by Amber Lynn
I made quick work of putting all the groceries in their proper places when I got in the house, and then started making the pizza. For me, cooking was better than any calming gas the tank scientists could create. It was a plus that society felt better about me kneading pizza dough into submission than beating Nate's face for getting me stuck in the middle of nowhere. If I didn't know better, I'd say the gas had worn off.
As soon as the pizza was done, I cut it, put it on a platter and sat it on the dining room table. I really loved that the house came furnished with everything I could want in the kitchen. I didn't know who in the community was in charge of furnishings, but they got a round of applause from me. I was sure I'd miss some of my doohickeys, but the space in the new kitchen couldn't be beat.
At the table, Nate grabbed a slice and asked, "So, are you ready for tomorrow?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. The first step is to blend in, right? My part in the artificial intelligence project is to do computer programming. I've been doing that since I was a kid. Other than issues socially adapting to people I haven't worked with before, I should be fine. I expect it'll be a couple days of settling in before I can really get down to hacking the computer files to find any red flags."
I stopped talking to start munching on my pizza. I could eat red sauce on a pizza, and enjoy it, but the richness of a good alfredo sauce was always preferred.
"If you get flustered dealing with your new coworkers, just imagine them naked. That's the advice I always hear," he said, acting like it was helpful advice.
"Since I haven't really seen a guy totally naked before, that may be a little difficult to imagine. Even if I did, I think my naivet? on the subject would make it a hindrance."
Why would anyone want to think of their coworkers naked? I always knew Nate was a bit of a pervert, but I didn't guess he was that bad. I sincerely hoped he hadn't spent a lot of time thinking of me in a state of undress. I almost laughed at the thought, because I knew without a doubt he had his little fantasies.
Technically, I'd had some weird dreams that may or may not have featured Nate without clothes. I didn't know how accurate the dreams were, and if they were correct, I wasn't going to take the knowledge and try to use it when picturing someone else.
"Come on, never? You told me you and that guy had a physical relationship. That means you did more than kiss, right?" he asked, putting his pizza down, fully intrigued by the conversation.
"Of course we did. That doesn't mean we took all of our clothes off to do it. Both of us were shy and it was just easier to remove the necessary items."
The simple discussion about being prepared for the next day had taken a very uncomfortable turn. I always seemed to find myself in those kinds of situations around him. It was just another reason to put on my list of why he and I should never date.
I guess that needs to be qualified as we should never date in a way I classify as dating. What he'd been doing for a few months, even though he wouldn't admit it, was cohabitating with the woman who'd later be tried for his murder.
In the ninety some days we'd been together, I'd come up with a new way to kill him pretty much every day. I was even kind enough to share a few of the methods with him. My favorite was when I tied him to a spinning wheel and practiced my knife throwing side show act.
"You know, if it would help, I'd be willing to make the sacrifice and allow you to see me in all my glory. I'm sure none of the guys tomorrow will be as wickedly handsome as me, but you can at least get the idea." I didn't think a man had been born who could rival his conceitedness.
"Eww. That's totally not happening. Just eat your pizza and pretend this conversation never happened," I said as I tried to erase the mental pictures forming in my head.
It didn't help that I'd had those dreams of him naked. I hoped it wasn't a premonition of what I'd be dreaming of once I settled into my temporary bed. I needed to wash my brain out as a few thoughts that shouldn't have been in there floated by.
When we finished eating dinner, I took the dishes and headed to the kitchen to clean up. Once they were all in the dishwasher, I decided it was time to investigate the computer fridge. What better way to see what it did than to just start hitting all the buttons.
I found that not only could you do the grocery list thing, but it also had a calendar, calorie counter and a cookbook all built-in. It had a female computer voice, that if activated talked back to me when I asked questions. I asked her name and she evidently liked to be called Tabitha.
I made plans to convince her that she liked Tabby better. Sure, the fridge wasn't anything like the Jetsons', where food was just dispensed when you requested it, but it was more high tech than my standard fridge at home.
After I was done playing, I wandered out to the living room to find Nate watching TV. We'd watched a lot of stuff together as I'd healed, and surprisingly we liked a lot of the same shows.
"Anything good on?" I asked as I plopped down on the sectional next to him. It was way too early to go to bed, and I'd decided to hold off on my reading all the books in the library in search of an antidote for anything I could run into.
For one, it would take energy I was lacking, and two, I was a computer geek, anything medical was a little above my brain power. I probably would've ended up mixing something that turned me green. Not exactly the way I wanted to go to the office.
"Right now, I'm just catching up on the sports news of the day, but we could find a movie or something else if you want," he said, looking over at me.
Since they were talking about golf and that just happened to be my least favorite sport, I said, "Sure, let's find a movie. There's got to be something on a movie channel somewhere. The geeks at the tank have to step away from their labs at some point."
He started scrolling through the different options and we decided on the latest vampire versus werewolves offering. We settled into the couch, getting comfortable. Nate decided it'd be awesome to put his arm around me and give my cheek a kiss. I decided it would be awesome to give him my dirtiest glare.
"What? You never know, someone could be watching us. Did you go through the house and check for video cameras. This is a technology-based town. I wouldn't put it past someone."
"You know I'm not going to be able to sit through this movie thinking I'm being watched," I said as I started staring in the corners and around the light fixture.
"Don't worry. I was just joking. I've already gone around to every room and checked for cameras and listening devices. I didn't find anything, so we're safe. Now, settle back down here and let's watch this movie."
I made it through the movie, but I was still paranoid. "Nate, you said it yourself, this is a technology-based town. Heck, I just got done talking to my fridge a little bit ago. She even has a name. What if they have some kind of camera or other device that your equipment can't pick up? I really don't want to think of someone watching me in the shower."
"My little butterfly, stop worrying. I've been doing this a long time. After the sweep I also set up a signal jammer, so anything transmitting from the house will be scrambled unless we allow it through. They won't see or hear anything."
That made me feel a little better, but I was still worried the brainiacs could somehow get past the scrambler. There wasn't really anything I could do about it, other than burning the house down and building a new one with my own two hands. That was probably a little extreme though, and I decided to put the idea in the back of my mind, just in case I needed it later.
"Do you want to watch another movie or head to bed?" Nate asked, standing up to stretch.
The movie we'd just watched wasn't horrible, but as usual, the sequel didn't live up to the original for me. After watching it, I was left not really wanting to watch anything else. I didn't want to deal with anymore disappointment.
"I want to be on my toes for tomorrow, so I better head to bed. I'll go grab those other pillows and make the divider. Since you're bigger, I'll even give you more space to ensure you don't try to
sneak over the line in the middle of the night." I journeyed towards the second bedroom.
With my shoes off, I enjoyed the heated floors along my way. If Nate was serious about us moving into a new place, I hoped he was taking notes of all the features that would be required to get me out of my apartment.
"That's so generous of you. One of these days those pillows will be gone, though. I'm placing bets on them being a thing of the past by the end of this mission," he yelled as I walked away.
The man had such deluded thoughts sometimes. I grabbed the four pillows from the spare bed and made my way back to "our" bedroom. I pulled down the covers and worked to adjust the pillows just right. If he'd agree to sleep on top of the covers, my actions wouldn't be necessary.
Of course, I didn't really trust that my pillow divider would be enough to keep him on his side, but it was all I had going for me. What I really needed to do was get a big Rottweiler trained to dislike him. Then I'd ask the dog to be the divider.?That would hinder any romantic notions his oxygen deprived mind could come up with.
Once I had the bed situated the way I wanted, I found some sweats to sleep in and headed to the big bathroom to get changed. It was hard not to linger a little in the bathroom. It didn't appeal to me as much as the kitchen did, but the massive size was enough to cause me a few minutes of awe.
I didn't bother looking in the mirror. After spending most of the day on a plane, I knew that what greeted me in the mirror would scare small children. When I was all set, I headed back to the bedroom, where Nate had changed into some shorts and was standing with his back to me, sans a shirt.
"Oh my God," I said under my breath as I stared at his back. In the months we'd been living together, it was the first time I'd seen Nate without a shirt. The hieroglyphic looking symbols on his shoulders weren't new to me, but I didn't think they led to what I was looking at.
His full back was one giant firebird. It had about every shade of orange, yellow and red imaginable. The wings spanned from shoulder to shoulder, with the head centered in the top middle of his back and the tail had five or six long feathers that flowed down to the top of his shorts. It had to be one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.
"It's a phoenix," I stated the obvious.
"That it is," he said, turning around while putting his shirt on.
I wanted to get closer to the firebird and study it. I felt drawn to it in an odd way, but I imagined anyone seeing its beauty felt the same way.
Since I'd first caught a glimpse of the tattoos on his shoulder months prior, I had asked periodically what they meant. So far, it hadn't done me any good, but it didn't hurt to try again.
"Are you going to tell me what the symbols mean yet?" I didn't bother attempting a look to plead my case. I knew it wouldn't do me any good.
"Sorry, my little butterfly, but you're still not ready for those answers. I have a feeling it won't be much longer, though. I actually have been meaning to get something added to these," he said, pointing to his left shoulder. "Remind me when we get back to New York and maybe I'll go see that Terry guy who did your tattoo."
He walked across the room and raised his hand to stroke my cheek. Finishing our usual bedtime ritual, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. With that out of the way, we climbed into bed. It usually took a while for the tingles his lips caused to die down enough so I could fall asleep.
I didn't know what caused the reaction. He claimed it didn't happen with other people, and I wasn't exactly pushing him to test it on other women. Frannie had informed me she didn't feel the static charge just from shaking his hand, so it seemed there was just a weird chemical reaction between Nate and myself. If I got bored in the days to come, I could always check out the books in the library for an explanation.
Falling asleep, I turned my thoughts to what the next day would bring, and how I really hoped I was capable of working undercover without saying anything stupid, like I did on my first mini undercover mission. Thinking about it only made me more sure I was going to screw things up, but worrying wouldn't do me any good, so eventually I moved on to counting sheep.
CHAPTER 5
Pardon me, would you have any mustard on you?
