Page 12 of Shadow Lies

Spur of the moment was not in the Lee’s vocabulary.

So if it wasn’t his parents, who?

Kane frowned. “I don’t understand.”

His teacher asked, “What’s to understand?”

“Who would visit me here?”

“A woman. A pretty woman.”

And there it was, the one thing able to surprise Kane even more. Shifu Yon Yun noticing and specifically mentioning a female’s attractiveness.

A female here at the monastery and looking for him.

Kane stood, open mouthed and speechless as his mind churned with confusion and more questions than answers.

He realized the shock had caused him to forget his place. “Apologies, shifu. I’m just surprised.”

“No more than the abbot was when she arrived and demanded that she see you.”

Kane’s eyes widened. “Shifu, I promise. I don’t know who this could be. I didn’t invite anyone to visit here.”

“She knows you. If you go see her, then you will know who she is as well.”

It all sounded logical when he said it, yet Kane couldn’t seem to wrap his head around it.

Finally, he nodded. “All right. Is she still with the abbot?”

He cringed at the thought.

The leader of the Shaolin monastery and temple ran the enterprise like a well-oiled machine. Somehow maintaining tradition while keeping pace with the modern world.

It was a challenging and full-time job. The one thing the man couldn’t do was waste time. Especially with women demanding to see a lowly student like him.

“The abbot left for a meeting at the temple, but she is waiting in the abbot’s office here. Yes.” With one sweep of an arm, he indicated the way down the hallway and Kane reluctantly complied and headed toward the abbot’s office.

He didn’t know what he expected to find, but it wasn’t what he saw when he walked into the room.

The abbot, thankfully, was absent just as his teacher had said, but the woman was there, seated facing away from him.

He still had no clue who she might be. All he could see was a wild fall of shoulder length dark curls… until she turned when he entered. Then he got his first glimpse of her bronze complexion punctuated by green eyes that seemed oddly familiar.

Why was she familiar? He didn’t know her. Did he?

Her gaze skimmed over his monk’s shirt and pants before settling back on his face.

She smiled. “This is a new look for you.”

“Do I know you?”

“You did. I guess I looked a little different back then. Braces. Braids. Usually trailing along somewhere behind Brittany. You didn’t notice me all that much.”

His eyes flew wide as realization hit. “Alexis.”

Her smile spread. “You do remember.”

His college girlfriend’s little sister. No wonder she looked familiar. He remembered but he still didn’t understand.

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