what he was thinking. It was nearly impossible to tell what was going on beneath that placid surface.
Heath was still flapping his jaws, pulling me out of the recollection. “C’mon Kat, haven’t you wondered why his was the name you blurted out when the immigration people were giving you the third degree? I mean, it was amazing quick thinking on your part, sure. But there had to be a subconscious reason Lucas was the first name you blurted as your supposed soon-to-be fiancé.”
I eyed him and then gave an over-exaggerated shrug. It probably revealed that I was anything but nonchalant about that question. I’d asked it of myself more than a dozen times since it had happened.
Put on the spot, cornered and facing deportation, I’d formed the lie so quickly, so perfectly and apparently, so convincingly that it had saved my bacon. But why Lucas?
There was an answer in there somewhere but I wasn’t willing to dig deeply enough to find it. Not yet.
Instead of indulging in Heath’s speculation, I returned to my mock threats to get him to shut up already. “If not broken bones, then I can always super glue your ass to the toilet seat for sure.”
This time he seemed to take the hint. “You’d do it, too. You’re evil.”
“Chaotic evil, yes. So watch out.”
Heath took a long breath and let it out, looking away.
“What?” I cast him a quick glance under my lashes. “Figuring out how you’re going to take a shit standing up from now on?”
“No. Just dreading how quiet this place is going to be without you.”
My mouth curled up into a sad smile. Poor Heath. He’d been lonely lately. “C’mon, dude. Think about all the hot guys you’ll get to bring home without having to worry about working around the annoying roommate.”
His lips thinned. “Yeah. Well maybe I’ve got some UST saved up myself.”
I waggled my eyebrows at him. “I recommend a sex toy or two. It helps a lot.”
We were both silent as I labeled that last box. I misspelled tchotchkes three times, crossing out each attempt before giving up and just writing it out phonetically.
Straightening, I finally cleared my throat. “What is your honest opinion about that, anyway?”
He was watching me with one dark blond brow raised, his head propped up by the arm resting against the back of the sofa. “About sex toys?”
“About sex.”
He laughed. “I have a very positive opinion about sex, yes.”
I shifted from one leg to the other, trying to find a more careful way around the question but failing, much to my frustration.
“Ohhh. You mean… sex between you and your husband? As in ‘consummating your marriage?’”
I avoided his gaze, wiping some dust off the end table with a rag and shrugging to make the question appear extra casual. “I mean, would it be that bad?”
“I don’t know. Lucas is a really good-looking guy and you’re attracted to him. It wouldn’t necessarily be bad… for het sex, anyway.”
I turned my back on him, still “dusting,” and hesitated before continuing. “That’s not what I meant. I mean…would it necessarily be a bad thing to happen?”
Heath was reflective, and I darted a look at him over my shoulder. He seemed to be contemplating the question before discarding it with a shrug. “How the heck am I supposed to know? I mean… as long as neither of you got emotionally attached. And you both agree that there is an expiration date on the relationship. But you do work together so if it ends badly that could make things miserable for you both, after the fact.”
I pondered that for a moment, resisting the temptation to heave a sigh. It wasn’t like I’d been planning on hooking up with Lucas. Yeah, I’d thought about it more than once. Maybe even wondered what it would be like to feel my skin on his skin, the weight of him on top of me. Maybe even got a hot, tingly feeling when imagining it. But that meant nothing. That was just biology.
I hadn’t gotten laid in almost a year and the dry spell was getting rather old. But this girl had willpower, and she’d power through.
And once I was single again, it would be game on.
The packing had taken half a day. The move took maybe an hour. On Saturday afternoon, Adam’s assistant, Nate, showed up with a truck that was more than twice the size for what I needed. About a half hour later, Adam and Mia were on my doorstep. In fifteen minutes,