“Right.” I nod quickly at his hard tone. That’s his we-aren’t-continuing-this-discussion voice. He’s never directed it at me, but I can see why people shut up when he uses it on them. It has the power to make you sit up and nod. Besides, I’m starting to realize how odd I’ll sound if I insist that he go to other women when he says he won’t. And it’s kind of thrilling that he wants to be true to me, even if temporarily.
“Good. Glad we could come to an agreement on this point.” The light changes and he resumes driving.
My heart continues to beat rapidly. After stealing a glance to make sure he’s focused on the road, I pinch my inner thigh and almost hiss in pain. Okay, not dreaming. But this is just surreal.
What’s happened to me since yesterday eveningdoesn’t happen to somebody like me.Well…I guess cheating could happen, but everything else, including my panty-meltingly hot boss claiming to be my fiancé, my apartment burning down, and being taken to his place to move in—and us being fake-engaged for six months? And he wants me to dump him after it’s over because that’s supposedly more believable…
He doesn’t even want to look at another woman for six months.I gaze at the late morning sky. The sun has to haverisen in the west. Or some really potent talisman must’ve burned up in the fire. Or maybe I’ve been kidnapped by aliens, like I hoped for in Peking Town, and they’re doing some kind of mind experiment on me.
Chapter Fifteen
Josh
Klein finally stops talking and becomes quiet. Telling her I’d violate another guy’s rectum with his legs and fuck her probably wasn’t the best way to encourage conversation. Normally I would have just laughed it off, but imagining her with another guy made my blood boil until I wanted to strangle the imaginary man, and I couldn’t stop myself from saying it. Something about declaring her as my fiancée seems to have destroyed all my filters. There’s a searing feeling of awareness in my gut that has to be an unholy mix of jealousy and possessiveness.
We arrive. I hit a few buttons on my phone screen, and the main gates open. They’re solid wood laid over heavy metal frames. It would take a tank to break through.
Discreet cameras are everywhere, recording and backing up to the cloud. This ensures no one from the Dunkels will be able to get inside unobserved. They can claim to be civilized and honorable all they want, but the fact that Mom broke the spirit of the agreement and messed with my girlfriend way back when speaks volumes about that side of the family.
There’s no lawn, since grass is so demanding of water, but there are various rocks to create a landscape, a larger, rambling version of the famous rock gardens in Japan. To add interest and color, common jasmine plants grow in abundance, emitting a sweet, soothing fragrance.
“Very interesting,” Klein murmurs as she takes in the landscaping. “You’d think gravel would be boring.”
“Notjustgravel. A rock garden,” I correct her with a laugh, then point out some long, wavy lines raked into the tiny stones. “See those? They represent a river.”
“Oh…” Her eyes grow wide. “How do you get the rocks to stay put in the wind and so on?” She frowns as a few birds hop around on the “river” and one of them makes a small mess. “Or birds.” She squints. “Are those sparrows?”
“Yes. As for keeping the lines intact, you really can’t. You have to re-rake every so often. I have my gardener do most of it, but I take care of that section over there.” I gesture to our right, at a sizable patch. “He isn’t very creative, so he sticks to the original design, but I change things up, depending on my mood.”
“When do you find the time? You’re always working unless you have a poker night with your brothers or a dinner date.”
I frown a little. My life isn’t as dull and rigid as she makes it sound, and the fact that she thinks so is vaguely annoying. “On weekends. It doesn’t take that long. And it’s very soothing. If you want, I can show you.” The offer slips out before I can stop myself. I’m protective of my time in the rock garden. It calms the restlessness inside me, helps orient myself. But unlike the meditation I do in the tea room, which clears my head, it provides a sense of control as I create a vista with my own hands.
But I don’t rescind the offer. Something tells me I might enjoy having her with me—that the time might even be extra soothing because of her presence.
“Sure. I’d love that as long as I won’t be in the way.”
“You won’t. You might even inspire me to try something different.”
“Cool. In that case…” She smiles, then gets distracted. “And those are…? The leaves are too big to be ivy, and there’s fruithanging, too.” Klein points at the dark green vines covering the massive archway that leads to the stone pagoda in the back.
“Passion fruit. I planted them three or four years ago, and they took over. My gardener prunes them aggressively, but the more he prunes them, the faster they seem to grow back.”
“Resilient. You can cut me down”—she makes a small fist—“but you can’t make me cower!”
A corner of my mouth lifts. “Exactly. And the fruits are delicious once they ripen. I had them on a vacation in Thailand when my brothers and I went. Couldn’t find them around here, so I decided to plant the exact same species. I’ll let you try some when they’re ready next month.”
She smiles, her eyes sparkling like they always do when she’s about to experience something new. Her excitement is cute and contagious. “I’ll look forward to that. Don’t think I’ve ever had them before.”
We drive by the pool, which is half indoor and half outdoor. “Feel free to use that whenever you want.”
“Thanks. You swim a lot?”
“When I get a chance, or when I’m getting too pasty. It’s one thing to work indoors, another to look like a marshmallow.”
“I don’t think anybody would mistake you for a marshmallow just because you turned pale. More like a great white shark with extra-big teeth of doom.”
I laugh, glad she isn’t allowing the horrible start of her day to bring her down. Apparently, underneath that sweet and sunny exterior lies an admirable inner fortitude. But it makes sense. If she weren’t so strong, she probably would’ve let her shitty family bring her down a long time ago.
