Chapter 17 #2
“Let’s just say it involved a very important client, a bowl of ramen, and me accidentally launching a piece of nori across the room.”
I nearly choked on my green tea. “The great Jason Everett, making a mess in public? I don’t believe it.”
“I have photographic evidence. Somewhere.” His hand found mine under the table, his thumb tracing lazy circles on my palm. “I’ll show you, but it’ll cost you.”
“Cost me what?” I asked, my voice embarrassingly breathy.
He leaned in close, his lips nearly brushing my ear. “Dinner. Tonight. Just us.”
Say no, my conscience screamed. This is not how the story goes!
“Yes,” I heard myself say instead, turning to face him. We were so close now that I could see the flecks of silver in his blue eyes.
He smiled—not his usual controlled CEO smile, but something softer, more real. Then he picked up a slice of mango with his chopsticks and held it out to me. “Good. Because I have plans for you.”
Oh boy. The Romance Novel Police are definitely going to need backup for this case.
I tried to focus on my food instead of how his casual touches were making my pulse race. “Plans? Should I be worried?”
“Terrified,” he deadpanned, then grinned when I narrowed my eyes at him. “Actually, I thought we could do something normal for once.”
“Normal?” I reached for a piece of shumai, proud that my chopsticks didn’t shake. “I wasn’t aware that word existed in the billionaire dictionary.”
“It’s a recent addition.” His knee pressed against mine again, and this time it stayed there. “Right between negotiations and profit margins.”
“Ah, of course. Alphabetically sound.” I took a sip of the green tea, which really was exceptional. “So what does normal entail in your world? Buying a small country? Acquiring a few Fortune 500 companies before lunch?”
He stole a piece of fruit from my plate—my plate!—and popped it into his mouth with infuriating casualness. “I was thinking more along the lines of Central Park. Maybe that little ice cream place you mentioned loving.”
I blinked. “I never mentioned?—”
“Last night,” he said softly. “When you were half-asleep. You were talking about your favorite places in the city.”
Oh. Something warm bloomed in my chest. The real Victoria wouldn’t have been caught dead eating street vendor ice cream. But Jason had listened to my sleepy ramblings and actually remembered.
Stop it, I warned my melting heart. This isn’t your love story to steal.
“Unless,” he added, misreading my silence, “you’d prefer something more?—”
“No!” I said quickly. Too quickly. “I mean, that sounds… perfect, actually.”
His smile was doing illegal things to my internal organs. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I gestured at the feast before us with my chopsticks. “But first, explain to me how you learned to use these so well. I want the full Tokyo story, international incidents and all.”
“Well.” Jason leaned back, a mischievous glint in his eye. “It was my first major deal in Asia. I was twenty-eight, trying too hard to prove myself. You know those kaiseki restaurants? The ones with nine courses of artistic dishes that look too pretty to eat?”
“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled around a mouthful of dumpling, captivated by this animated version of Jason.
“So there I am, wearing my best suit, sitting across from Tanaka-san—this terrifying CEO who never smiled. We’re on course six or seven, and I’m desperately trying to remember which chopstick goes where…” He demonstrated with his current chopsticks, deliberately fumbling them.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his exaggerated expression of concentration. “No way. You?”
“Oh, it gets better.” He picked up a piece of shumai and held it out to me. “So I’m trying to look sophisticated, right? And there’s this piece of perfectly arranged sashimi. Figure it’ll be impressive if I can pick it up in one smooth motion…”
I leaned forward to accept the offered food, my eyes locked with his. His thumb brushed my lower lip as he withdrew his hand, sending shivers down my spine.
“What happened next?” I asked, my voice embarrassingly breathy.
“I somehow managed to catapult it straight across the table.” He grinned, reaching for another piece of fruit. “It landed right in Tanaka-san’s wife’s lap. All over her vintage kimono.”
“No!” I gasped, then dissolved into giggles at his hangdog expression.
“Oh yes. Complete diplomatic disaster.” He held out another dumpling for me. “So I start apologizing in my terrible Japanese—I meant to say gomennasai but somehow mixed it up with gohan desu kai.”
“Which means…?”
“Instead of ‘I’m so sorry,’ I basically asked her if she wanted more rice.” He shook his head ruefully. “While her silk kimono was covered in soy sauce.”
I burst out laughing, nearly choking on my green tea again. Jason’s hand immediately went to my back, rubbing gentle circles as I coughed and giggled simultaneously.
“Thankfully,” he continued, his hand staying warm against my back, “Tanaka-san’s wife had a sense of humor.
She took one look at my mortified face, looked down at her ruined kimono, and just…
started laughing. Then everyone was laughing, even Tanaka-san, who I’d never seen so much as crack a smile before. ”
“So that’s how you sealed the deal?” I asked, leaning slightly into his touch.
“Actually, yes. Turns out Tanaka-san had been testing me. Said anyone who could make his wife laugh like that was worth doing business with.” He picked up another piece of fruit with his free hand. “But his wife insisted I take proper lessons before our next dinner.”
“Hence the chopstick training?”
“Three months with Mrs. Tanaka, who was absolutely ruthless.” He held out the fruit to me. “Every morning at seven a.m, practicing with increasingly smaller objects. Started with sushi, ended with individual grains of rice.”
I accepted the offered bite, hyperaware of how his fingers lingered near my lips. When I looked up, his eyes had darkened, all traces of humor replaced by something more intense. The air between us crackled with electricity, making my breath catch in my throat.
Before I could overthink it, I closed the distance between us. His lips met mine with a gentleness that made my heart ache, tasting of green tea and something uniquely Jason. When his tongue traced my bottom lip, I melted into him with a soft sigh.
He responded by pulling me closer, one hand sliding from my back to my neck while the other tangled in my hair. I parted my lips, and the kiss deepened, becoming something hungry and desperate. He tasted like promises and possibilities, like everything I shouldn’t want but couldn’t resist.
A small moan escaped me as his teeth grazed my lower lip. The sound seemed to ignite something in him, and he pulled me even closer, until I was practically in his lap. My hands found their way to his chest, feeling his heart racing beneath my palms.
His phone buzzed against the table. We both ignored it, lost in the sensation of lips and tongues and wandering hands. I could feel myself drowning in him, my entire world narrowing to the points where our bodies connected.
The phone buzzed again. And again. Jason groaned against my mouth, the vibration sending shivers down my spine.
A fourth buzz finally penetrated our haze. The caller ID persistently flashed “Harrison, Legal.”
Jason’s expression shifted, though his hand remained warm against my neck, his thumb tracing maddening circles on my skin. “I need to take this.”
“Go,” I managed, my voice embarrassingly breathy. “Your empire needs you.”
He pressed another kiss to my lips—slower this time, full of promise—before standing. “Harrison,” he answered, already walking toward his home office. “What’s the situation?”
I watched him go, my fingers touching my still-tingling lips. That kiss wasn’t in the book. Neither was the way he’d looked at me just now, like I was something precious and real, not just a character in someone else’s romance.
Come to think of it, a lot of things weren’t adding up to the story I thought I knew by heart.
What if…
The thought was too big, too terrifying to finish.
For now, though, I had brunch with a billionaire who fed me dumplings and told me stories about his chopstick disasters. I had kisses that made my toes curl and plans for ice cream in the park.
I had everything I never knew I wanted.
And that was exactly the problem.