Page 48 of Blossoms of the Heart
I was in there for just over an hour when Akito came in, smiling like he’d just gotten some good news.
“There you are. Thanks for checking on the girls last night.”
I wished I really had just checked on them. I wouldn’t be in trouble now and I definitely wouldn’t be walking around with a hard-on.
“No problem.”
“I was hoping to speak to you before you got busy.” Akito smiled.
“Talk away. I’m all ears.”
“You okay?” He looked me over with concern.
“Sure.” Lies.
I was far from okay. Especially since I should feel worse for kissing Phoebe when I told Candace I’d think about giving her another chance. And, I most assuredly shouldn’t regret not getting the chance to get a good feel of Phoebe’s ass.
The tits would have to do for now although I had vivid visions after of me feasting on her hard nipples. I was stupid—I should have at least looked.
Fuck. I was fucked. I’d have to move down to archives for the time she was here.
“I have some exciting news, Tai.”
“Cool, what’s up.” I rested against the edge of my desk.
“That idea I had panned out. The board of education want to talk to us about setting up a teaching facility. They’ve noted that we have very specialist people here and they want to talk to us about sharing what we know. They want to give us a grant of whatever we need to extend the building to accommodate future students and staff.”
“That was fantastic.” And just the sort of thing I saw in the cards for me. “Would this all be classroom shit?”
He frowned at my use of language.
“Stuff?” I amended.
“No, which is exactly why it’s exciting. It means excursions, revisiting places others have been to because they didn’t have the specialist skills we have to fully investigate. It means adventures. You up for it?”
“Oh I most definitely am.”
“Good, because I want you to lead it. Run it. Have it eventually.”
I narrowed my gaze at him.
“Say that again?” I must have misheard.
“I’m not getting any younger, Tai. I’m sixty-five. I’m not going to be much good out there in a few years. I suspect I’ll still be able to accompany you on a number of travels but as for climbing mountains and whatnot, not so much.” He chuckled.
“I see your point. But me?”
“You.” He pointed at me.
“Thanks, Uncle.” I owed a lot of thanks to this man. Theoretically, I probably didn’t have all the required field experience a lot of people in our line of work had, but Akito knew me and my skill set. I’d learned from him, and he was the best. That was all I needed. Nothing more.
This new idea of his sounded amazing. It fit right in with this new direction I was taking my life. I liked the prospect of new possibilities.
Anything could happen. That part was exciting.
“I’d like us to meet properly and discuss it as soon as. And, if it’s okay with you I’d like to include Phoebe. Her ability to read dead languages is astounding. We could use someone like her.”
“Yeah sure.” I meant that. I genuinely meant that.
