My face scrunches up. “The news? You don’t watchanyother form of entertainment?”
He lifts his shoulder in a shrug. “Not really.”
“Then how do you decompress after a long day?”
He leans back against the couch, crossing his arms over his chest and stretching out his legs. “I do more work.”
“Bullshit. There has to besomethingyou do for fun.”
“I go to the gym.”
I scoff. “The gym doesn’t count.”
“Fine. Sometimes I read.”
I perk up at that, thinking of the bookshelves in his office and wishing I’d examined the titles. “Really? Read what? Memoirs? Thrillers? Self-help books?” He shoots me a look. “What? There’s nothing wrong with those!”
“I read…” He hesitates.
“You read…” I prompt.
“I read novels that focus on secret intelligence, espionage, and military science.”
I blink at him. “So, you read spy novels.”
He frowns like I’ve severely offended him. “No, notspy novels.They’re novels that deal with the in-depth inner working of the—”
“So, James Bond,” I cut in.
“No,” he says, annoyed.
“Casino Royalewas probably my favorite James Bond movie, followed closely bySkyfall. Unpopular opinion,No Time to Diewas pretty fucking boring. Which was your favorite?”
“I wouldn’t know,” he mutters through gritted teeth.
“There’s nothing wrong with James Bond. You should see some of the booksIread.” Romance, mostly. I love a good happily ever after.
“Just play the show,” Landon snaps.
I’m about to reach forward when a huge rumble of thunder shakes the house. My breath catches, my heart rate skyrocketing because that soundedbad. Really bad.I pull my knees into my chest, tucking my shaking hands between them, and clench my teeth together. When the rain starts coming down harder, slapping against the windows and rattling the panes, I flinch away, expecting them to shatter with the force.
“Everything’s fine,” Landon quietly assures, but that really, really didn’t sound fine. He shifts a little so that the side of his warm body is pressed against mine. I’m not sure if it’s a conscious move or not, but I don’t care. I lean into his warmth, feeling my heart start to calm down just a little. Landon sighs. “Casino Royaleis my favorite.”
That distracts me from our impending doom, if only for a moment. “I knew it! Iknewyou were a Bond fan.”
“Well, don’t advertise it to the fucking world,” he mutters.
I snicker, thinking about all the times I haven’t heard him approach. “No wonder you’re sosneakyall the time.”
“I’m not sneaky. You’re just oblivious. It’s astounding you made it home Saturday night in one piece.”
“Worried about me?” I tease.
He scowls at the thought. “More like relieved I didn’t have to spend my Sunday calling every hospital and police station within a fifty-mile radius.”
“You know, you could benefit from some positivity training.”
“Positivity training,” he repeats, his tone flat.
