A Gentleman in the Street (2 page)

As if he would be swayed by something as simple as a pair of nice gams. Moron.

Suck it up, buttercup.

“I assume I can come running to you for help when—” Her words cut off when he reentered the room pulling a white T-shirt over his head in that sexy way sexy men sexily pulled T-shirts on. He wore the same jeans, but he had washed up even if he hadn’t showered; his hair was damp at the ends.

He glided to the kitchen, surprisingly quiet for such a large man. “What do you want, Akira?”

The way Jacob said her name…well, it almost made her forget she hated it with the passion of a thousand suns.

“What makes you think I want something?” she hedged. “Can’t I come see my favorite brother?”

His shoulders tightened, and he reached for the coffee maker, his motions economical. Like a sexy robot. “Call me your brother one more time,” he said quietly, “and I will carry you to your car and put you inside it.”

No, that wasn’t a seductive threat
at all
. Not when it was delivered in that measured, deliberate way.

She really wasn’t imagining he’d sound the same when he was threatening to spank her.

Nope.

Her fingers itched to rip those casual clothes off him and see how long he remained in control when she was trailing her lips down his belly. She curled her fingers into her palm. “Relax, Jacob.”

He grunted. “How did you find me here?”

An easier question. “I went to your house. Kati pointed me in the right direction.”

His brow furrowed. He measured grounds into the coffee maker. Hesitated. Measured out more. “You talked to Kati?”

“Yeah.” He was overprotective of all his siblings, but he had raised Kati since she was five. He was particularly overbearing when it came to his little girl.

Not that the scowling, surly seventeen-year-old who had answered his door a few hours ago needed much protection, Akira thought. That girl would make it just fine on her own. “Relax. I only exchanged a few sentences with her. There was hardly any time to corrupt her with foul language or my vast sexual experience.”

He closed the coffee tin harder than it warranted. “She’s supposed to be at a friend’s house this weekend. It’s why I’m here. I wouldn’t leave her alone.”

Oops. Sorry, Kati. She hoped the kid had some cover story in place, if she was pulling one over on her guardian. “I’m sure she has a good reason for being there,” she said lamely.

Jacob drew out a cell phone and glanced at the display. “I’ll have to go down the road to catch a signal.” The coffee perked in the pot while Jacob’s scowl grew darker.

Privately, Akira thought seventeen was plenty old enough to be left alone at home, but it wasn’t like she’d had a healthy adolescence for any kind of frame of reference. At seventeen, she’d pretty much been on her own for years. “I didn’t hear any kind of raucous party going on, if it helps.”

“She’s not the type to throw a party.”

She’s not the type.
She’s not like you,
was what he meant. Men, so dumb. So consumed with classifying women into types to satisfy their own sense of comfort.

Suddenly, Akira hoped young Kati was engaging in all sorts of debauchery this weekend with her brother gone.
Don’t be a type, girl.

“Maybe she was delayed,” she offered.

“Maybe.” A frown played over his face.

She sighed and reached into her purse for the lifeline she was rarely without. A quick peek at the display reassured her she had one weak bar for a signal. “Here. You can try mine. It gets reception everywhere.”

Jacob paused. “Oh. Okay. Thanks.” Their fingers brushed when he accepted the phone. An electric zing traveled up her arm.

He seemed oblivious, already moving a few steps away and punching in a number. He shot her a quick look over his shoulder, and she pretended great interest in the coffeepot.

His voice dropped two octaves. “Kati-cat.”

Kati-cat? Oh, poor child.

“Did something happen? Why are you still at the house?”

This super kind, caressing tone had definitely never been directed her way. Not that she was jealous of his sister. That would be weird, given all the non-sisterly feelings she harbored toward him.

The coffee maker sputtered, and she eyed it warily. She had a restaurant-quality espresso maker at home, but she employed people to operate it.

It’s a pot with liquid in it
.
She could manage this.

“Mm-hmm. So when is Kristen picking you up then?”

There were only three overhead cupboards, so she located the collection of chipped mugs quickly. She withdrew a sufficiently manly blue mug, and then eyed a fetching pink one with daisies on it.

Hell, he’d made enough for both of them.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. Maybe I should come home.”

Out of his sight with her head poked into the fridge, she rolled her eyes. Poor, poor child. She grabbed the gallon of milk and plunked it on the counter next to the mugs.

“Okay, okay. Ah. No. I don’t have a signal. It’s Akira’s phone.”

The burst of excited chatter on the other end of the line was loud enough for Akira to hear. She raised an eyebrow as he cast her a discomfited glance and moved into the other room, shutting the door.

Good thing the walls were so thin in these cheaply made cabins. She only had to tiptoe over and plaster herself against the door to eavesdrop, and his muffled words came through loud and clear. “Kati, calm down. No, I don’t know why she’s here. No. No.”

Silence. Then, “Well, why did you tell her where the cabin is?”

More quiet. A long-suffering sigh. “She’s smart. I’m sure that’s all she needed to figure it out.”

At least he acknowledged she was smart. She would ignore the sigh.

“Relax. You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle Akira.”

The hell he could. Akira sniffed. Men didn’t
handle
her.

There was no warning before the door opened. Startled, she pitched forward, steadied by a strong grip on her biceps. His eyes grew wide before he hastily righted her, his surprise morphing into discontent. “Of course she’s not here to cause trouble.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. She would happily cause trouble. However, there was a fine line she needed to walk right now between pissing him off so much he kicked her out and maintaining the arm’s-length distance that kept him safely away from her squishiest parts.

It would be easier to keep him at arm’s length if his hand hadn’t remained wrapped around her arm. Why had she not worn long sleeves?

He spoke into the phone, but his gaze burned into Akira. “Have fun at Kristen’s, and I want you to contact me immediately if anything changes. I’ll go down the road and check my messages every couple of hours.” He hung up and glared at her. “Are you eavesdropping?”

“That’s kind of a dumb question,” she pointed out. “What else would I have been doing, checking for termites?”

Another gusty sigh left him. They were getting annoying.

He sidestepped her, heading back to the kitchenette.

“Um.” She glanced pointedly at her upper arm. “As much as I enjoy being dragged around, could you maybe lighten your grip a little?”

He looked down and pulled away as if she’d scalded him, backpedaling until he bumped against the counter. His cheeks flushed a dull red. “Sorry. I’m, uh. I didn’t realize.”

She massaged her arm. It tingled where he’d touched her.

“Here.” He handed her the phone. There was no brushing of fingers this time. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

He hesitated before speaking, every word dragged out of him. “Do you…want some coffee?”

Ask him what you came to ask him and leave.

But she was the one who had pulled out two mugs. A pink mug no less. “Sure. Black.”

He poured the coffee and passed it over the counter. Akira grabbed the mug and took a bracing sip, her eye twitching at the hit of caffeine. Did Jacob ever sleep?

“Too strong for you?”

His tone was carefully neutral, but damned if she’d give him a single reason to feel superior. Trying to hide her grimace, she placed the mug on the counter. “Nope. I— Wait, is that skim milk? I didn’t realize. I love skim milk in my coffee.”

“Do you?”

“It’s my favorite.” She poured in a dollop of watery milk, until the liquid turned creamy brown. “Kati okay?” she asked when it was clear he wasn’t going to be forthcoming.

He gave a terse nod. “She had a change of plans. Going to another friends tonight, but she won’t be picked up until much later.”

Yeah, right, Akira thought cynically. “See? Told you there was a good reason.”

“She also said she didn’t tell you where this place was.”

“She didn’t. Don’t blame the kid for my superior deductive reasoning skills.”

“You said she told you.”

“She said you were on a writing retreat at your cabin. You’ve mentioned in interviews the general location of your cabin. It took about an hour to search the property records, and another hour to drive out here.” She tsked. “Really, you ought to be more careful. Bad enough you don’t write under a pen name. Any overzealous fan could find you.” Or an overzealous socialite turned businesswoman.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He drank his coffee, and she did the same, though the milk hadn’t helped the taste of the drink much. The silence stretched between them.

“So.”

“So.”

He rolled his shoulders. “It’s been a while.”

Akira eyed him warily. They weren’t adept at small talk. Thrust with a cutting remark, parry with a cold comment, duck heavy silence. That was their MO.

What the hell. “Yeah. Six months, right?” Six months and eight days since her mother’s funeral. She vaguely remembered Jacob and his siblings attending, but she’d been out of it.

She and the Campbells had been the closest thing to family her mother had had left, but there’d been lots of friends and acquaintances to pack the church. Akira’s father hadn’t come, because Akira’d refused to allow entrance to the camera crew hovering around him 24/7. Even without the cameras, she didn’t think she would have permitted him to show up. The woman deserved to not have her first husband, a man she’d utterly despised, at her funeral.

Before that, Akira hadn’t seen Jacob in well over a year, since she had decided to stop inflicting her presence on her mother. So it had been a while.

“Sounds right.” He shifted. “It’s strange without Mei. I didn’t realize she was such a big part of my family’s life until she was gone.”

Akira nodded, though she couldn’t quite empathize. Mei had lived a comparatively quiet life after she’d divorced Akira’s father, but she had enjoyed socializing with non-Moris. Though Mei and Jacob’s father, Harvey, had divorced quickly, their parting had been mutual and surprisingly non-acrimonious. The Campbell siblings had been welcome guests on most holidays and special occasions. Occasions for which Akira’s presence had been demanded but begrudged.

Did she miss her mother? Akira hadn’t known her well enough to miss her, and at the end, being around the woman had only led to sadness and guilt. She’d missed her chance at any degree of closure, though. She’d missed the chance to request absolution for being so fucking unlovable.

Jacob’s eyes shifted to stare at a point to the right of her head. “The funeral was beautiful.”

The funeral had been little more than a blur, coming a mere four days after her mother’s unexpected death. Unexpected to her, that is. She hadn’t known Mei had suffered a series of small strokes in the months leading up to her last days.

Jacob, on the other hand, had visited her mother regularly on her sickbed.

“Thanks. She planned it all before she died.”

His lips softened. “I thought it was very tasteful.”

Akira’s funeral wouldn’t be tasteful. There would be firecrackers and alcohol and beautiful men weeping. “Incredibly tasteful.”

Jacob placed his half-full mug on the counter. His dark lashes hid his eyes. “I was going to call or something at some point. See how you were doing. But it’s been so crazy with Kati’s senior year and the boys launching their new business…”

Startled, her mouth dropped open. Jacob had considered checking in on her? As if she were some normal person who might be affected by her mother’s death and not the sociopath he probably considered her to be? “Oh. No. I mean, that’s fine. I wouldn’t have expected that from you.”

His lips twisted. “I figured. But, you know, I should have, since…”

“Since you’re such a good brother?” she retorted, before she could catch herself. Wincing, she raised her hand to stave off the storm cloud gathering on his face. His beautiful, beautiful face. “Sorry. Sorry.” She was sorry. It had been instinct to counteract the unexpected kindness of his intention to check in on her with a verbal shove.

“What brings you here?”

There. He was back to being Mr. Stiff.
Happy?

No.

But this was better. It had gotten a little too touchy-feely there, and with all this talk about her mother…well, she needed a wall between them. It protected all her softest parts.

Suddenly weary, she massaged the back of her neck. “This is, actually, about my mother. And a gift she may have given you.”

“The bequest?”

Akira had been expecting her mother to leave the Campbell family a sizable sum, but her will had only bequeathed a hundred thousand dollars to be split between the four siblings. Mei Mori hadn’t been born rich, but at eighteen she’d had the distinct misfortune to stumble directly into the path of Hiro Mori, who, smitten, had not signed a prenup. Mei could have taken the sizable fortune she received in the divorce settlement and sat on it, but the woman had been a crafty investor and had more than doubled it over her lifetime. In light of the rest of her estate, a hundred grand was a drop in the bucket.

Then again, Akira bet Mei knew Jacob would balk at a huge sum of money. Her mother had once proudly told her Jacob was determined to make it on his own, though she had offered to help them more than once.

This information had been imparted, of course, to imply Akira had done nothing but take advantage of the silver spoon she’d been born with.