Authors: Marianna Roberg
She opened her eyes and fixed them on the scene across the room. "Alex" and "Lisa" had disappeared beneath the desk. A few more moments, and the director said, "Cut!
"
♥♥♥
They did the scene three more times, from different angles. Finally, the director was satisfied, and Colin left the set with Jaina, supposedly to freshen up.
Back in the makeup trailer, as Jaina handed him some mouthwash, he asked, "What did you say t
o Rebecca?"
Jaina waited until he had the mouthwash in, then said, "'Fall in a hole and die.'"
Green mouthwash splashed in the sink as Colin spluttered. "You said
what
?"
"Don't worry, she didn't understand me."
He shook his head and sighed. It was a very good thing it was over. Otherwise, there was no telling what else Jaina would do.
Until next week, that was
.
Chapter Nineteen
Jaina's quiet in the car on the ride back to her brother's house that night disturbed Colin.
"Plotting murder?" he asked.
She looked up, startled. "What? No. No, I was, um... thinking."
"Do I want to know?" he asked.
Jaina surprised herself by not blushing as she said, "It had to do with you and hot fudge."
Colin found himself liking that thought. "Oh, really?"
"But it has to wait," she sighed. Then she groaned. "And I have to schedule an appointment with an OB/GYN."
"I take it you don't want to go?"
She shot him a look. "I hate the OB/GYN's. Those speculum thingies are evil. They're like... salad tongs of doom."
He had to laugh, though he didn't know what they were, exactly. "I can go with you, if you'd like."
That she blushed at. "Uh, no, that's okay, I'll, uh... I'll get Teniel to go with me."
"All right."
Jaina was silent for a moment, then said, "Colin? I was wondering... We'll have to tell my family, and yours, about us eventually, but... I was wondering what you were thinking about it."
Colin kept his eyes on the road. Visibility was reduced due to the lightly falling snow. "I thought maybe we'd keep it just between us for now. I've been very... well, I don't reveal a lot to people, you know, so it's..."
"I understand. And I agree. For now, it's just us." Jaina frowned. "I certainly don't want
Rebecca
knowing."
Colin sighed. "I don't know why she was being so... rude to you today."
Jaina smiled ruefully. "I probably didn't help matters any. I was kind of nasty right back."
"You aren't... going to do anything to her, are you?"
She laughed. "No, no, I'm not. I know she's just doing her job. None of us can help it that her job involves faking sex with
my
lover."
He glanced at her as they pulled up in front of the house. "I like the sound of that."
"You do, huh?" Jaina smiled.
They got out and he walked with her to the door. Jaina unlocked the door, then turned to Colin. The sheltered porch hid them from view from all directions save the house across the street, and Jaina knew those people were on vacation. She reached behind and pushed the door open.
Looking up in silence for a moment, Jaina then said softly, "Stay with me."
Colin p
ulled her into his arms. "Jaina, it would take all nine Ringwraiths and the Four Horsemen to make me leave."
The door shut behind them
.
♥♥♥
Inside the house, Jaina reached over and flipped the light switch. To her dismay, nothing happened.
"Power's out,
" Colin said, moving into the living room. "Lights in here don't work, either."
She made a face, then said, "And I don't know where the flashlights are. Well, I know where
one
is."
Jaina found the stairs and went up to her room. Colin followed. He was able to see a lot from the moonlight through the window, but it wasn't enough for anything more than the vague outlines of anything.
There was a rather distinctive noise, a flash of green light, and a steady, two-pulse hum. He burst out laughing.
"You're kidding!"
Jaina help up the Luke Skywalker lightsaber replica and shrugged. "Hey, it works. Now we can find where Teniel keeps the candles."
The plastic blade of the lightsaber connected with her desk. The sound of lightsabers crashing went with it. Colin laughed again.
"Yes, it makes sounds," Jaina grabbed the handrail as they went down the stairs. "Your stairs are highly unsafe. Big, gaping hole, free-standing glass panel, and no handrail."
"I know, I should install one." Colin touched her shoulder as he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. "You find the candles, I'll see about dinner."
Her whole face, not just her eyes, was green in the light. "Power's off and it's an electric stove. What are you going to fix?"
"My specialty," he said with a grin she could barely see. "Delivery. Where d'you keep the phone book?
"
♥♥♥
Fortunately, Teniel was very fond of candles, so they were everywhere. Jaina put an assortment of candlesticks on the table and sitting side by side, they had Chinese food by firelight. Colin had ordered something with lots of vegetables in it. Jaina had sesame chicken and sweet and sour pork, with sweet rice.
Colin had chopsticks, Jaina was using a fork. He kept eyeing her.
"I'm not using chopsticks," she said.
"Don't you know how?" he asked, correctly guessing why she couldn't.
"I'm not very good at it."
He handed her a set of chopsticks. "Here, I'll show you."
Colin demonstrated the proper form, then one of the chopsticks fell from his fingers, hitting the table. Jaina snickered.
"Yes, I can see I'm going to learn a lot from you, Mr. Miyagi," she deadpanned.
"Oh, quiet," he said, acutely embarrassed.
Jaina tried to hold her chopsticks the way she'd been taught. Colin apparently though she was doing something wrong, because he reached over to correct her, his fingers brushed hers, and Jaina dropped her chopsticks. One bounced off the edge of the table and onto the floor, the other flipped out of her hand as she grabbed for it, and landed point-down in Colin's rice bowl.
For several seconds, they stared at it, then both started laughing.
"Such talent," he murmured.
"Shut up, Pierce." Jaina rolled her eyes and picked up her fork.
Colin used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of chicken and held it up to her lips. Jaina watched him as she took it. His eyes darkened. Her breathing quickened in response.
She put down her fork, took his chopsticks from his hand, and stuck them in his bowl. Then she left her chair and climbed onto his lap, facing him.
He had a bit of sweet and sour sauce just below his lip. Jaina very slowly licked it away. A tremor ran through him.
Jaina hesitated just millimeters from his mouth, and drew back. Colin let out a shuddery sigh.
"You're learning, grasshopper," he breathed.
"Good teacher," she replied.
Picking up the bowl of pork, Jaina offered him a morsel. Eyes never leaving hers, Colin bit down on it. A bit of sauce dribbled on his chest, where his shirt was unbuttoned.
Jaina lifted one brow, then bent her head and drew her tongue over his skin.
"Jaina," he groaned, breathless.
The next bit dropped on his shirt. Jaina, without comment, unbuttoned his shirt and dropped it on the floor.
Colin knew they were entering very dangerous territory, had known, in fact, since the moment he'd attempted to help her with her chopsticks, but he was helpless to stop her, or himself. Once had definitely not been enough. That thought brought forward a memory of a chip commercial he'd seen in America once...
Jaina stopped when Colin giggled. "What?"
"Nothing," he said, voice strangled.
"Okay." Jaina dipped her finger in the sauce and drew a line of it over his collarbone, following with her tongue. His comment was not fit to be repeated.
"Bad boy," she murmured.
"More than you know," Colin said.
That made her give a small laugh. "We could both be very bad and ignore the doctor's orders..."
He sighed. "Tempting as the thought is, we'd better not."
Jaina pouted.
"That's not working. Really, it's not." It was very difficult to protest when Jaina was drawing designs on his shoulder. "Jaina..."
"I heard you."
"Are you trying to kill me?"
"No..."
Colin confiscated the bowl of sweet and sour pork. "Is there something
in
this?"
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Of course not."
He sighed. "I've created a monster."
Her laugh was low and husky.
Colin placed his hands on her shoulders. "Jaina, I mean it. We're not going to. Not for another-" he checked the light-up display on his watch "-twenty-two hours. Okay?"
She reluctantly acquiesced and slid off his lap. "So you decided Doc Grey meant seven o'clock?"
He laughed ruefully. "Jaina, it has to be. Neither of us will last until Sunday morning."
"Well, we could..." Jaina eyed him. "You'd just have to be on the other side of the planet."
"Me? Why would
I
have to go?"
"Because I can't leave the country until I've got permanent residence here. And they're taking their sweet time in processing my application."
He was surprised. "I thought you were here on a visit VISA, and then a work VISA. You've applied for permanent residence? When did you do that?"
"A couple of weeks ago." Jaina used her fork to spear a lemon slice out of his bowl. "I kept trying to tell myself this move was only temporary, but I know now that it's not. I feel I belong here."
Colin smiled. "That's good for me, then, isn't it? Otherwise, you'd have to move back to the States in September."
"Ha. Right. Well, yeah, I'd either have to get another job, or I'd have to move, and I really don't want to leave." Jaina reached over and grasped his hand. "Especially now."
They finished their meal in comfortable silence, then retired to her room, where Colin fell into an immediate, exhausted sleep.
Jaina lay with his head pillowed on her breast and watched the snow fall, finally sure that her decision to stay was the right one.
Chapter Twenty
The bed beside Jaina was empty and the room was bright with light reflected off the snow when she woke. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and looked around. The bedroom door was open, which meant Colin had ventured out. She couldn't think why; the house was freezing with no heat.
A moment later, there were footsteps on the stairs and Colin came in, wearing his sweater from the other day and his pants. He was barefoot, and Jaina thought it was a very appealing look.
"Power's still off," he said. "And the only thing in the refrigerator that doesn't require cooking is the ice cream."
"Too cold for ice cream," she said.
"That's what I thought. So... I figured we could go over to my place for a while."
Jaina sat up, pulling the quilt higher. "That sounds good. I assume you'll have hot water there."
"Should. I tried calling, and the machine picked up, so there's power."
"Yay." Jaina reached out and grabbed his hand. "C'mere."
Colin landed on the mattress with enough force to almost bounce Jaina off the bed. He grabbed her and for a moment, they both giggled. She reached up and lightly brushed at the short, dark hairs that fell just a bit over his forehead. As she stroked his cheek, he turned and kissed her palm.
In that moment, the reality of the last forty-eight hours hit her, and a well of emotion rose within her.
"Are you really here?" she whispered. "It's seemed impossible for so long, I almost can't believe it."
"I'm here. Believe me, it's just as strange for me." He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I've been going insane since that night in the club."
"What night in what club?"
Colin froze. He hadn't meant for that to slip out. He figured he'd better tell the truth "Um. It was before we met. I was at a club, and I was sitting by myself in one of the rooms, and you walked in. You weren't even aware I was in there."
Jaina frowned, puzzled, trying to remember. Then it hit her. That night, when she'd been dancing by herself, and though someone had been watching her. "That was
you
?!"