Secrets and Suspicion (Book 1)

Jealousy

"I got a call from Hazel today," Anakin said, sitting at the dinner table across from Padmé.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She needed me to help her with working this old, broken comlink."

"Mm-hmm," Padmé said, cutting the meat on her plate. The scraping got harder and harder on the plate the more he talked about Hazel.

"She seemed to really appreciate it."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

The scrapes on the plate got louder.

"Do you need me to cut that?"

"No," she said flatly. She looked up at him. "You know what? I'm not really that hungry." She picked up her dishes and walked into the kitchen, sliding her food into the trash.

"What are you doing? You never throw food away," Anakin remarked. He thought for a moment why she was acting that way, and decided it was probably just mood swings.

He got up from the table, walking into the kitchen to Padmé. She was standing at the sink doing her dishes.

He stood behind her and massaged her shoulders. His hands moved down to above her hips, massaging her there.

"Anakin." She turned away, keeping her head down, avoiding looking at him.

"Look," Anakin said.

She looked around his direction, and he cupped her face in his hands, kissing her. At first, she didn't see it coming, but eventually her eyes closed. She reached her hand up behind his head, holding it there. Her other hand draped over his shoulder.

Eventually, they broke apart, their faces still inches apart from one another's. Anakin looked down into her deep, chocolate brown eyes. "Mood swings?"

"No," Padmé said, her cheeks flushing.

"What is it?"

"I was...I was jealous."

"Jealous of what? Please don't tell me this is the Clovis issue all over again."

"Yeah, sort of. You just talk about Hazel...a lot."

"Sorry. I don't mean to."

"I know. It's just that...when you said you helped her with something about fixing something, you do that with me all of the time. I apologize for being jealous."

"It's okay. I guess I see why now."

"Thanks."

"Sure. And, I don't intend to talk about her a lot. There aren't many other Jedi Knights I work with often, so she's the one I talk to all day."

"Yeah."

"I love you. A lot of times, with my impatience and harshness, arguments don't end well, so..." He paused, half-laughing. "You should know."

Padmé giggled. "Oh, I know. And I love you too."