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“On the count of three,” she said. “One…two…bite!”
We took big chomps at the same time. Her eyes fluttered shut as she chewed.
“Dear lord above,” she moaned, “I must have been good to deserve a donut of this exceptional quality.”
I laughed as I tore into the donut. This hit the spot and then some.
“It’s really good. Thanks for sharing.”
She shrugged, sending me a coy smile. “How could I not? So tell me, now that we’re here, anything I should know from the meeting?”
I could feel my grin fall a few notches. “No. Nothing urgent.”
She nodded, licking a speck of glaze from the corner of her mouth. I didn’t plan on telling her about Ian, even though part of me wanted to. Jessa always provoked that in me. Hell, she probably provoked that in most people. It was one of her natural talents. She was so contagiously warm, she could make friends wherever she went, prying deep dark secrets out of someone’s heart within minutes.
My goal was to stay unattached. Unaffected. Invulnerable. My secrets were the only things I could control. Jessa wasn’t getting them from me.
“I need to get back to work,” I blurted, reaching for a napkin on the tray. “Appreciate you bringing these in.”
Even I could hear the clipped, all-business tone of my voice. Jessa’s chin dipped and she stared at the uneaten donuts on the tray.
“Are you sure you don’t want any more?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
She gnawed on the inside of her lip. “Do you feel okay?”
I appreciated her question almost as much as I resented it. “I’m fine. We need to get back to work.”
In truth, I was desperate for the warmth she brought with her. I just couldn’t stand to want it. What I was going through demanded clarity, detachment.
I needed to stay away fromeveryone.
Jessa collected the tray and offered a small smile before heading back out to her desk, shutting my door behind her. Alone in the silence of my office again, I reminded myself that keeping Jessa in the employee file was for the best.
It sucked, but it needed to be done.
I sank back into the productivity zone, gathering more intel on Ian Fairchild. He’d been born in Louisville and was six years younger than Axel. His birth certificate listed a Raina Keller as the mother, but no father was listed—convenient.It just didn’t make sense that my adoptive father could be Ian’s father too. This had to be a case of some ancestry DNA sample gone awry. Maybe Ian had sent in his blood and gotten a ping for Gary Fairchild, when really it was one of our uncles instead. Who knew? Something like that made way more sense than my adoptive father actually stepping out on our mother. There was just no way he’d cheated on her during our adolescence.
No way at all.
Ian Fairchild also had a brief jail stint on his record, due to cocaine possession. That had been two years ago. And who didn’t have a random wild night with cocaine here or there in their early twenties? Nothing screamed delinquent, even though the whole thing screamedscam.
A message from Axel toward the end of my workday tugged me back to real life.
AXEL: You got dinner plans? Cora and I are doing dinner and drinks upstairs tonight. You gonna join?
My shoulders slumped as I noticed the time. I’d eaten one donut before noon, and now it was almost four thirty. I sucked at this.
DAMIAN: I might make an appearance. What’s on the menu?
AXEL: Same as always. Whatever is the most delicious, decadent, and expensive.
DAMIAN: I kinda just want some mac and cheese.
AXEL: Jesus, you are still 15 years old, aren’t you?
DAMIAN: Make it fancy if you want.
