“Do you smoke or do any kind of recreational drugs?”
“No.”
She side-eyes him. “Not even cigars?”
He hesitates. “If they’re disqualifying, consider them gone.”
“Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” She’s ticking things off an invisible checklist.
“No. Though I have been accused of thoughtcrime.”
Greg bellows a laugh and smacks the table.
Christine regards them both wearily. “Have you ever ghosted a woman?”Ooh, that’s a good one.
Jack casts a guilty look Greg’s way. “We all do dumb things in college.”
Christine shakes her head sadly. “That’s disappointing to hear, Jack. I expected better from you.”
I snicker as he hangs his head. It’s one of the things I love most about my sister—she’s totally fearless, intimidated by no one. Not even Jack’s charm can faze her.
“Have you ever changed a diaper?”
He thinks for a minute, then grimaces. “Shit, no. Is that a deal-breaker?”
“We’ll see.” Greg mouths “No” over her shoulder, then pretends to be studying the ceiling when she whips her head around to give him a warning look. “How long does it take you to return your mom’s phone call?”Another good one.She’s on a roll.
I smirk and look to Jack for his response, but there it is again—that shadow. A pinch between his brows that promptly vanishes when he notices me studying him. It’s there and gone, faster than a flash of lightning, so fleeting you wonder if you even saw it to begin with.
“Same day is the only acceptable answer to that, of course,” he answers smoothly.A little too smoothly, if you ask me.
Christine considers him for an extra beat, which tells me she’s picking up on the same less-than-truthful vibes I am. I make a mental note to revisit this later. “How long was your last serious relationship?”
Okay, this has gone far enough.“Christine, stop. Over the line.”
“Over the line? I haven’t even requested his credit score, W-2, and medical records yet.” She leans toward Jack conspiratorially. “I’m also going need to see your browser history and the past three years’ worth of your Amazon purchases, but you can get me all that later.”
“It’s fine,” Jack says, brushing his hand over mine in reassurance, and my knuckles tingle like he’s sprinkled themwith fairy dust. “It lasted about a year and a half. And it ended a little over a year ago,” he adds preemptively.
I sit up a little straighter.Now that is new and interesting information.Christine smiles smugly like,You’re welcome.
Her eyes take on a diabolical glint. She’s a dog with a bone now. “Who ended it?”
“Christine.That’s enough.” I murder her with my eyeballs. “Greg, control your wife.”
He barks a skeptical laugh. “You of all people know how futile that request is.”
Jack holds up a hand. “I ended it. And before you ask why, I’m fine to tell you.” He refolds the napkin on his lap before leaning forward and resting his forearms on the table. “When we first started dating, I was looking for someone who understood how demanding my job was and wouldn’t require too much of me. And she didn’t.” He laughs ruefully. “She gave me the space I asked for. Sometimes we wouldn’t see or speak to each other for days. And that was fine for a while, until I realized that Iwantedsomeone to require more of me.”
He turns to lock eyes with me, the warmth in his gaze whispering across my skin like a tropical breeze. “I realized I could live without her. And I want someone I can’t live without.”
The din of the restaurant fades to the edges as he holds eye contact, the tension between us fogging thicker than vapor in a steam room. In fact, I may as well be in a sauna, the way I’m cooking under the heat of his gaze, the effort it’s taking to drag in a full breath. The look he’s giving me is charged and private and loaded with hidden meaning. This look needs to get a room.
“Nowthat’sa pickup line,” Greg declares, and the moment is broken by our laughter.
I finally tear my gaze away from Jack and reach for my water, needing to cool myself down (or plunge myself into an ice bath, one of the two), when I catch sight of Christine and I’m jogged out of my Jack-trance right quick. Her eyes are sharp on mine, narrowed, her penetrating expression the same one she used to reserve for interrogations about whether I’d borrowed her clothes without asking. I’m under the sister spotlight now, and she’s got twenty-eight years of experience in seeing right through me.
When she tilts her head and smiles meaningfully at Jack, I can pinpoint the exact moment I’ve lost her as my partner in this particular crime. “I’ve got just one more question for you, Jack.”
