exited the Den, I overheard a comment about the two “lovebirds” going to “make out.”
Jesus Murphy. Some of these kids were sorely in need of getting their cherry popped. Way to uphold the geek stereotype, dudes.
Lucas didn’t let go of my arm until we’d gone to the same deserted hallway where I’d had my phone conversation—and was, apparently, overheard—yesterday. It was our go-to place for privacy around here. But apparently not a good enough go-to place.
Or too many people knew about it.
But Lucas didn’t stop here, no. He led us to the glass door that opened out to the side parking lot, equally deserted at this time of day as that’s where the maintenance people parked. He pushed us both through the door, waiting until it banged shut before letting me go. It was almost as if he thought I might flee screaming into the horizon.
I kinda felt like fleeing, to be honest. Especially because of the stormy look on his face.
“What the ever-living fuck, Kat?” he ground out between clenched teeth.
I rubbed at a knot of tension between my eyebrows where pain seemed to be blossoming out of nowhere. Which was weird, because I never, ever got headaches. Studiously avoiding his gaze, I stared at the asphalt in front of my feet. “It’s not my fault.”
“The fuck it’s not. You weren’t careful enough and now the beans have been spilled. Everywhere. They haven’t just been spilled. They’ve exploded all over our lives and everything is a shitty mess now.”
Despite his rant, I laughed, unable to suppress the image of a disastrous Mexican restaurant kitchen mishap with his metaphor. I wondered how you said “exploding beans” in Spanish?
“As usual, you aren’t taking this seriously. Why am I not surprised? When I agreed to do this for you, we made rules for it.”
“You made the rules and I’m sorry. I didn’t do this on purpose. I had to give the immigration office your info for the appointment. I had to make that call during business hours because the office is closed during the scant few hours that I’m not working or sleeping. I made that call right over there.” I pointed just inside the glass door we had exited. “Since I practically live here, there was no other option.”
He shook his head. “Well obviously you weren’t careful enough. Now—”
I held up my hand to stop him. “Is this productive? You talk all the time in our meetings about not wasting time with who or what is to blame. That we should just focus on working the problem and getting it cleaned up. So how do we clean up the exploded beans?”
He put his hands on his hips and shifted his stance from one leg to the other. From the look on his face, he was none too pleased about having his own words repeated back to him to shut him down. But it was true. We had a massive problem on our hands and no time to shout at each other about whose fault it was.
So I folded my arms, squared my shoulders and waited for his reply.
Chapter 3
Lucas
I tried to ignore how her sweater tightened over her chest and emphasized her perfect boobs when she folded her arms like that. I tried.
And failed. And this only served to piss me off more and make me more exasperated with myself. Even at a time like this, I couldn’t ignore how hot Katya was. My now, not-so-secret wife.
A wife I couldn’t see naked or touch. Or take to bed.
A wife I was currently yelling at in the back parking lot where hopefully no one could overhear us.
It was like I was stuck inside some insane marriage nightmare. In this case, I was forced to endure all the disadvantages of being married without any of the advantages—like, say, regular sex with a gorgeous, naked woman.
I’d been on the damned marriage merry-go-round once before. At least that time, I got sex. Until the end, of course.
This time, I was like the cat who could never get to that singing canary up on the pedestal as she sang in her gilded cage. I could only watch her from afar and drool. Jesus. Even in my head, I sounded like a creeper.
“Fine,” I said, my fist closing at my side as I willed myself to stop thinking about what she might look like naked. “Fine. Let’s examine this gigantic mess you’ve just created for both of us. Because now, apparently, you’re moving in with me?”