Page 56 of The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold
“Ster—” King started, but Alex was launching herself at him. It was a blur of cold water and hot skin as Alex smothered his mouth with her lips and the words—
“Shut up and kiss me.”
King knew what was happening.Someone was coming—they had to be. Because this wasn’t a kiss—it wasa cover—a pretense. A ruse.
But the feeling of Alex’s wet skin against his was real—the feel of her legs around his waist. They were almost weightless in the water, and King gave in to the feelings he was too tired to deny anymore. King had been lying his whole life, but the lies he told in that moment were to himself.
She was back.
She was there.
She was his.
Her lips parted under his. Tongues seeking, hearts pounding, chests rising and falling and—
“Of course, this is my personal favorite. I tell all our lovers that— Oh my.” Flora’s flashlight froze as it swept across the pond. King didn’t have any doubt what they were seeing.
Alex’s arms around his neck, wet hair and flushed skin and two people so tangled up in each other they might drown—they could drown and never even notice because, in a way, they had already gone under.
“Ooh!” Alex turned, pressing her (very naked) chest into King’s (very naked) chest. She looked so modest and demure and... caught. She looked caught and oh so guilty. It was all he could do not to grin because no one did that better. No one did anything better, and part of King hated that he’d never told her.
Alex glanced back over her shoulder at Flora and the two maintenance guys who seemed to have the good sense to look shocked.
King brought a hand to the back of Alex’s head and pressed her tighter against him. These jerks didn’t deserve to look at her—leer at her. They didn’t—
“Well.” Flora let out an awkward giggle. “It seems the falls are... occupied.”
“Well, you said we should make ourselves at home,” King reminded the woman, and he felt Alex sink against him. Like she was suddenly trusting and soft and sweet. Like she felt... safe. “Now if you’ll excuse us.” The look he shot at the maintenance guys was a little harder than it needed to be, but he didn’t care. Alex was naked in his arms and no one was going to leer at her. Not even King himself.
“I’ll let you two...” Flora trailed off as if she couldn’t find the words. “I’ll see you later.”
King listened to their footsteps fade into the chorus of birds and animals and the whistle of the wind in the trees until the only sound was Alex’s heart pounding against his.
“I think...” he started, but he didn’t want to say that it was over, they were safe, she should slip out of his arms and out of the water and away from that moment that felt suspended somewhere out of time.
“I think it’s over,” she said instead.
And King just stood there, trying to forget that it was true.
***
They were both silent as they crept back to the bungalow, clothes slightly askew because nothing ever fits right on wet skin. They both needed hot showers and sleep and some kind of Plan B, but at least they weren’t talking when they saw Flora sitting on a big, flat rock near the edge of the path, waiting.
“Are we in trouble?” King asked, but she pursed her lips and pushed the words away.
“Don’t be silly. I’m not waiting for you.” (She was totally waiting for them.) “I’m just an old woman.” (She wasn’t old.) “Who likes to sit out under the stars sometimes. And think. And remember.”
“I’m going to go...” Alex gestured to the bungalow and the shower and anywhere away from him. With any luck, she’d be in bed, pretending to sleep by the time he made it back.
“You know...” Flora’s voice was soft. “...when you crawled off that plane eight years ago, I thought I’d never seen two people who needed to be locked in a room naked together more than the two of you. In fact”—she got a mischievous glint in her eye—“I considered it...” Flora looked up at King, eyes twinkling in a way that hinted at some deeper understanding that made him wonder if that place might have a little magic after all. “Now I get the feeling that you tried that.”
There were no warning bells, but King heard them all the same. Flashing lights and blaring sirens screamingDANGER, DANGER.
There are some things spies just don’t admit. Especially to themselves. But all King could do was look up at the stars and whisper, “It wasn’t enough.”
***
Five minutes later, King was slipping into the outdoor shower and turning it fully cold. He wanted to clean off, wake up. Snap himself back to the reality and the mission because King wanted his life back.His rules and his protocols and his walls. He didn’t need the CIA, and he sure as hell didn’t need her.
