Page 67 of Vega

“You actually got them?” Happiness brightened her eyes, and I liked knowing I had put it there.

“I said I would.”

She sat the book aside and crossed the room quickly, causing the chain to jingle so loudly that I almost laughed. Before I reached the desk, she took the puzzle boxes from me and began reading each one.

I had chosen the hardest puzzles I could find. Two had a thousand pieces, three had fifteen hundred, and the last had two thousand pieces with an image made entirely of different shades of blue.

She paused at that one, saying, “This is cruel,” while staring at it.

“You asked for difficult.”

“This is psychological warfare.” But a smile slowly spread across her face as she stared at it.

“But the smile on your face says you like it.”

Her eyes darted away from mine, and she sucked those pretty, kissable lips in to hide and stop her smile. Then she carried the blue puzzle to the desk and opened the box. Instead of dumping the pieces onto the surface, she removed them carefully by the handful. She turned every piece faceup, separated the edges, and began grouping the remaining ones according to color.

I placed her dinner on the end table and laptop beside her.

“It doesn’t connect to the internet,” I explained. “I removed the camera and disabled anything that could transmit your location.”

She glanced at me. “I expected nothing less.” Then she sighed irritability. “What’s on it?”

“Strategy games, brain teasers, chess, number puzzles, and whatever else looked complicated enough to keep you quiet.”

Her mouth curved slightly. “Are you trying to domesticate your hostage?”

“You become more irritating when you’re bored.”

“Oh, good, my irritation bothers you,” she beamed.

“Nothing about you bothers me.”

The amusement left her face for half a second.

I should’ve stepped away from the desk. Instead, I remained beside her, closer than the conversation required. Our verbal sparring had become the most interesting part of my day. I would handle business, answer calls, and sit through conversations while wondering what complaint Sonnet would have waiting for me when I returned.

Her mouth never disappointed me. Neither did the defiance in her eyes.

She looked back at the puzzle, but I noticed the way her attention kept shifting toward me. She was becoming more aware that I enjoyed arguing with her.

“Do you have a wife?” she asked.

“No.”

“A girlfriend?”

“No.”

Something like relief had appeared in her expression when I said I didn’t have a woman. It disappeared quickly, replaced by irritation that seemed aimed more at herself than me.

I filed that reaction away.

“Children?”

“No.”

She fitted two edge pieces together. “Anybody who knows you kidnap women as a hobby?”