Page 50 of A Labor of Hate
“Pity.”Liam winked at me.
He winked!Either he was a natural flirt, or he didn’t seem to notice my belly and the ring on my finger.I was going to go with “naturally flirtatious.”Either way, his action sent a fresh blush into my already smoldering cheeks, but, oddly enough, the butterflies I should’ve gotten felt more like boiling tar in my stomach.
Colt stiffened beside me before relaxing.Weird.
Colleen’s lips pulled up onto a coy smile.“I agree.It certainly would’ve livened my evening right up.”
Okay, ew.I didnotneed that visual.Like, ever.I think I needed to borrow some of Colt’s bleach and scrub my eyes.
Why did I ever agree to come over for dinner?
Seeing my discomfort, Colt’s own seemed to melt away.His shoulders relaxed, a too-familiar smirk lifting one corner of his lips.He didn’t think coming was a good idea in the first place, and now he was being proven right.
Not if I could help it.I wasnotabout to spend my evening watching him gloat from across the room.It took a special skill set to do so without saying a single word, but he’d perfected it.
I steered the conversation into safer waters, asking Liam about his construction job, Colleen and Joseph about their other kids.And when they talked about what a joy babies are, I didn’t even break down or have another existential crisis.Go, me.
I still didn’t know where I stood on the whole “to have or not to have kids” spectrum, and I didn’t want to think about that right now.So, I listened with removed interest, imagining I was their therapist.
We played games after dinner, which was surprisingly fun.Colt and I were on the same team for charades, which should’ve gone horribly.Instead, we left the others in the dust.It was strange as all get-out.But then Colt wiped the boards with us inScattergories, and balance was restored.
I was going to consider the evening a success until Joseph and Colleen led Colt downstairs to get feedback on their filing system for her scrapbooking and genealogy hobbies.Presented with the opportunity to inflict his organizing system on more unsuspecting victims, Colt would likely be occupied for a while, which was fine by me.
This left Liam and me alone upstairs, since I’d rather eat sawdust than pretend to be interested in the filing system.I made myself useful, clearing away the last of the glasses and starting in on the dishes, and Liam joined me, drying as I washed.
I wouldn’t deny being this close to him set my heart bumping against my chest.I was a simple woman who hadn’t had a lick of romance in months and months, okay?When I got to wash dishes next to a hot lumberjack, I got excited.So, sue me.It’s not like I’d do anything to blow our cover.
We chatted easily for a few minutes until Liam set his towel down out of the blue.I slowly set down the dish I was washing and turned off the water, caught off guard by his sudden change in mood.
He pinned me with his gaze, stepping a little too close to be casual.“Are you happy, Lex?”
I took a step back, trying to maintain a socially acceptable amount of personal space between us.“What do you mean?Of course I’m happy.”
He took another step toward me, and I took another step back, only to hit the counter.Drat!I was trapped.Sort of.Without breaking any social norms by having a physical altercation with one of our dinner hosts, anyway.
“In your relationship.Are you happy?”
“I—” How did I answer that?It wasn’t a real relationship to begin with, not that he knew that, so how could I be happy?I’d be happy if we succeeded in taking Gauthier down.But that’s not what I needed to say.“Yes, I am.”
“Really?”He tucked a stray curl behind my ear, closing in even more.Rather than turning my blood to fire and sending electricity arcing up my skin, my stomach pitched until dinner threatened to make a reappearance.“Because I would treat you right.”
I didn’t doubt that one bit.But was he coming on to me, a married and obviously pregnant woman for all he knew—while my husband was in the same house?
“I can show you a good time,” he purred, leaning down until his breath tickled my ear.“Something your husband doesn’t seem like the type to know how to do.”
The attraction I’d felt toward him solidified into a brick of dread that plummeted down my throat.This was painfully, horribly real.My crush was a complete tool who was offering to be my mistress.Had I not been undercover as Colt’s pregnant wife, I might have taken him up on an offer for a date.But this?No.Freaking.Way.
I put my hand to his chest, stopping him from moving any closer.“Liam, I’m happily married.I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding someone else who can be what you’re looking for.”
“You.What I want is you.”His eyes, which I’d been so enamored with before, now resembled icy lakes more shallow than the man himself.“Can you say the same of Colt?”
“I can say that Colt wouldneverhit on a married woman,” I hissed, “which is apparently more than I can say for you.”
Even when I wasn’t particularly pleased with him, I knew Colt had more integrity in his meticulously shined left shoe than Liam had in his whole body.
I attempted to step to the side, only for Liam to block my escape with an arm leaning against the counter.
“Don’t pretend you don’t want the same thing, Lex.”
