Page 52 of Trust

Pity moved over his partner’s expression. “We don’t have time for you to be this stupid. I would guess that the two of them are fucking or will be later. He was watching her all night.”

Something cold settled in his stomach.

“If you had done your job, this wouldn’t be a problem. Get your shit together, or I’ll find someone else to help me with this and share the money with him.”

With that decree, his partner turned and strode away from him. Not for the first time, he thought that if he had just walked away from the deal…to try to have an everyday life without all the plans and idiocy, he might have been happy. He could have explained it all to Lani, and she would have understood.

Now, though, he was probably damned to hell.

Eleven

“Why don’t you blow your brother off?”

Lani shook her head as she smiled at Jakob. How did this man look so good in the morning? Maybe he didn’t. Perhaps he had just dissolved all of her brain cells with the four times…yes,four…he’d made love to her. “I told you, I promised that I would be there. You could come with me.”

“I’m not up for pretending.”

They both had agreed it would be best to keep what was happening between them a secret. They didn’t even know if they would last.

“Wait, isn’t that sort of your job?”

He shrugged as he pulled on his dress shirt from the night before. The man was so, so pretty. She had known he was. Hell, his image is splashed all over the place when he has a movie release. He didn’t just have a six-pack. It was eight or more. She hadn’t been able to keep her hands off him the night before.

She had never been like that.Ever. There was just something about Jakob. When she touched him, everything else seemed to fade.

“It is, but the truth is, I’ve wanted you for too long. If I’m around your brother, then he’ll know.”

He took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. It was odd but also kind of weirdly romantic. Not that many guys had tried to romance her. Not with sweet gestures like this.

“And that would be a problem?”

“Not for me. Probably for Ben.”

They stopped by the door where their shoes sat. He pulled their joined hands up so he could kiss her hand. Again, romantic and a little…oh, who was she kidding? The old-fashioned gesture had her heart galloping and her entire body lighting up.

“Ah, is this a stupid guy thing?”

“No comment.”

She rolled her eyes.

“So, you don’t want to come with me to brunch or whatever this idiocy is? But you want to spend the day together?”

“Yeah. I’ll wait here, and then we can spend the day together. I need to make a few calls, mainly to my sister. I must let her know it will be another day or two until I make it to Maui. You should come with me.”

Something warm moved through her. “I’d like that a lot.”

After the door shut behind Lani, Jakob made another cup of coffee and moved out to the lanai. It was still early, but not too early for people to hit the beach. He enjoyed this time of day in Hawai’i, where everything seemed to awaken and explode simultaneously. The air was always dewy and sweet in the morning, and while things could suck even if you lived in Hawai’i, at least it was beautiful.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. It was his sister.

“Hey, how are you doing?”

“Jakob.”

It wasn’t his sister. Instead, it was Alek. He sounded as if he’d aged fifty years since the last time they’d chatted.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, alarm racing through him.

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