Free Adelaide Upset by Penny Greenhorn

provoke some sort of
response.
    He shrugged.
    “ Francesca said I should,”
I rambled, trying to elicit a reaction, any reaction. “And since
she also said that every man keeps a condom in his nightstand I bow
to her wisdom.”
    “ Francesca is good at
getting you to do things you don’t want to,” he commented mildly
while unpacking his duffel.
    “What’s that mean?”
    “ All of your stories begin
with ‘Francesca made me’ or ‘Francesca talked me into.’ But you
don’t listen to anyone, with the exception of a few select friends
who you go to great lengths to make happy.”
    I’d been working up to a
big hissy fit and then he had to go and be all nice. Shit, I’d just
have to start all over. I flopped back on the bed, emitting a sound
of frustration.
    “ Something tells me you’re
not in the mood for a naked shower,” Lucas said, dropping an
armload of dirty clothes into the hamper.
    I jerked upright,
determined to cut the drama and be direct. “I’ll give you a naked
shower, just as soon as you tell me about this,” I said, crossing
the room for the window seat. I rummaged around, digging between
boots and under blankets until I found the picture. I yanked it out
with a flourish, slapping it to his chest on my way back to the
bed.
    He glanced down at it briefly, not a bit
surprised, but then, what did I really expect? “Does this picture
make you insecure?” he asked.
    “No!” I said a bit too shrill. A pause.
“Maybe,” I admitted.
    “Some men enjoy a jealous girlfriend, I
never did.”
    “Are you being a dick? I swear, I can’t even
tell if you are. I can’t even tell if we’re fighting.” Without
emotions, I was somewhat lost.
    Lucas shrugged. “I’m not mad.”
    “ I’m not either,” I
confessed. “But I can’t believe you’re not even a little upset that
I went through your stuff.”
    “ You can go through
anything you want. I thought you knew that.”
    I sighed. “So who’s the
redhead?”
    He glanced down at the picture again. I
studied his face, but still nothing. “An old girlfriend.”
    I swallowed, preparing to be calm and
mature. “Do you still have feelings for her? Is that why you kept
the picture?”
    “I feel nothing,” Lucas said. “And I
certainly didn’t keep it for sentimental reasons.”
    “Then why?”
    “To remember the past, that’s all.”
    “ That’s a sentimental
reason,” I argued.
    “ No, and that’s the
point.” I didn’t understand what he was saying, and might have
pressed the subject, but he suddenly bent over, dropping the
picture under his desk and into the wastebasket. “There. They come
for the trash on Wednesday, I hope that’s sufficient for you, but
if you want it out of the house sooner I’ll take it to the curb
right now.”
    “ No,” I said, feeling
uncharacteristically bashful and even a little flustered. “It’s
fine. I’m sorry for being such a bitch about it.”
    Lucas padded across the room, tall and
serious as ever. He leaned down, resting his knuckles on the edge
of the bed as he kissed me. I would have let it go on, progress a
bit, but he pulled back. “I held up my end of the deal,” he said.
“Now it’s time for our naked shower.”
    Did I say I felt bashful? I didn’t even know
the meaning of the word, but by the end of the night I would.
     
* * *
     
    I was going to murder
Missy, though when the case went to trial I’d plead self-defense.
Her noxious laugh drifted across the office, a stuttered trill, the
sound reminiscent of a push mower that just won’t start.
    She was sitting on the
other side of the office, in the little lounge area, flirting like
mad with Team . He’d been hanging around the office all day, playing his
guitar at intervals, strumming softly as he mumbled to himself.
Missy might have been killing me with her obvious desperation, but
Tim was the real problem. He wouldn’t go away. Eight hours
straight, from the start of my shift to the end of it, and he never
left the