To Hiss or to Kiss by Katya Armock Page B

He points to C s marked on the page. “That leaves this window and this approach off the cameras.” He points to a window at what would be the back of the house, which looks like it must enter into some sort of utility room. “A glaring oversight, but I assume these aren’t the brightest people.”
    His vocal control winds tighter and tighter until I’m convinced his vocal cords will snap. I’m seeing what a pissed-off Jorge looks like. It’s different than the coolly contained rage at the thought of people abusing animals. This? This is personal. I can feel his anger wrapping around me like jaws, and I envision the jaguar, which I saw so briefly the night before, ready to pounce. I feel guiltier with each second and start to fidget.
    “There is a basic motion-sensor-based alarm system installed on each of the windows and doors, as well as, from what I could see, wall-mounted ones in just about every room of the first floor.” His body is so still and so tense. He pins me with a hard stare. “Am I boring you?” He gestures at my fidgeting hands, which I quickly hide under the table.
    I feel my cheeks heat and I divert my gaze while shaking my head. I think of Naomi telling me Jorge obviously has emotional issues—although, of course, she was just saying that to be a supportive friend. But he certainly has shown me his anger and his passion and his humor and his ecstasy. So maybe he is an emotional tornado, but, dammit, he’s mine, and I can’t let this go. I’m sick of feeling like he’s hot and cold to me. I’m sick of being afraid and preventing us from communicating better. And it’s not like I’m a paragon of steady moods. What a pair we’ll make.
    His anger is killing me because I don’t want to hurt him. So I do the thing that will make me most vulnerable. I drop my shields, raise my head, and think at him, “So how do we get in?”
    His eyes register shock, and his whole body stills. “I heard that,” he says aloud.
    “So answer me,” I say silently. It comes out more defensive than I intended as I pull my belligerence around me like a protective shield. I may be trying my hand at vulnerability, but evidently I still need some security. My last line of defense.
    He screws up his beautiful face in confusion, uncertainty, maybe concentration. He’s still hard to read sometimes. But then I feel his shields drop, the turbulent currents of his emotions flowing into me. Anger, love, protectiveness, fear, loneliness. So many it’s hard to sort out. I try to send calm acceptance to him, but I’m not sure how successful I am, given how turbulent my own emotions currently are.
    Finally, I hear his voice in my head. “We need a disruptor.”
    “Like a distraction?” I ask silently, confused.
    “No. Electronic. To disrupt the alarm system and the cameras. Probably can’t do it until we are at the house.” There’s excitement in his voice as he starts getting more techie on me. He flashes images of the equipment into my brain.
    Then he pauses. “I am overwhelming you.”
    “No…OK, yes. But I need to know.”
    “I will be there with you if we have to go in, so I can handle the tech. You handle the dogs.” He smiles at me. Then he says aloud, “Have you had any further contact with the dogs?”
    Picking up his cue, I switch back to speaking aloud. I leave my mind cracked open to him a bit, as he does for me. I wonder if he even knows he’s leaving himself more vulnerable to me. As strange as it felt to first hear his voice in my head, it now feels so natural to be connected on this psychic level. It calms my nervous system, pulling me into trusting Jorge more and more. But I can still feel myself holding back. “No. Not close enough.”
    “Have you tried connecting from a farther distance with any animal before?”
    “Yes, but it’s spotty at best. Sometimes I can connect with my cats from farther away.”
    “So there are other cats in your life?” His grin is mischievous.
    I swat at