“How did they take that?”
Jia glanced away. “They disowned her for a few years. Came around when she had my nephew and then really reconciled when her first husband passed away. But it was scary. I was only, like, thirteen, and I barely got to see her for years.”
Dev’s heart cracked a little. He’d seen the effects of parental estrangement in his own life. “That’s terrible.” For the first time, he wondered how his uncle had felt when his brother had been banished. Had the infamous playboy cried? Had he tried to see his brother? “Is that why...?” He trod a little delicately. “Is that why you’re so eager to please your parents?”
She came to a halt at a stoplight. He moved closer to her. He told himself it was for protection, though there wasn’t much in the way of danger here. “I don’t think they’d ever do that again. They regret cutting her off.”
“But the fear is still there.”
“Yes.”
“I understand.”
“I suppose you do understand rigid family members.”
A car honked and Dev jolted. He’d forgotten that they were in a public place, while he’d been spilling family secrets. “We should head back to the garage,” he murmured.
“Yes, let’s do that. I didn’t realize it was so late.”
“Time flies when you’re eating pancakes, I suppose.” Their walk back to the garage was quiet. He gave her a sideways glance when they approached her car.
“I can drive you home,” she blurted out.
“No, I’ll take a car.” It was already intimate, her coming to his home to fetch him. Her driving him back smacked far too much of a proper date. Especially combined with all the soul baring they’d done this evening. “Getting into your car is a struggle,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood.
It worked; she chuckled. He opened her car door for her. “Well, good night. I’ll see you soon.” He hoped he saw her soon. He started to extend his hand to her, but Jia took another step forward, closing the distance between them.
The hug was so fleeting and quick, he might have imagined it had he not taken the split second to imprint the feel of her whole body, from chest to thighs.
Dev didn’t go around hugging women in public, and he told himself that was the reason he stood there like a shell-shocked buffoon until his brain kicked into gear. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a little squeeze. Warmth filled him, taking up all the empty spots inside him.
He inhaled, absorbing the delicate floral scent Jia wore. He let her go the moment her arms started to loosen. He wanted to ask what that had been. A pity hug? A friend hug? A business hug?
AnI’m Interested in You for Realhug?
But he couldn’t ask any of those things because he feared the answer. So he merely stepped away.
“Good night,” she almost whispered and got in the car.
“Night,” he repeated. He watched her drive away, wondering if that was his fate for the immediate future. Watching her drive away after she’d doled out a small crumb of affection.
He pressed his hand against his chest. He feared even if it was, he would take it.
Chapter Thirteen
Tuesday 1:25P.M.
Jia:do you like magic?
Dev:Is this an American pickup line?
J:Ha, no.
D:Magic stresses me out. I spend all my time trying to figure out how they do it.
J:Ah
D:Why?
