yet.
I’d just swallowed the last bite of potatoes when, with another earth-shaking clap of thunder, the lights flickered twice before going out entirely.The alarm clock on the bedside table went dark, too.The house was eerily still.A mausoleum in a tempest.Faint gray light leaked through the blinds, punctuated by bright bursts of lightning, and only the vague outlines of furniture were visible.
The food churned in my stomach, and I stifled a groan.The only thing worse than enduring a thunderstorm was doing so while the power was out.
“That was…impressive,” Colt mused, sounding completely unbothered by this turn of events.“Have you considered entering a hotdog eating contest?”
His question ended in a grunt as the back of my hand connected with his gut.
“You’re hilarious” I deadpanned, gingerly feeling my way through the room to set my empty plate and silverware on the dresser, the closest piece of furniture from my position at the foot of the bed.
In reality, I’d simply conditioned myself to eat as much as possible as quickly as possible, since I typically didn’t have much time to do anything else.And since Gill-bert was the only one around to judge me, I hadn’t thought anything of it.Now that I’d reminded myself how much Colt and Iweren’tanything more than coworkers, whatever self-control I’d been using to pace myself could crawl back where it came from.No sense trying to convince him I was desirable or demure or anything but what I was.
I made my way back to the bed, avoiding the Colt-like shadowy blob on the edge of it.Apparently not enough, though, since my fingers still brushed his as I crawled onto the mattress.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, pulling away even as flames licked up my veins from the contact.
“Why are you afraid of thunderstorms?”he asked, the question bursting from him like he could no longer keep a lid on it.
I considered denying it, maybe brushing him off.But when another thunderclap made my heart stop, I changed my mind.He had eyes.Beautiful, nutmeg-brown ones that saw way too much.And with the power out, the wired listening devices in the house would be blessedly useless for the first time since Gauthier’s thugs installed them.These kinds didn’t have a backup battery, and if they did, the raging storm was loud enough to distort our voices.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me what you were smiling about,” I hedged, scooting further up the bed until I could sit against the headrest.“You know, when you supposedlyweren’tlaughing at my phobias.”
Colt hummed thoughtfully and then—shockingly—he followed me.The mattress shifted and caved with his weight as he crept toward me, the shuffling and faint squeaking continuing until he’d situated himself against the headrest, too.Only a foot away, judging from his shadowy outline.
“You really want to know?”he asked.“It’s not as scandalous as you’re likely imagining.”
I snorted.“You are many, many things, Colt, butscandaloushas never been one of them.”
He didn’t respond for a beat, and, based on the electricity tingling against my skin, I was the lucky recipient of his full attention.
“Would you like me to be?”he asked, so softly I barely heard it over the wind and rain pelting the house.
I didn’t know if he asked out of curiosity or if he’dintendedto send my mind cycling through forbidden fantasies of him, but he’d accomplished it regardless.Maybe it was my own stupidity, maybe it was the fact that—for the first time during our assignment—we were actually sharing the bed our married personas supposedly slept in every night.Or maybe it was a combination of the two, toying with my desires like a puppeteer.Sending the sensation of his lips against me like a phantom’s kiss.
Lightning flashed, and I shook the fantasies away.“I want you to be you, Colt.”I swallowed thickly and rubbed the fabric of my shirt between my fingers.“We have to do enough pretending as it is.”
Another weighty pause settled between us.His familiar scent tickled my nose, tempting in its softness.Its promise of more, if only I’d come closer.
“Last I checked, I drive you mad by being myself,” he finally said, a hint of humor in his voice.
He drove me mad in every conceivable way.Sure, his neatness and routines and other idiosyncrasies frustrated me at first, but I didn’t mind them so much anymore.I almost even…likedthem.Appreciated them.But everything else about him?That was what really got me.
His discipline.His thoughtfulness.The fact that, for being so predictable, he somehow never ceased to surprise me.He was a puzzle I couldn’t solve.Like someone had taken the pieces from three different jigsaws, shaken them up, and left me to sort through them without any photo to show me what the final product should be.
