Page 59 of Cruel Kiss
"Where's the fun in that? I wanted to see how long you'd stand there."
I want to be furious. But there's a laugh caught in my chest and it's got nothing to do with fury.
"This was a mistake," I declare. "I'm going back to bed."
"Okay."
I don't move.
"You're not going back to bed," he accuses a moment later.
"I… might be."
"You haven't moved an inch."
"Maybe I've got very quiet feet."
"You don't. You walk like a bison. It's one of my favorite things about you."
That does it. The laugh sneaks out. I press my hand over my mouth to keep it quiet so I don't wake the kids, and as I do, I hear something on the other side of the door, a shift, the bed maybe. Then his voice is closer, right there, like he's standing on his side of it same as I'm standing on mine.
"Open the door, Calista."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because there are rules. I should know: I'm the one who made them up."
"You did. Beautiful work. Very thorough." A beat. "You know what they didn't cover, though?"
I don't take his bait, but my silence is almost as good as if I'd asked,What?
"They said not a word about whose door gets opened by whom."
I stare at the light under the door.
"You're doing that thing," I whisper, "where you find the loophole and dress it up like it was my idea all along."
"I'm not doing anything. I'm one door down, exactly where you put me, being extremely well-behaved." His voice lowers to a dangerous purr. "You're the one standing in the hall."
He's right. I made all these rules to hold him at arm's length and he honored every one of them, folded up every villain costume I built for him and handed it back, and now, I'm the one out here with my forehead on his door because I can't stand it anymore, because hewon'tbreak.
If anything is going to break tonight, it's going to have to be me.
"I still hate you," I warn, even as my hand goes toward the knob.
"You've mentioned."
"You stole my company."
"I gave it back."
"You put a spy in my house."
"She was very well-qualified."
"You took my mirrors."
