Page 14 of Cash

Brick laughed. “Okay, fine. You got me. His name is Jules Price. Very mysterious. Moved into the fancy townhouses right next door. You know the big one on the corner with the deck? He got that one.”

“Oh wow.” Chae-Won hummed approvingly. “So, he’s got money, hmm?”

“If he bought a million dollar townhouse, yeah, I’m guessing he does.”

“What does he do?”

“That’s where the mysterious part comes in,” Brick replied. “He won’t say exactly.” He thought about the weird text message he saw on Jules’s phone. “Just that he fixes things.”

“Maybe he works for the government.” Chae-Won gasped. “Oh, oh, oh, maybe he’s here on an undercover mission.”

Brick chuckled. “He doesn’t seem like the fall-in-line and listen to orders kinda guy.”

“That’s just part of his cover.”

“Uh, maybe.” Brick did not want to tell his mother that he was very certain Jules would be the guy giving the orders and not the other way around. “But probably not.”

“When are you gonna see him again?”

“It’s not like that, Ma,” Brick protested, as much as he wished otherwise. “We just met yesterday, he’s only here working—”

“And you had him over for dinner already.”

“Yeah? So?”

“I can hear you smiling.” Chae-Won chuckled quietly. “So, what did you have?”

“Yukgaejang.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he’s a big fan of Korean cuisine. Poor guy ate over at Coco Korea and needed some real food.”

Chae-Won groaned out a laugh. “Oh, poor man. No wonder you had to take him in and feed him.”

“See? I had no choice. I had to help him.”

“That’s very kind of you.” Chae-Won snorted. “Well, I hope you catch up on the show soon. I’m about to leave you in the dust.”

“I will, I swear.” Brick clicked at his computer screen. “I gotta run, Ma. Talk to you soon?”

“All right, sweetie. Love you.”

“Love you too. Tell Dad I said hey.”

“I will. Love you! Bye!”

After hanging up, Brick got to work. He was able to finish almost two chapters of the romance novel before lunch, and he decided to peek outside to see if it looked like Jules was home. Jules had said they could have dinner tonight to make up for him having to leave, and Brick berated himself for not getting Jules’s phone number when he should’ve.

Being next door neighbors, he didn’t think it would be that difficult to get up with him.

Peeking out his kitchen window, however, revealed there were still no lights on at Jules’s townhouse and the garage remained shut.

Well, damn.

Brick didn’t want to get his hopes up and told himself to prepare for the worst. He hated how fast that train of thought sunk his stomach, and he felt more than a bit foolish for having this many emotions hinging on dinner with someone he’d known for a day.

Mr. Mysterious was here on business, and it was silly to get attached—especially so quickly. Brick hadn’t thought of himself as particularly lonely, but maybe he was more desperate for a connection than he’d realized. There was something about Jules that drew him in like a damn magnet, and it was proving difficult to shake him from his thoughts.

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