“You said you don’t know what’s inside.”
“No.”
He glanced up. “Do you want to know?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
“How many moves?”
She shifted. “Two hundred and twenty-six, for this particular box.”
“Have you tried to figure it out?”
Akira shook her head, a strand of her hair coming loose to rest against her cheek, a length of blue black against the cool paleness. “I’m the most impatient person in the world. I’d be tempted to smash it.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s true.” Impatience wouldn’t have made her as successful as she was.
“Trust me. I do, however, have some contacts out trying to see if we can track down someone who can open it. Maybe the original manufacturer.”
Jacob frowned. So some stranger somewhere would open the box for her? That didn’t seem right. Possibly because he could still vividly recall what Akira had looked like, collapsed on her rug, holding the thing to her chest like it was the most precious item in the world.
“Maybe…” He cleared his throat, his idea taking shape. “Maybe I could open it for you.”
She scoffed. “You’ve never even seen a box like this.”
“No.” He tested a few of the panels, the wood stiff and unyielding at first, finally relaxing enough for him to move. “But I like puzzles. And I am patient.”
“You think you can open my box?”
He glanced up, wondering if there was a sly innuendo in her words, but her expression was impassive. “I can try.”
“In exchange for what?” She gave a wry smile at the face he made. “I know negotiations when I hear them.”
He thought for a moment. “I’m not stupid. You’re skeptical of me. Give me two weeks. If I can’t open the box in that time, and if you still feel there’s no value in our truce at the end of the two weeks, then we go our separate ways.”
“The box stays with me. I’m not handing it over to you.”
Even better. Jacob had figured the box would buy him at least one more chance to see her, maybe earn him some goodwill if he could crack it.
But this…oh man. Had she realized the gift she’d inadvertently given him?
Normally, he would be polite and circumspect, but screw that. Time to seize the opportunity. “I’ll come to you.”
Her lips pursed. He could practically see her brain racing. “I’m busy and I work late.”
“I’m a night owl,” he said easily, prepared to match every argument she launched. He looked around the office, improvising as he went along. “I can come here. Bring dinner. I wouldn’t disturb your work.”
“What if you do open the box?”
“You forgive me.” He shrugged. “That’s all I want.”
“All?”
He reconsidered the situation. Decided to keep his options open. “No. You stay open to the possibility of us becoming…friends.”
That did not seem to impress her. “I have friends.”
“You don’t have me.”
