Chapter Eleven
Wendy debated if she was doing the right thing. Cato seemed so angry before when she’d caught him outside the office building. She just couldn’t seem to get the injured way he looked out of her mind even after going home. Between that and the kiss, it was like Cato had invaded her mind.
She glanced down at her clothes as she made her way to his house. Jeans and a t-shirt. Casual. Odd how something so casual could take her nearly an hour to pick out.
She hoped he liked it, but she really had no clue about the kind of clothes he liked. Maybe he really liked a woman in uniform.
Wendy stabbed at some of the doubt creeping into her mind. He’d given her a passionate kiss in public, even if the only witness wasn’t looking their way at the time. At minimum, that proved that he harbored more than a little attraction to her.
Heat spread across her cheeks. This was silly. She couldn’t be running around like a little school girl because she had a crush. Just thinking the word made her blush even more.
Wendy stopped outside of his place and spun around on her heel. There was no way she was following through on this. It was a bad idea in every single way.
They still had to work together after all. This wasn’t any different than getting into relationship with another NCO in her unit. It was just trouble waiting to explode.
“What are you doing here?”
His deep voice hit her right in the center and slowly she turned around.
Wendy held up the six pack of beer she was carrying. “You seemed like you were having a bad day, so I thought I’d bring some beer over. A little booze always makes a hard day not seem so bad.”
He stared at her from behind the half-opened door. All she could make out was his glowing amber eyes in the darkness. The sight was both eerie and beautiful.
Stupid. She had been so stupid. Maybe the kiss was just some hybrid instinct thing and meant nothing to him. Maybe he was just trying to make some sort of point.
“Come inside.”
She stood stunned for a moment as she watched him step inside the house, leaving the door open for her.
Still unsure, Wendy climbed the steps and crossed through the open door.
The inside wasn’t much different from her own place. Maybe nicer furniture, but the layout was fairly similar. The only real difference between the two was that he had a fireplace near the couch.
Not really certain what to do, she stepped farther into the room and closed the door. Whether this night would prove a bad idea or not, she’d made the move in response to his kiss.
Cato sat on the couch, not saying anything. He stared ahead at the crackling flames in the fireplace. Wendy sat down on the farthest end of the couch and placed the beer on the table. It was then she noticed the bottle of whisky and empty glass.
Apparently he’d already bought into the idea that a little booze could help the hard day go away.
She wasn’t sure what to say. Whatever was troubling him weighed heavy on his mind. This didn’t just seem to be about an uncomfortable day of party planning.
“Maybe I should go.”
She started to stand when a strong hand came out and held her forearm.
“Stay,” he said quietly.
It wasn’t a request, but a plea. He needed her. Cato wasn’t the sort to say it, but she could just feel it. Not just feel, she knew.
She nodded and sat back down on the couch.
“Would you like some?” he asked, holding up the bottle.
Wendy shrugged. She wasn’t afraid of a little hard alcohol. Maybe sharing a drink of the whisky would help open him up.
Cato stepped into the kitchen and came out with a matching glass with a few pieces of ice. He poured some whisky into each glass and handed it to her.
Wendy took a drink. The heat burned down her throat and warmed her stomach instantly.
She watched as he took several large swallows before setting the glass down and looking her way.
“Do you ever feel like you have no control over your life?”
“Every day.” She gave a small smile. “I’m in the military. I don’t have control over my life.”
He nodded, picked his glass up off the table, and leaned back against the couch with a sigh. Cato rested the glass against his leg with his hand and let his head flop back on the top of the cushion.
“I just feel like every piece of my story is written, and I didn’t get to have a say in anything.” He flexed his fingers on his other hand into a fist and back several times. “From the day I was fucking born.”
Cato lifted the glass and finished off the liquor there.
Wendy took several swallows herself before placing her glass on the table. She could already feel the soft effect it was having on her head.
“My childhood, my job, even who I’ll love,” he said, and sighed. “It’s all been decided, and I didn’t even get to offer an opinion.”
She started to think that over in earnest when her mind snapped back to a single word: love.
She leaned forward a little, unable to stop herself from being interested. She still understood so little about how the hybrids actually lived their lives.
“Do you have arraigned marriages or something?” she said.
Her heart hammered in her chest. More and more she found herself hoping that what she’d felt before wasn’t one-sided, and that coming there wasn’t some horrible mistake.
Cato rolled his head to the side to look at her. His amber eyes flared up for a moment, and she had to fight to keep her breathing under control.
“Yeah. Something like that,” he mumbled.
The kiss started to make sense. He’d probably just found out his marriage was arranged. He didn’t have a lot of women around him, and so he kissed the only one he could find, a sort of rebellion against his marriage.
The anger she’d seen earlier must have been from him meeting with Titus and being told he’d have to go forward with the marriage regardless of what he wanted.
She fought a sigh that wanted to come out. That passion had been real. There had to be more than just rebellion to it.
Wendy licked her lips and leaned in a little more. She was playing a dangerous game, but she had to know the truth.
“And what would you choose to do?”
“If I chose the same thing, would it really be me making the decision?” he whispered.
Cato leaned her way slightly. Their bodies were close enough now that his heat wrapped around her. It made her remember the heat from earlier during their kiss. The passion that had flowed between them.
She couldn’t think. Her eyes were so focused on his it was hard to think on much of anything.
“If the outcome is the same, does it really matter?” she managed to whisper.
Cato stilled.
Shit. What had she just said? Was she telling him to go into his arranged marriage? That hadn’t been her intent. He asked a question, and she just answered without thinking.
“Of course, I could be wrong,” she sputtered.
A soft smile spread across his face, and she was stunned for a moment. He was handsome, no question, but seeing this side made her heart thump wildly in her chest.
“You’re right,” he said as he placed his empty glass on the table. “It doesn’t matter.”
Wendy expected to be told to leave. To be pushed away to make room for this new woman.
What she didn’t expect was for him to swoop her into his arms. Her legs straddled his lap while his mouth covered her own in a toe-curling kiss.
She pulled back after a moment to stare down at him in shock. “What about what your leader wants?”
Cato shrugged. “I’ve made my choice.”