Page 41 of Dead Serious with Benefits
I stared at it, and then up to his face. “I...yeah, that would get anyone’s attention...did you call it a cunt?”
His eyes widened slightly. “If it should ever transpire that you meet my mother, do me a favor, and never tell her that word left my lips. I can’t remember the last time I heard that word, let alone used it.”
“Well, getting shocked when you’re trying to wash your hands will make the most gentlemanly individual remember some choice curses,” I said with a frown, taking the bottle and setting it on the counter. I looked, and while there were some scorch marks on his hand, there didn’t seem to be any damage...that I could see. “Are you okay?”
“My heart rate has gone down, and there’s a slight ache in my fingers, but no real damage,” he said, flexing his injured hand.
I stared at the faucet. “How did they even manage that? It could have killed you.”
“And probably would have if I’d touched it directly,” Arlo said dryly.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” I frowned. “I was in there earlier. I gave my face a rinse and everything. Wait, I didn’t turn the light on.”
Arlo looked at the light switch and then down at the faucet. Raising a brow, he flipped the light off, and my eyes widened when he reached out and flipped the water on before I could do more than make a strangled noise and lunge forward to stop him. Yet he touched it without a problem, and the water flowed.
“Hmm...to once again borrow your phrase, interesting,” he said with a sigh. “It seems the blessing of my curse has shown itself.”
It took me a moment to understand what he was saying, mostly because I was still recovering from how boldly he flipped the water on despite the damn thing having almost killed him minutes before. “What, your...death thing?”
“As I said, death happens around me, but nevertome. In fact, things like this tend to happen to me a lot around certain people.”
“What certain people?”
“My family mostly, but that’s probably because I’ve been around them more than anyone else. But the people I work with at the funeral home as well. It’s as if the death that follows me gets directed away from them and toward me, but since it doesn’t want to kill me?—”
“You...what? Get near-death experiences instead?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“So you’re saying this supposed curse targeted me, but for whatever reason, it got distracted and almost killed you instead, but remembered it couldn’t kill you.”
“That’s one theory. The other is that for whatever reason, the curse doesn’t touch some people, but at the cost of my having to take a less lethal version of whatever targeted them.”
“Right...of course. Uh, in any case, I will make that call...immediately. And perhaps I’ll bring in a team of my own to look things over to make sure there aren’t any other death traps around here for either of us.”
Arlo looked amused. “You don’t believe me.”
“I’m not one to believe in curses, bad luck, or anything. From the sounds of it, you were nearly killed, and I don’t want to take any chances because I might have the same?—”
“Luck?”
“Shut it.”
Arlo chuckled. “Hang around me more, and you’ll become a believer. And since I took the shock instead of you, it seems that whatever force is at work in my life thinks you should be around for a little longer.”
“How...comforting.”
“I doubt that.”
I huffed. “You’re right, I don’t find it comforting.”
He snorted. “Well, there’s a bit more excitement for the day. That said, I should be going. I have dinner with a couple of my younger brothers, and don’t like being late. Should I stop by here tomorrow to get the tuxedo?”
“I can have Miles have his people drop it off at your place if you wish to get changed there,” I said. There was no point in having him come here if he preferred to get ready at home after work. “You’ll have to send me your address. I can have you picked up there at around eight.”
“That works for me,” he said, smiling and squeezing my arm. “Thank you for the…interesting time. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“You will,” I promised, apropos of nothing. “A question…”
