Page 3 of Reinventing Cato
She laughed.
“Flattened her. Have you put on weight?”
“No.” Louise gave him one of her looks. “No one caught your eye?”
Cato shrugged. “I expected a couple of nuns to seduce. Or a demon. I draw the line at Elton and Dolly.”Let alone Wonder Woman and Captain America.
“You look good as a priest. Dark and brooding. Sexy as always. Want to dance?”
“Not toDancing Queen.”Cato shuddered.Not to anything with you.He was no longer going to dance to any tune played by Louise. Or Max. Who returned with a bottle of Moët and three glasses. Cato let him pour him a drink, but even after they’d clinked glasses—fortunately, no one tried to make a toast because that would have been too much—he didn’t bring the champagne to his lips.I really must be sickening for something.As long as it wasn’t an illness that stopped him flying back tomorrow, that was fine.
“Drink up.” Louise smiled at him.
The moment it crossed Cato’s mind that something might have been slipped into the drink, he knew he wasn’t going to risk it. Pretty tragic that he couldn’t trust a pair who’d once had his heart. His irritation increased, but he refused to countenance what he suspected might be the matter because those emotions, feelings, thoughts…were dangerous.I don’t care about them anymore. I don’t. I won’t.
Louise put her mouth to Cato’s ear. He felt her exhalation and tried not to react, but goose bumps couldn’t be stopped and he swallowed hard. Max smiled with that predatory-wolf look on his face that Cato had once liked. What were they up to? Cato shifted the chair away from Louise and fiddled with the oversized wooden cross that hung around his neck.God that I don’t believe in, give me strength. Or alternatively, let Louise pretend to be a vampire and I can stick this cross in her treacherous heart and plead temporary insanity. Robert will get me off. Possibly.
“We’ve been thinking,” Louise said.
“Did it hurt, darling?” Cato drawled in an imitation of Max’s voice. “I do hope so.”
Her mouth tightened for a moment before it relaxed into a smile. “You can kiss me better if you like.”
What?Cato turned to Max and kept his gaze fixed on him.Really? Are you really thinking about this?
As if Max had read his mind, he gave a slight nod. Encouragement to his wife or to Cato?What the hell?
“We want you to come and live with us,” Louise said.
It took a moment for the words to sink in. Nine months ago, Cato might have felt very differently about that offer. Possibly. Now his mind started to race with stuff he wanted to say, words he’d held back out of pride.He was mine. You took him. Max wanted us both. You said yes, then you changed your mind. And I’m glad you did because it’s done, over, finished, destroyed, annihilated, wiped off the face of the fucking planet! You’re welcome to each other.
“Won’t Maxie do the dishes?” Cato caught the flash of a frown on Max’s face.
“Cato!” She pouted. “You know we have a dishwasher.”
She had a deficient sense of humour. Another reason to hate her.
“We want you back.” She gave a hopeful smile that she’d no doubt practised.
“No thanks.” Cato twirled the stem of the glass in his fingers.
“You can live in London and commute to Cambridge,” Louise said. “We can choose a new place together. You don’t need to be at the university every day, do you.”
Statement, not question. Cato almost laughed. She thoughtthatwas the issue? He’d been pissed off that she and Max had chosen that flat without asking him what he thought, furnished it without consulting him, but that was the least of it.
“It’s a requirement of being a student at Cambridge that I live no more than ten miles from the city centre.” Cato wanted to hit himself over the head.Just tell them to bugger off.
“So stay in Cambridge a few nights a week. The rest with us.” Louise smiled broadly as if she’d suddenly solved some great puzzle.
“There’s a prospect of me moving to the States,” Cato said before he exploded.
He wasn’t sure either of them looked as surprised as he’d expected them to. Someone must have told them. Now he wished he’d not said anything. Though it wasn’t exactly a secret. Being headhunted by NASA was a big thing and Cato had found himself telling more people than he should have. The job wasn’t his—yet.
“Are you running away from us?” Max asked.
Fuck you and the bitch you rode in on!“Why would I bother doing that?”Yep, that’s exactly what I’m doing, you smart arsehole.
“We want to try again,” Max said. “Equal partners.”
