Page 30 of Jacob

He shrugged after a few seconds. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. One of those big computer guys. It could be the Google one. I just know it wasn’t the Facebook guy.” He dipped a French fry in the ketchup pool then pointed it at her. “Because I saw that movie.” He popped it in his mouth and offered her a charming smile. “But yeah. Anyway. I read somewhere that those big techie guys. They failed out of business schools and started their shit in their garages. So, school doesn’t matter as long as you’re smart.”

“You got a little something.” She tapped the side of her chin. She needed an out of the conversation. Embarrassing him to wipe his face, hopefully, would do it.

She hadn’t had that much support in her life since her dad. She wasn’t sure how to handle someone in her corner. She’d gotten too accustomed to fighting.

Having lost interest in the little bit of food she’d ordered, she switched her focus to the arrangement of lollipops. She had to give it back. She couldn’t keep it. Sure, if she disassembled it, it’s not like Pipes would be able to tell which candies were once in the arrangement and which were just ones she’d bought at the store.

That wasn’t the point. If she accepted the gesture, it would mean she accepted a gift from another man. She didn’t even want to think about how he would react to that sort of disrespect. No one deserved that. She sighed, trying to keep the frown off her face.

Why couldn’t he have been the one to send her a bouquet of lollipops?

“You’re keeping it.”

“Huh?” She’d heard him but she needed a minute to think of a better response.

His lofted brow, and smirk as he sat back in the booth crossing his arms over his chest meant he knew she’d heard him.

“What makes you so sure?” she countered.

He shrugged. “You want to. I can tell by the way you look at it.”

Fuck him. He hadn’t seen her inyears. How the hell did he know her so well? “I like lollipops.” She tried to play it off.

He chuckled. “That’s why I got lollipops,” he said as he leaned back over the table, resting his elbows on it but going so far over it as though he were about to tell her a secret. “But I think there’s something more to it.” He eyed her a moment. “Not sure what.”

What was it about those eyes? How could he see through her with those glacier-colored eyes? She shifted in her seat and the vinyl protested. “It’s a sweet gesture,” she conceded. “And I like lollipops.”

He narrowed his eyes.

The two stared at one another. She wasn’t about to give him anymore. She could be stubborn as fuck if she wanted to be. As though to prove that point to him, she folded her arms over her chest and sat back, just as he had earlier. She even curled her lips up in a smirk, trying to mimic him.

“You two all done here?” Gum popper came back, interrupting their intense staring contest.

“Yeah,” he said, not breaking his gaze.

“Thanks, it was great,” Sparrow chimed in, unwilling to look away first.

“You need anything else?” The waitress reached between them, grabbing plates.

“Just the check,” the two of them responded in unison.

“We’re splitting it,” she informed.

He snickered. “Nah, not happening. You didn’t even eat.”

Fair point. “Fine. I had to offer.”

He laughed a bit harder. “You werereallysincere in that splitting it offer, eh?”

“I like to choose my battles.”

“So, you’ll let me pay, but won’t keep the lollipops?” He gestured but still held her gaze.

It was hard as hell not to look away. However, the more she looked into his, the more intricacies she saw in the iris of his eyes. The lines of white. The fleck of brown in his right eye. The ring of amber around his pupil in his left. They weren’t identical. Each had such slight differences—all the more beautiful. She wanted to get lost in them.

“What can I say?” She finally shrugged. “I’m a complicated woman.”

“Independent,” he corrected. “Perfect.”

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