Especially in that photo booth.
And on the deck.
And by the menorah.
And just now?
Just now it was like he had looked into her eyes and right down into her soul. To the point where she had to make the excuse to flee to the sanctuary of the ladies’ lounge to wash off frosting.
Although he had warned there was going to be a sprinkle massacre.
God, she liked him. Liked learning about his sisters, his unexpected skills, his jokes.
Max was making the hours here fly by, and the truth? She kind of didn’t want the night to end.
But in the end, he was doing his job. Kara's job. And in a few hours, Tzipi would go back to being nobody's priority.
With shaking hands, she did a swipe of the gloss and relished in the burn.
Then pulled open the door and stepped out… right into the arms of Hollywood’s leading man.
Jonah had waited until she slipped into the restroom before he let himself breathe.
She’s not Kara.
The thought sat heavy in his chest. Unmovable. Obvious, now that he had seen it. Most had been little things. Easy to miss. But he had missed them for hours.
She’s Kara’s sister.
And she thought he was her bodyguard. Max.
Jonah leaned back, letting the pieces fall into place. His brain did what it always did: like a dog with a chew toy, it kept processing things like it processed general ledgers. Mentally assigning journal entries to shit that didn’t quite fit anywhere else, debiting and crediting them in order for them to balance out.
He needed shit to balance out.
She’d assumed he was part of her security detail. Which meant the real Max – whoever the hell that was – either wasn’t here, or she’d never actually met him before tonight.
She has no idea who I really am.
Which should’ve been a relief. Except it wasn’t. Because the way she’d laughed with him, teased him and leaned into his space and let her guard down –
That wasn’t Kara Koff, celebrity, who had come to his rescue last year and was now letting him make amends.
That was her sister, connecting with someone she thought she could trust.
Jonah pulled out his phone. First things first: confirm what he thought he knew.
He typed into his browser app: Room to Bloom twins.
Tzipora Solokoff.
Right there in the Wiki.
Twin sister of actress Kara Koff (born Karmit Solokoff.)
Okay, so he was right about who she was.
But he still didn’t know why.
