Page 18 of Kiss Me if You Can
“No one else can even use it,” Isla argues. “It was made specifically for me, so you’re not going to get any money for it. I’ll give you two thousand.”
Geoff shakes his head.
As I try to think of some way to convince him to give us the leg, my thoughts stray in a direction I wish they wouldn’t. I could so easily hack into the store’s finances and steal the money back after I pay for the leg. They might not even notice it missing if I do it right. I swore to myself years ago that I would never go down that path again, but it would be for a good cause. Isla needs her leg back, and there’s no way I’m letting her spend ten thousand dollars when it’s my fault she lost it in the first place.
But Isla sighs, shaking her head as she hobbles forward. I’m about to stop her from making a mistake when she starts perusing the box of rings, looking like her world just collapsed in on her.
Yeah, stealing from the shop sounds like a great idea.
I want to tell Isla not to waste her time or give the man any of our money, but we do need rings, and we’re running out of time. Her meeting is in less than twenty minutes. With a sigh to match hers, I join her at the counter and find the most basic silver ring, slipping it onto my finger and praising the fact that it fits.
I don’t bother asking Geoff how much the ring costs. I doubt it’s worth much, so I slap a hundred on the counter and give him a glare that says he had better not argue. He doesn’t.
Isla takes a little longer, but she eventually finds a simple fake diamond on a rose gold band. It’s not what I would have expected from her, but she smiles as she slips it on and holds it out to admire it.
When I try to hand over another bill, Isla grabs my wrist and shakes her head. “Not this time,” she says sharply. Either she’s annoyed that I keep paying for things, or she’s still upset about the prosthesis chilling in a case on the other side of the room. Maybe it’s both. I cringe as she taps her phone to the card reader, but it’s probably better if I don’t argue. I don’t want to put her in a worse mood right before her big meeting.
“Anything else I can do for the two of you?” Geoff asks, grinning at us like he just got ten thousand bucks. I’m pretty sure Isla is right, and unless someone buys the leg for parts, it’s not going to be a lot of help for anyone. A person who can afford to spend ten grand on a prosthetic leg isn’t going to be looking for one in a pawn shop.
“No,” I growl at Geoff, fingers itching to sneak into his system and take a look around. I won’t actually do it, but the temptation is still there.
Isla leads the way to the door but pauses halfway there, looking back at me with narrowed eyes.
I squirm. Did she somehow figure out that I’m thinking thoughts I shouldn’t? “What?”
“I think I need to do something with your hair,” she says.
I really don’t like the sound of that, though I resist the urge to cover it with my hands. “What’s wrong with my hair?”
“It doesn’t match your suit. And Emily will probably expect my husband to be a little more…”
Grimacing, I look down at my scuffed-up shoes that will hopefully go unnoticed. “Fashion-forward?” I supply. That is certainly not a term I would ever use to describe myself, but it would make sense given Isla’s profession. “Do you have time to fix my hair?”
She shrugs. “I’ll run over to the drugstore next door. Meet you at the car?”
I nod, and as she hurries out the door, I glance at the prosthesis behind me before meeting Geoff’s smug gaze.
Chapter Seven
Isla
With a bit ofhair gel and some bottled water, I manage to get Jake’s hair to look moderately stylish, though he could really use a haircut. I get the sense he doesn’t care much about the way he looks, which is weirdly refreshing after years of being in the fashion world. Most guys I interact with are either gym bros, courtesy of my sister and her husband, or snobby designers who tend to look at me with disdain. Not a lot of down-to-earth guys take any interest in someone like me, and I didn’t realize how much I craved that until I met Jake.
It’s why I liked Kit so much, even if I never looked too hard at my crush on Cam’s friend. He was—is—such a chill guy and has always cared more about the people around him than about himself. Jake’s the same way, even though I know he hates everything I just did to his hair as he examines himself in my car window.
“I’m washing all of this junk out as soon as this is over,” he mutters, grimacing at his reflection. “It looks good, though.”
I snicker. “It looks better than good. You’re a Hottie McBody, Jake Moody.”
He loses the battle against his smile, letting it loose as he looks at me. “Well, are you ready for this?”
“Nope, but I don’t have much of a choice. Areyouready?”
He shrugs, sticking his hands into his pockets and looking way too delicious in his suit. The suit didn’t have a jacket with it, but it’s too hot for him to be comfortable in one anyway. With his trim torso, he’s wearing the heck out of that vest, and I’m dying a little inside knowing I can’t post a picture of the two of us. My followers would eat him up, especially if he flashed that dimple. He’s the perfect book boyfriend, neighborhood crush, dream man combination, just as pretty on the inside as he is on the outside.
Maybe after my meeting I can help him clear his name and we can…what? Hang out a few more hours before I head home? It should be weird that I’m already missing a guy I’ve only known for a few hours, but an ache has settled in my stomach thinking about how this day has to end at some point.
We climb into the car, Jake behind the wheel as if he’s done that a million times. I can almost picture us taking road trips together and switching off every few hours so the other person can nap. I don’t know what kind of music Jake likes, but he’d probably sing off-key with me to Taylor Swift because he’d know her music makes me happy. We’d share snacks and eat way too much candy and beef jerky, and we would stop at random attractions in the middle of nowhere just to get a weird keychain with a ball of twine on it.
