“Clearly not, if you’re so quick to accept my word. I’m a criminal.”
“It’s not that I’m gullible, Luke. It’s that, if my intuition tells me a person is good, then I make the conscious choice to see them as good. Regardless of their past. I see you as good.”
How was he supposed to reason with a person like this?
“If you lied to me just now and your motives are evil,” she said, “it’s all right. You won’t have to take the treasure from me. I’ll just give it to you.”
He paused, disbelief surging. “Are you out of your mind?”
“I have everything I need.” She shrugged. “If you don’t have everything you need, you can have the treasure.”
“First, I do have everything I need. Second, you don’t even know what the treasure is. Now is not the time to give it away.”
“I know myself, and I’ll only feel attached to it if it’s something that has emotional significance. But even then, I could just take a picture to remember it by. I won’t keep it because I don’t want to own anything that could bring me harm.”
“In that case, you can sell it. And put the money in your retirement account.”
She didn’t look impressed.
“Or donate the money to the Center,” he said.
“I’ve already funneled some of the money my dad gave me into Furry Tails. At this point, Furry Tails needs to be self-sustaining.”
He’d misread her. She was not a cream puff. She was unusual. Too honest and too generous for her own good. But she was also, in her way, very determined.
He didn’t want her to blindly put her faith in him, yet ... he did want to show her that, this time, her faith hadn’t been misplaced.
He leaned forward on his elbows. “For the record, your dad’s last words were exactly what I told you they were. Things between him and me went down like I said they did, and I’m here for the reason I told you I was.”
“But just in case you’re not—”
“I am,” he said roughly. There’d been a time when he robbed people. But he was not a liar. If he’d failed to keep his word in prison, he wouldn’t have lasted long. “A few other guys heard what your dad said to me at the end. I’ll give you their names, and you can double-check my story.”
Seconds passed. She held his gaze. “That won’t be necessary.”
His blood carried a premonition through his veins. Finley represented trouble for him. Terrible trouble.
The most dangerous thing he’d have to deal with on this hunt...
Was her.
CHAPTER FIVE
Akira had a dreadful habit.
Three times in the past, she’d fallen in love with men at first sight. Three times, love at first sight had not worked out well for her.
Thus, when she and Finley settled in at Pablo’s on Tuesday for lunch with a prospective volunteer, she had no intention of falling in love at first sight. Today or ever again.
But then she glanced up and actuallysawthe male volunteer making his way toward their table.
Her internal shields trembled.
Finley waved to the stranger. He strode through the casual interior of the restaurant, which smelled of pulled pork and frying tortillas.
“Finley?” he asked as they stood up.
“That’s me.”
