Page 123 of Failure to Match

“Great. Second, do you know a guy named Daniel Omori?”

My heart stopped beating for a second as Jackson stiffened to stone against me. “Say that again?”

It was possible we’d both misheard her.

“Daniel Omori,” she repeated. “He’s like a famous sushi chef based in Tokyo? His restaurant is a celebrity hotspot, it pops up on my feed all the time.”

“What about him?” My chest was hammering against Jackson’s bicep. Meanwhile, he’d stopped breathing.

“He called and asked to meet with you.”

I blanked—couldn’t think of what to do or say for an awkwardly long amount of seconds. When the gears finally decided to start turning again, I tried to wiggle out of Jackson’s hold. It was no use.

“Hello? You there?”

“Uh, yup. Still here.” I was staring at the ceiling so I couldn’t see Jackson’s expression, but I swear I could feel the lethality of it.

“Do you know him?”

I licked my lips, fully alert at this point. “We’ve met.”

“Okay, yeah, sounded like it,” she said. “Anyways he called and had a bunch of questions about the Immersive program and asked if you were available.”

Could humans growl? Because Jackson’s chest was vibrating against my arm and emitting a rumbling noise that sounded verypredatory. His muscles were starting to flex too, cutting off a good chunk of my airflow as he pinned my body to his.

“What did you tell him?” I asked, pretending like I could still breathe just fine.

“I didn’t speak to him, Vivian did. She told him you’d be available next month.”

I should not have taken this phone call here. If I’d been more awake, I’d have thought better of it. Jackson’s mouth was pressed to the top of my head like it was the only thing keeping him quiet.

But before I could talk my way into hanging up and calling her back, Alice said, “He’s insisting on meeting with you sooner than that, which is why I’m calling. Are you available tomorrow night? He’s in New York reshooting a commercial, but if you’re free he’s willing to fly out after filming wraps up—just needs to know right away so he can book his flight.”

“He wants to fly to Toronto just to talk to me for a couple of hours?”

“Right?” Her voice lit up like she was sharing a particularly juicy piece of gossip. “We offered to set up a virtual meeting, but he kept pushing for dinner. Claimed it’d be easier to discuss the specifics of you relocating to Tokyo in person.”

My head was spinning, struggling to come up with an excuse to get me out of it.

Except… why? Technically, this didn’t mean anything. Technically, it was just a work meeting, and if Ididdecide to take him on as a client, nothing could happen between us anyway. Not to mention a second Immersive would look pretty solid on my résumé. There was no real reason for me to say no.

Except maybe for one.

“I’m in the middle of an Immersive already. I can’t accept a meeting with a new client.” I was being paid to focus solely on the Sinclair file. That was kind of the whole point.

“Vivian’s making an exception.”

Damn.

“She is?”

“Minerva allowed it from what I gather, so if Ripper gives you a hard time you can direct him to her.”

I tried, I really did. My only other excuse was that I planned to quit at the end of this month but, again, a second Immersive would elevate my résumé and a second bonus wouldn’t hurt, either. I’d have some financial breathing room for once.

My desire to say no was driven by my feelings, not my head.

“Okay,” I said. “If they’ve both cleared it, then sure, I’ll meet with him.”

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