Page 16 of Good Enough

She laughed. “Waters, this is Hollywood. Someone is always watching.” While she was speaking, she had placed a hand on his forearm that rested on the table, and she felt a zap followed by a sting of sharp heat from her fingertips throughout her entire body. Kai sucked in a breath and retracted her hand immediately, barely repressing the need to put her burnt fingers in her mouth to soothe the burn.

Wow! What the hell was that? An electric shock?

Both of them froze. Time might have stood still for a few moments, but she wasn’t positive she was even breathing right now. It was as if she had sucked in all the oxygen in the room on her gasp and then held it, fearful if she let it out, she’d never get air again.

Is it possible for someone’s heart to stop beating due to static electricity?

When she regained her power of speech, she stuttered, “I’m s-sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you.” She rubbed the affected fingers. “That was inappropriate of me.”

His eyes went to where she had touched him.

“Must be dry here from the heat. Hopefully, the zap I got didn’t zap you too hard in return,” she offered up in feeble explanation.

Way to go, Serrano. Electrocute the guy the first day on the job.

Then she noticed his pulse in his neck and saw his chest deflate just a fraction with a controlled exhale.

Finally, he spoke. “No,” he said quietly. “You didn’t zap me too hard.”

6

FEBRUARY 9TH-10TH

Waters

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

“Zap” didn’t even begin to cover what he’d just felt. Waters had been tasered as part of his training. He’d been given electrical charges as part of his torture during his captivity.

That was a fucking lightning strike.

While technically his brain understood it was static electricity, the primal portion of his brain felt the jolt as an earth-shattering bolt. Yet, the aftershock was a pleasant hum throughout his bloodstream, warm and pulsing, traveling at quicksilver speed. The points of contact from her hand still felt heated. By the expression on her face, Kubrick was experiencing the same thing.

He watched her try to put her focus back on the computer screen, trying to pretend whatever just happened hadn’t happened. But the truth was, it had happened, and clearly, they were not going to get any more work done tonight because of it. He needed to leave… but it was also the last thing he wanted to do. Physically, he wanted to gather her into his lap, strip her down just enough, and fuck her until she couldn’t speak. However, he needed to get the hell out of Dodge before she upset his equilibrium any further.

Becoming attached to her makes her vulnerable, and I’ve already made that mistake once. I cannot afford this distraction. I really can’t make a play for her, no matter how much I’d like to. Now I’m so fucked up, I’m too paranoid to even think seriously about having sex with someone.

But if he didn’t use sex to stay, coming up with another reason would be more challenging. And he for damn sure didn’t want to leave her alone without anyone watching over her. God said to stick to her, but how was he supposed to do that? Once Steel and the others returned from their projects, it would be easier to watch from afar. With just him? Not so much. At one time, it wouldn’t have fazed him to sleep with her just to be able to watch over her. But not anymore.

Yeah. It would be just because I need to watch her.

“It’s late.” He slid out of the booth seat and stood at the table edge. “I’ll be back in the morning, and we can review what we went over today. I’ll also bring you a signed copy of the contract for Big Bird.”

She smiled up at him, a genuine uptilt of her mouth at his obvious nickname for Stapleton. “Thanks. I’ll be here tomorrow around eight. Keep your badge. I’ll let the guard shack know to expect you so you can come and go as needed.”

He walked to the door, opened it, and stepped outside. He turned back to look at her, one hand on the door jamb, the other on the door handle. “Kubrick.”

“Yeah?”

“Come here.”

Her eyes went wide, and she sat frozen. He let go of the door handle and crooked his finger at her. Mesmerized, she slid out of the booth and walked trance-like the few steps to the door. He looked down at her. “Lock the door after me.”

She swallowed. Nodded. A flicker of disappointment, perhaps? He stepped back and shut the door, waiting to hear the click of the lock. Then he jogged down the steps.

I’m definitely going with disappointed.

Three hours later, he was still camped out in the shadows of the nearest soundstage across from her trailer. Luckily there was a twelve-foot-tall crate and several smaller ones sitting outside the huge bay door to hide him. He could blend into shadows without shelter, but this certainly made it easier. The lot was quiet. About every half hour, a security guard rode through on the golf cart. There must have been three of them at least because he saw the same guard every other time, and he heard both report to a third voice over their radios.

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