Damn it, Mei. Once again, Jacob kicked himself for not being more attuned to how poisonous the woman had been when it came to her only daughter. “Mei may not have been the most objective person.”
She shook her head. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”
But it does. If you only knew how relevant this discussion is, kid.
Jacob licked his lips. Later. He could figure this out later.
Unaware, Kati drove the knife of guilt a little deeper. “After all, we’re probably never going to see her again.”
Unseen by his sister, he raised his eyes to the oven clock. No, he would definitely be seeing Akira again. In less than ten hours, really.
Jacob gave her a final pat on the back and forced a smile as he stepped away. “I’m glad you get it. Here.” He stretched up to access the cupboard on top of the fridge, retrieving her phone.
Her face lit up. “Really?”
He slipped the phone into her hand. “I think you’ve learned your lesson. Yeah, really.”
“You used that same trick to hide stuff from me when I was a kid. Putting it away somewhere I couldn’t reach.”
He ruffled her hair, delighted with the way she faux-scowled and slapped at his hands. “Yeah, well. You haven’t grown much since then.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Oh, shit.”
The uncharacteristic curse coming from Jacob had her glancing up from the lease agreement she was perusing. He sat in what had somehow become his chair, long, capable fingers manipulating the puzzle box.
At some undefined point over the past week and a half, she had realized it felt right, his hands on the dark wood.
It keeps him coming back to you,a weak, needy part of her whispered. There it was. If he didn’t come back for her, he would at least come back to crack that puzzle. He was too stubborn not to beat it. “What?”
He studied the box, manipulating one panel, then another. “I think…” He glanced up at her and stopped.
“What?”
“Nothing. I thought I had it.” He looked down at the box and grimaced. “No. Sorry. False alarm.” The chair creaked under his heavy weight as he settled deeper into it and bent again, frowning.
The remains of their dinner were around them. As usual, Jacob had brought a mountain of food. She’d quickly learned Jacob’s huge frame apparently required an equivalently large amount of calories to maintain it.
Also, as he had somewhat sheepishly explained while pouring hot sauce on a monstrous burrito the night before, “Kati is really into healthy stuff. I only get to eat like this when she isn’t around.”
The image of the manly man choking down alfalfa because his little sister worried over his cholesterol was even cuter than him clipping roses. Curse the man’s unexpected adorableness.
A dumb smile curved her lips, a smile she only permitted because his attention was diverted. It was hard to remember how dangerous it was to let down her guard with Jacob when the fire he had laid in her barely used fireplace cracked and popped and the building was silent around them.
She’d forgiven him days ago, though she hadn’t said anything to him yet. She was conscious their time together was finite. Jacob had placed the ball firmly in her court on what happened next, and no matter whether he opened the box or not, she couldn’t see him much longer.
Oh, she still wanted to jump him. Everything that had so intrigued her before he had set out to win her forgiveness and friendship was multiplied now. His unique combination of kindness, brains, and that humming sex appeal was a potent combination.
The problem was shelikedhim, heaven help her. Liked him far too much to take him for a ride on the crazy train of her life.
What he needed was a quiet, biddable woman who would putter around the house while he worked, bringing him lemonade and freshly baked cookies. They would have loving, pleasurable sex and eventually a couple of spawn running around, messing up a tidy house.
Akira wasn’t that woman. She didn’t particularly want to be that woman.
Some buried, surprisingly decent part of her had reared its head, making one thing clear: she also didn’t want to fuck him up for when that woman came along.
End this.She had chastised herself every night, aware she was dangerously close to infatuation, but then he walked her to her car and told her he would see her again the next evening, and she didn’t protest.
