Page 8 of Kiss Me if You Can
“Who are you, Isla? Why are you in Sun City? Why did you decide to trust me when you have every reason not to?”
For some reason, my breath catches in my throat as he resumes his ministrations. I don’t know if it’s the questions that hit me, or the way his fingers are so gentle as they work their way from my ankle to my knee. Whatever it is, something is bubbling up in my belly the longer we sit here.
“I’m Isla,” I say with a shrug, glad that he chuckles at my poor excuse for a joke. I’m usually a lot wittier than this, but it’s been a crazy morning so far. “I was born in Hawaii, not that you’d ever guess it looking at me, and my parents adopted me when I was a baby. I’m the third oldest of ten kids—wait, eleven now—most of us adopted. I work in clothing design, though I’ve been focusing on athletic wear because my sister and her husband run a big, fancy gym in Diamond Springs and helped me get started by selling my stuff to their clients.”
I pause when he gets to a particularly deep gouge running the length of my shin, gritting my teeth as he cleans the dirt from the wound.
Without even looking up, he reaches over and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze as if to tell me I can squeeze right back if I need to.
Who in the world is this man?
“I’m in Sun City to meet with an influencer who might be able to help me grow my brand,” I continue. “She commented on one of my posts a few weeks ago and said she loved my stuff, and when I realized she was here in New Mexico, I begged her to let me take her out to lunch and talk a collab.”
Pausing again, Jake meets my eyes. “You haven’t missed your meeting, have you?”
“Not yet. It’s not until two.”
He looks up at the sky, squinting in the sunlight filtering down from the bleachers above us. “It’s after twelve.”
“Did you just tell the time by looking at the sky?”
He smiles, but it’s not enough to show his dimple. He’s more tense than I realized, though he wasn’t before I started talking. I must have said something that made him nervous. “It’s not that hard. Especially in the summer.”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure no one else in this century can do that, Jake.”
He winces. “You probably shouldn’t use my name. I shouldn’t have told you in the first place. I shouldn’t have let you get into this mess to begin with, and I shouldn’t have agreed to the idiotic plan the feds set up, and—”
“Hey!” I squeeze his hand back, scowling at him. “If you start rambling about things you should have done instead of focusing on what you can do now, we’re going to get nowhere. I have plenty of time before my meeting, and I want to help you if I can. Just like you’re helping me.”
He groans, tucking the bloody wipe into the bag and grabbing a fresh one. “I’m not sure anyone can help me at this point.”
“What if you tell me as much as you know?”
“You know basically everything already. I was assisting in a setup, something went wrong, and I had to run away to avoid being shot. That’s about all I know.”
“You’re sure he was trying to shoot you?”
“He did shoot. Missed, obviously, but I don’t know if he’s dirty or if someone tried to set me up.” He growls a little, digging a bit too hard into my wound.
I yelp and grab his other hand.
Cringing, he hunches in on himself as if that might make him less dangerous. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be doing something this important when I’m this riled up. I feel like I haven’t taken a breath since this morning.” He tries, but it’s like he can barely find the strength to inhale. I don’t think the sounds of the game and the crowd are helping him, though I’ve barely noticed it all around us. I’ve been so focused on him.
Since I’m still holding onto both his hands, I pull him closer and tuck our clasped hands under my chin, resting my head on his fingers. He watches me with so much concern in his green eyes. I can’t decide if his concern is more for me or for himself, but it’s completely endearing.
“Breathe with me,” I tell him.
He pulls his eyebrows together. “You don’t have to—”
“Breathe, Percival.”
He blinks. “Percival?”
“If I can’t use your real name, I have to use something, don’t I?”
“And you pickedPercival?”
I nod, taking a deep breath as I do so. “It’s a very distinguished name, don’t you think?”
