Page 20 of A Labor of Hate
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at the subtle note of suspicion in his voice.I always knew his opinion of me was low, but thinking I’d managed to blow our cover already was just insulting.
“He’s visiting his parents for a bit.”I dipped my head in Colt’s direction, since he apparently wasn’t going to introduce himself.“Liam, this ray of sunshine is Colt.”
The muscle in his jaw flickered, the only indication of the effect my introduction had.Still a win in my book.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Colt finally said, though the way his smile didn’t reach his eyes betrayed the lack of sincerity.He stretched out his hand for the shake that should’ve happened minutes ago.
Liam, either being a bigger person than me or missing all of Colt’s subtle cues, accepted it without hesitation and grinned.“We’ll have to have you guys over for dinner soon.Welcome you to the neighborhood the right way.”
“That’s sweet of you, but?—”
I elbowed Colt in the side, cutting off his polite refusal.“We’d love to!”
Liam beamed at my response.“Great!We’ll let you guys get settled in and everything first, obviously, but we’ll be in touch.”
“That sounds great.”I reached to get the last box, the one shoved furthest into the depths of the car, when Colt stopped me.
He offered me the box he currently held, his eyes unnaturally flinty and his smile tight.“Don’t worry about that one.I’ll get it for you.”
My brows shot up before I could stop them.I wasn’t sure what he had up his sleeve, but this sort of opportunity likely wouldn’t come again, so I wasn’t about to argue.Even if I really wanted to.Which I did.“Oh.Uh, thanks.”
I took the box back, and Colt sent a suspicious side-eye in Liam’s direction before practically folding himself in half to reach the last one.While it was undoubtedly awkward to bend so much—both because of his height and the amount of ironing his poor clothes suffered—he still didn’t have to do it with a pregnant belly, so I didn’t feel too sorry for him.
We made quick work of taking everything inside, including the immaculately organized boxes in Colt’s car.Despite the fact that—between my shopping spree with Jewel and Colt picking up all of the fabricated photos and documents from the field office—we’d had the same amount of time to pack, he’d managed to sort his boxes by room and priority.And, if I peeked inside, the contents would probably be sorted by color, too.Maybe even alphabetized.How he’d managed to do all of thatandmake the necessary arrangements before starting our assignment, I had no idea.The guy had issues.
I mean, I alreadyknewhe had issues, but this just confirmed it.
I dipped out before the last few items from Colt’s car with the excuse of being “worn out” from all that heavy lifting.Colt, who saw right through my lie, obviously couldn’t argue with his seemingly pregnant wife, which left me free to claim the master bedroom.
Score.
I was halfway through unpacking my new collection of flowy shirts I’d bought with Jewel when the skin on the back of my neck erupted in goosebumps.Sure enough, Colt’s voice came moments later.
“You were getting mighty friendly with the neighbors, don’t you think?”
I smirked to myself, not bothering to look up from my position on the floor.It wasn’t the most comfortable of places to put clothes on hangers, but it sure beat trying to bend over with a watermelon stuffed under my shirt.“Are youjealous, hubby?”
“Hardly,” he scoffed.“I’m only concerned you’re risking our cover.We’re not here to make friends, Lex.”
I painstakingly peeled myself off the floor.It involved a lot more wheezing and rolling than I’d anticipated, and I felt like that one blueberry girl fromCharlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I made it.Who needs dignity these days, anyway?
I straightened my shirt over the bump, acting like I hadn’t just auditioned to be one of those old Weeble Wobbles.“I know this will be a huge shock to you since you’re as neighborly as a leprous cactus but getting to know your neighbors after they help you move in is exactly whatnormalpeople would do.And since we’re trying to blendin…” My words trailed off, letting him use his handy dandy little FBI brain to extrapolate the rest.
His jaw flexed in irritation, his dark eyes panning over the shirts I’d already hung up.“And does flirting qualify as getting to know someone?”
I sputtered for a second, my disbelief overtaking my capability to form words.Is that what he thought I’d been doing with Liam?As much as I’dwantedto, I hadn’t.I’d been so neutral I wanted to scream.
Taking my indignance as a lack of defense, the corner of his mouth edged up into his trademark smirk.
I fumed, placing the latest hanger on the rack with an angrysnick.“Do you even know what flirting looks like, or was that little bit of human trivia left out of your coding?Genuinely, I’m curious.”
“Wow, another robot joke.”He rolled his eyes and leaned against the doorframe.“And you sayI’mthe predictable one.”
I held up a finger.“You arrive at the field office exactly thirty-three minutes early every day.It would be a neat half an hour, but you set your watch three minutes early for some forsaken reason.”I held up a second finger.“You always eat pasta on Mondays, chicken on Tuesdays, beef or sandwiches on Wednesdays, cultural food on Thursdays, and soup on Fridays.”
I threw my hands out to the side in exasperation.“Who eats soup onFridays?It’s clearly a Monday night food.Fridays are for pizza and burgers and something even remotely celebratory.”
His lips twitched with the threat of a smile.But, since this was me he was talking to, of course it never came.“It’s ironic you judge my selections so much, considering you skip lunch more often than not.”
