Page 78 of Sweet, Sweet Jewel: A Sweet Treats Novel

“What was that?” He leaned over, straining to hear her.

“I said, maybe I am.” She raised her head, fire in her eyes—a fire that directly contrasted her ice-cold expression.

He'd never seen her look like this before. She was... furious. This was how Jewel, sweet, quiet and beautiful Jewel, looked when she was mad.

The revelation left him speechless.

“I went for a midnight jog yesterday.”

“By yourself?” Finn asked, coming out of his self-induced stupor. “You know how dangerous that is.”

Jewel’s answering frown willed him into silence. “I ran into someone really unexpectedly last night.”

“It wasn’t Kross, was it?”

“His name is Henry Montreal. He’s twenty-four. We went to the same pre-school. I know his gran. She sells powder buns on Daly Street.”

“So you met a friend.” Finn wore a bewildered expression. What did that have to do with Jewel’s anger at him?

“He knew you too,” Jewel whispered.

Finn’s eyebrows hiked as his confusion mounted. “Really?”

“As far as I could tell you met a days ago. Right outside the internet café where we first saw each other…”

A pit dropped into the middle of his stomach.

Finn knew exactly what had pissed her off now.

“… He said you owe him some money.”

Dammit. “Jewel, I can explain.”

She held up a hand and interrupted. “I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that the man I spent so much time with—a man that I was starting to trust—was such a jerk. Such a dishonest person. And it shouldn’t even surprise me, given all I’ve been through. But I gave you a chance. I really believed in you. I let you sleep on the bed with me.”

“Jewel…”

She frowned. “I realized I didn’t even know you. So I looked you up online and you know what I found?”

He sucked in a breath. “I was going to tell you—”

“Courtney Robinson was your sister.”

The tension mounted.

Finn squeezed his eyes shut. “You read the news articles.”

“I wondered why you were so nice to me. Someone like you wouldn’t give me the time of day, much less go to all that trouble just to make me smile. You were using me to get to Kross.”

His thoughts rushed a million miles an hour. He scrambled for a way to turn this situation around. “It’s not exactly like that.”

“I trusted you!” She smacked his chest.

He stumbled back.

Jewel’s dark skin glowed like a fire was burning in her veins. Her nostrils flared and she advanced menacingly. “I thought for the first time that a man was seeing me. Not the weird quirks or my flaws or my face. Me.”

He captured her wrist before she could smack him again. “I’m sorry. I should have been upfront.”

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