Page 28 of Hidden Empire
“Twenty?”
He emphasizes the two fingers another time, rocking them forward.
“Twenty-two?”
He confirms with a dip of his chin.
“Totally hypothetical and random other question,” I preface, licking my dry lips. “Do you date girls you’ve just met who?—”
“Jade?”
My name echoes from farther down the hall, and my eyes widen. Armani’s voice calls out for me again, and the mysterious man seems to understand my panic. Without hesitation or being asked, he begins to walk past me in the direction away from my brother’s voice.
“Wait,” I surprise myself, whisper-yelling the word as he walks away. “Will I see you again?”
What could possibly go wrong? It’s only embarrassing if he says nothing or flat-out rejects you.
He turns just enough to see me over his shoulder. “You will.”
The man disappears into the corridor as the timber of his voice weakens my knees.
I almost squeal with excitement. He speaks! I mean, it’s not a requirement. We could certainly figure out communication without his voice. It would be entirely worth it, but knowing that I can hear that voice again? It’s exhilarating!
Holy shit, I like this guy!
He said two words to me, and I’m totally crushing on him right now. Oh my god, I don’t know how to operate with a crush. Especially not how to operate with a crush I can’t tell my brothers about. And therefore I can’t really tell anyone about it. I don’t doubt their ability to get secrets out of other people.
The first thing I’m doing when I go to bed tonight is contemplating how to spend time with my mystery guy and soon.
“There you are!” a worried voice pulls me from the clouds and back down to earth. “Where have you been, are you alright?”
Armani gets close to my face, evaluating the state of me. “Did you get lost? Did anyone hurt you?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” I promise, shaking my head. “I was figuring out my way back and got distracted looking around. Sorry, no one hurt me though, I swear.”
Genuinely concerned, he releases a breath. “You have to be careful, Jade. The rules on the boat make the rules on the island look militant. A lot of shit is allowed, and is easy to cover up. We talked about this?—”
“I know, I know, I—” Swallowing, I cut myself off.
I feel like such a shit sister for worrying my brothers so I could get a few more stolen moments with a dangerous, gorgeous stranger.
“I really am sorry,” I tell him honestly. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“I know,” he murmurs, softening up. “Did you ask anyone to help you?”
Uh-oh. “Umm?—”
“You did,” he guesses, eyes scanning the empty hall around us. “Who was it? Did they ignore you? What did they look like? Which way did they g?—”
And this is why I can not tell any of my brothers that I have a crush. They go from zero to one hundred in a flat second. The protectiveness is actually so heartwarming. Having them care so much isn’t something I scoff at, but I do know it’s going to make getting to know a guy difficult.
I’m crossing my fingers that my mystery guy is down with keeping secrets because I’d like to give him more than a few.
“Jesus,” I burst out, cutting him off. “I thought you were working on this scarily overprotective thing?”
“I was until someone talked to you,” he shoots back. “Who was it? This is important, little sister. I need to know.”
“Can’t you just trust me?” I ask hopefully, smiling up at him. “You wouldn’t grill Matteo like this, would you?”