Chapter 26 Luke #2
He strolls into the house, clutching the treasured drawings, unaware of the tension he created with his assumption.
“Are you okay?”
I sit down next to her in the chair he abandoned on the porch swing. She nods, even as her face twists in pain.
“You should take another pain killer.” I rise to get her one from the bottle, calculating in my head the number of hours since her last dose. “You can take two if you want.”
She shakes her head, and I deposit one into her outstretched hand.
“Maybe you should go to bed . . . if you’re tired.”
She looks up at me, clear blue eyes studying my face. She’s makeup-free and still stunning.
Finally, she mumbles, “I’m fine.”
It’s like the oxygen is evaporating around us because I’m finding it difficult to breathe. Judging by the rise and fall of her chest, she is too.
“I don’t know how Tommy will ever take your absence after this.”
She smiles, looking down at the half-finished baby chick and mountain lion. “He’s so sweet. I could draw his stories all night.”
I’m desperate to speak to her but simultaneously at war within myself about allowing my heart to get so wrapped up in Kate. She’s been subtly reeling me in all day, and I’m exhausted with the effort of resisting her.
You could give in, just for tonight. Take up the investigation tomorrow.
As soon as the thought runs through my head, I recall Walter’s statement this morning about how distracting it is to let sex get involved.
“I need to ask you something,” she says, her voice quiet.
“Okay.”
She shifts on the porch swing, chewing on her lip. “Look . . . I’ve been thinking. Something weird is going on. First, you thought I knew Chinese.”
“Korean.”
“Okay, sorry, Korean. Then, the whole . . . wedding thing with Garrison and whatever it is that you hate him for. I know it’s none of my business, but it seems like maybe it’s a pretty big deal because I know you care about Fallon. Honestly, he seems like a really nice guy.”
I grit my teeth at her words, resisting the urge to interrupt her again. Instead, I let my head drop down with my elbows braced on my spread knees.
“Next, the guy breaking into Mel’s apartment and trying to kill me right after my weekend away with you—which you very conveniently saved me from—makes no sense.
I’ve never done anything deserving of that kind of violence.
Also, I got stabbed, and instead of calling an ambulance, you brought me to your deserted farm.
Aside from all of that . . . your hot-and-cold act is super annoying.
In Tahiti, it was like we were . . . like I wasn’t your assistant.
Right before that, you flat-out rejected me in the office. ”
We both turn a little pink at the mention of her striptease.
“I know you’re at least somewhat attracted to me, considering how we met.”
I look up at her, sitting straight and opening my mouth to explain. “I—”
“I’m not done.” She huffs out a breath, crossing her arms. “Since I’m already laying it all out there, I might as well ask, why the hell did you pretend not to know who I was or even that my name was Kate for, like, the entire first week I was working for you?”
She blinks at me, seemingly ready for my answers. Some of which I’m not willing to give her yet.
Namely, what my issue with Garrison is.
“First off, you should never doubt my attraction to you. That’s . . . ridiculous.”
She licks her lips, and my eyes follow the movement.
“I thought you knew Korean because I had told Georginne I wanted an assistant fluent in Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Those are the languages spoken in the countries I do business with, and I prefer avoiding translators because things tend to get lost in translation . . . as you can imagine.”
“Well, I never told her that I knew any language other than English! It definitely wasn’t on my résumé either, and she’s the one who called me.”
“I know that, and I believe you. I was on my way to figure out why that was when I got Jackson’s text. Me showing up at your apartment truly was a coincidence—a very lucky one at that . . . if you really didn’t know that guy.”
I shouldn’t have said it, and I know that.
Her eyes blaze as she sits up, mouth dropping open. “You—what do you mean, ‘if I really didn’t know that guy’?” She folds her arms again, eyebrows lowering and pulling together.
Time to let it all out.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve been thinking, you approaching me at Divine Taste and somehow becoming my personal assistant two days later was a pretty wild coincidence. Don’t you think?”
She gapes at me, blinking like she can’t believe what I’m saying.
“Is this some kind of joke? I was literally shocked to see you that Monday morning!”
“So, are you trying to say you don’t know how it happened and you genuinely didn’t plan it?”
She jumps up from the swing, nearly falling on her face as she trips over her feet.
I reach out to steady her, my hand on her good arm. She jerks it out of my grasp.
“I don’t believe this. I freaked out when I saw you, and then when Fallon came in, I thought I had homewrecked my boss’s engagement! It was a miserable, devastating few days that came to a wretched climax when you invited me to the wedding.”
She takes a small step toward the door like she’s about to leave. I slowly rise to my feet to tower above her petite frame. She tilts her head back to look at me.
“You thought I invited you to my own wedding after screwing you the week before?”
She nods, setting her jaw and igniting a fire in my veins. I have no choice now; we’re laying it all out on the table.
“I thought you were trying to kill me.” My voice is calm as I say the words, face neutral.
Her body freezes up, eyes growing wide. A few moments of literal crickets chirping around us rolls by.
I continue on since she’s finally letting me speak, “I’m still not sure what you’re here for. I found the bugs in my apartment and—”
She interrupts, “Bugs in your apartment?”
“Listening devices, cameras—all planted while I was asleep that night.”
Her mouth is hanging open as I go on, “You making a move on me at the office was . . . it seemed like a ploy. The people who are after me have been at it for a while, trying to trip me up to admit something about what happened with Steelhart. You’re the perfect way to do that.
A beautiful girl approaching me, me being dumb and naive enough to take her home, her turning up as my assistant with access to my home, my office, everything?
Pretty much adds up that you’d be trying to sleep your way into my head. Which you did.”
She seems to slowly regain composure as I spell it out, causing me to doubt each word I said. I’m studying every move she makes, lasering in on her expressions and the most common tells for lying. She seems to be one hundred percent genuine, but then again, she always does.
“You think I’m some kind of . . . secret agent?”
I shrug. “You’re either with the FBI or the Russian Mafia. Unless you were hired by some disgruntled rival whose company I bought out, but I don’t really see what purpose that would serve.”
I really shouldn’t be telling her all of this, but now that I’ve started, I can’t seem to stop. She bites down on her lip like maybe she’s trying to hide a smile.
“You think I could be a super spy . . . secret agent . . . trying to kill you?” She’s starting to laugh.
“I don’t think you understand what exactly has happened in my past that would . . .” I trail off as she starts to really lose it, her body vibrating with the force of her amusement.
It’s nearly impossible not to join in with her, my face cracking into a grin. Suddenly, the burden I’ve been shouldering seems to fall off. My aching muscles relax for the first time in a while.
She’s innocent.
“You’re making me feel . . . ridiculous.”
Tears are streaming down her face as she tries to stop the laughter. I chuckle, shaking my head at her.
“Ahh, I’m so sorry. Never in my life have I ever been accused of something like this.
I’m the clumsiest person I know. I can’t even run a mile, not one.
” She shakes her head, wiping the tears.
“I literally drink wine every night and draw animated characters while I watch Disney movies. I can’t—I’ve never even held a gun before. ”
My smile fades.
“You don’t know how to shoot? What if—okay, tomorrow, I’m teaching you.”
She starts laughing again. “What if I get really good and try to kill you?”
I clear my throat, shaking my head at her. “You need to be able to defend yourself.”
She nods her head, still smiling. Her eyes are lit up, and the thought crosses my mind that she’s never looked so beautiful.
If only she wasn’t injured . . .
“You should get some rest. I’ll take you out to the back fields tomorrow.”