Page 82 of The Marriage Narrative
“Are we skipping work today?” he asked.
“It was a premeditated last-minute decision.” She nodded to her camera pod. “They finally gave up on clicking at me.”
“Clicking?”
“You know, because they’re not allowed to talk to me. If you can, please make sure they don’t get in trouble. They tried to do their job. I just didn’t feel like listening.”
“I don’t know, actually.” He frowned. “Nora, what is she talking about?”
“Nora. Oh, that’s much better than Honey Ginger.”
The Nora in question pressed her lips together until they disappeared. She hesitantly reached into her pocket and gave him the small silver device.
He stared at it in his hand before pressing it once. “How long have they been using this?”
“Since the beginning. Why?”
“Why?”His eyes flashed. “Why didn’tyousay something?”
“What was that going to do?” She rolled her eyes to ask him to stand down and rested her head on his shoulder, inhaling like an addict getting her daily husband scent fix. “It’s fine, Jordan. Don’t worry about it.”
When she tried to take it from him to give it back to Nora, he snatched his hand away and slipped it into his pocket. He breathed through his nose, like an angry bull getting ready to charge.
“Jordan—”
“I heard you. It’s fine.” His jaw tightened as he nodded toward the pool. “Are you going to get in?”
“I don’t know how to swim.”
“That’s not what I asked. I’ll be right back.”
Jordan
He returned about ten minutes later with inflated pool floaties and—
“Shorts!”
Zinnia’s gleeful laughter was the only thing magical enough to make him ignore how fucking furious he was. Heneededto focus on her right now.
“I think your thighs give me cuteness aggression,” she mused. “I think I want to bite them.”
“Go for it.” He kissed the top of her head and found her pouting afterward. “What? You didn’t honestly think I’d tell you no.”
“You could’ve.”
“Not happening. You look at me and my self-respect disintegrates. You can do whatever you want to me.” He tossed the lounger and donut chair into the shallow end of the pool.
“Is that so?” She began hitting the sunscreen bottle against her palm.
“On second thought, no. I’m good on that specifically.”
“Sit down. Now.”
Jordan froze as a shiver ran through him from her tone. Two weeks of almost no touching had left him starving—he sighed for show, trudging over to her. “Your wish is my command.”
“It better be,” she joked.
He sat with his back to her, expecting a sensuous massage. Maybe even a little flirty banter to top things off.
