Page 26 of Crossed By the Stars
I snorted, but my body filled with flames at the idea as well as the heated look he sent my way.
“Come eat,” he said. “I won’t have you wilting away on my watch.”
I wanted to tell Dax to take his food, his sexy body, and his tantalizing smile and get the hell out, but my stomach growled at the scent of the orange chicken. Dax winked upon hearing it, and my heart flipped over.
While I hadn’t given in to Akari or my father, Dax knew how to pull at all the shattered corners of my soul. It meant my willpower was practically nonexistent when it came to him, and the real problem was, he knew it.
Dax
YOUR LOVE
“For a love that's pure and true
So I can forget about you.”
Performed by Yuna
Written by Robinson / Zara'ai / Warfield
Jada finally rose from her deskchairand came around the table. I took her in as she walked. She was wearing a lemon-colored dress today with a sweetheart neckline and a cut that was sculpted to every curve. Her spiked heels were nude, blending in with her pale legs and making them look extra-long, making her seem much taller than she was.
Her black hair was pulled up in a complicated chignon that only tempted me to pull the pins from it so that her long hair would swing about her shoulders and breasts. I wanted to unzip the dress and lay my tongue on every piece of her.
I ignored the throbbing in my heart and my groin and focused on fixing her a plate. I’d brought some of her favorites, food that would tempt her to eat, because if I knew Jada at all, she was losing her appetite to the guilt and worry filling her.
I’d spent yesterday at the boat show, trying to forget her, the threats, and the way she had all but dismissed me when I’d texted. Today, with nothing critical to keep me busy, my brain had been lost in thoughts of my father,Éclair, and Jada. The desire to see her had grown until it had been undeniable, until I’d risked everything just to show up at her office door without allowing her to tell me no this time.
When I’d seen Ito-san disappearing into the sedan parked out front, I’d known I was doing the right thing. Jada needed someone at her side who would force her to talk instead of keeping everything bottled up. With Dawson and Violet halfway around the world, it landed at my feet because I knew she’d never open up to her employees.
I waited until we’d almost finished eating before casually throwing out the question. “Was that Ito-san I saw leaving?”
She gave a careless nod, wiping her mouth and putting the chopsticks down.
“Your father came to see you again?” I asked, unable to hide my worry.
“No,” she said, picking up a fortune cookie in its package and flipping it over. “It was Akari Matsuda.”
I stilled.
“Ken’Ichi’s sister?” My heart thumped loudly in my chest. “She’s here? In the city?”
Jada’s thoughts had clearly gone where mine had, because she was already shaking her head. “I seriously doubt she’s the one who sent the threat. Can you even imagine Akari saying or writing something so unpleasant? I don’t think she was taught any hateful vocabulary.”
But as soon as she said it, there was a flash of something else that crossed her face. Worry. Confusion.
“What?” I asked.
She dropped the fortune cookie, rose, and went behind her desk.
“Thanks for lunch, but I have a lot to do today. We have a big meeting with Whole Foods at the end of the month to renegotiate our numbers.”
I got up and followed her, pulling her hand from the back of the chair to my chest. She didn’t fight me, but she didn’t look up into my eyes either.
“Don’t shut down now,mon amour. Tell me what’s going on in that beautiful brain of yours. What did Matsuda-san want?”
Opposed to the sweetmon petit bijouI’d used the other night, this term of endearment had always made Jada bristle. It was a ploy to get her to talk that I wasn’t above using.
“She invited me to a tea ceremony and dropped the bomb that she thinks our parents are having an affair.”
