Page 14 of Afraid to Hope

“Wa-alaikum salam,”they returned in unison, getting to their feet.

Emmet walked him to the door. “Drive carefully. Be safe, Rafiq.”

When Emmet returned to the silent conference room, Natasha was rifling through the contents of her tote after having moved to the opposite end of the conference table from Bane, who leaned back in his seat with closed eyes. Emmet cleared his throat. Bane opened his eyes and Natasha stopped what she was doing.

“Well done, you two. Now I want you to take some time to get to know one another better before becoming roommates this evening, find some common ground. You are among our best contractors. It is imperative that you work amicably. Get your things and come with me.”

Natasha and Bane trailed him to a small and empty, windowless office. He flipped on the overhead light. “I’ll be back later. Until then, work on your relationship. Work on the wedding details. I’m going to ask you about one another, details that weren’t in your bios.”

Natasha plopped into the large armchair behind the desk, leaving a smaller uncomfortable-looking, armless chair for Bane. She smiled as the chair swiveled.

“Uh, Nat,” he said, changing how he addressed Natasha as she glared at him. “Natasha, don’t you think we should switch chairs? I’m the bigger person here.”

“No.”

“I see. You’re trying to put me in my place. Fine.” He smiled dangerously. “I’ll play, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Let’s start. Favorite color. Red,” he said confidently.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Lucky guess.”

“Nope. Luggage. Toenails. Lipstick on those fucking beautiful lips of yours.”

“It’s vermillion,” she fired back, masking that she was warmed by his compliment.

“Whatever. It’s in the spectrum of red.”

Natasha regarded him thoughtfully. “Blue.”

“Nope.” He laughed. “I expected you’d try the safe choice.”

“Safe choice?”

“Blue. It’s the color most people prefer. But we’re not most people, are we? You get two more guesses.”

“You’re making up the rules as we go. Black,” she stated, getting sucked into their game.

Bane threw his head back, laughed, and then sat on the corner of the desk, almost next to her. “Black isn’t a color; it’s the absence of light.”

Interesting answer.“It is when I mixed all the paint or crayons together. So only one more guess?”

“Yep.”

“Tell me.”

“You don’t like to be wrong. Or lose.”

Natasha pushed back into her chair and grew still. “You’re so wrong. You don’t know me.”

“No, I don’t, but I’m trying to. And I am so right. Your body language just gave you away,” he announced, watching her. “To save you from lying to me, I’ll give you the answer. This time. Green.”

“I would not have lied.”

“Lie two. As my partner, you’ve got to do a convincing job. You also have to be able to adlib seamlessly.”

“Do you lie well?”

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