Kaleidoscope (Colorado Mountain #6)(10)

“Part of it, yeah,” he told her. “Other part is, view doesn’t suck around here.”

She tipped back her head, exposing the elegant vulnerability of her jaw in full force and laughed her smooth, low laugh.

He’d buried how much he’d liked watching her laugh too.

And seeing it, he was reminded how much he really wanted to taste her jaw.

Fuck.

Maybe dinner before getting her shot of McFarland wasn’t a good idea.

She stopped laughing and again looked at him. “You are not wrong. The view out here doesn’t suck. Grew up in Denver, always proud my city had a backdrop of the Front Range.” She leaned in. “Better being in the mountains.” She leaned back. “Anyway, please, God, tell me you’re after those jackasses who’re targeting high school kids to commit felonies.”

Jesus. Straight to it.

And Emme, so smart, she’d figured it out.

“Can’t talk about it, Emme,” he said quietly, studying her as she studied him.

“Well, let’s just say, I hope you are. You’re on the case,” another grin, “their days are numbered.”

Deck said nothing but he knew one thing. If she was full of shit, he was retiring.

Suddenly, her face changed, her chin dipped and she became engrossed in unwrapping her silverware from her napkin and she did this saying, “I hope you’re here because you want to be here and not here because you feel you have to be out of some old-acquaintance duty.” Her eyes slowly lifted to his. “I was so excited to see you, I didn’t think about—”

Deck cut her off, “I’m here ’cause I wanna be here.”

“Good,” she said softly.

“Long time ago, Emme.”

She nodded. “Yeah.” Her eyes moved over his face. “Glad that’s… well, time heals.”

It didn’t until last summer.

Now it had.

He was saved from commenting when the waitress showed. Emme, not looking at her menu, ordered a Guinness, fried mozzarella sticks to start, followed by cheesy Texas toast and pork chops.

At her order, Deck was vaguely disappointed. It appeared she’d turned into one of those women who pretended she didn’t give a shit about food when she was in company, therefore, to keep her slim figure, she likely starved herself when she wasn’t.

He couldn’t recall paying much attention to how she used to eat, though she put on a great spread at her frequent dinner parties, but he also didn’t recall her having issues with food or Elsbeth mentioning it. And the way Deck’s brain worked, he recalled everything.

Deck ordered a Newcastle and the meatloaf dinner and the waitress moved away.

“Right, so,” Emme started the minute she left. “Tell me everything.”

He cut to the chase immediately.

“My line,” Deck replied, and her brows drew together.

“Pardon?”

“Babe,” he said low, “not lost on me and you can’t think it is that you are not the you I used to know. Act it, yeah. Look it, no.”

She waved her hand in front of her face before dropping it to the table and stating, “It’s not a big deal.”

“Emmanuelle, I didn’t recognize you until you smiled.”

She blinked. “Really?”

“Really.”

“You?” she asked, sounding stunned, knowing he forgot nothing, not a face, not a name, not a memory.

“Me,” he answered. “Heard your voice call my name. Recognized that. You came at me, I had no f**kin’ clue who you were until you smiled.”

“Wow. I grew my hair, Jacob. And got some highlights,” she told him. “Really not a big deal.”

“And took off weight and got a new wardrobe.”

“Well, that was… it was… well,” she shrugged. “Necessary.” Another grin. “And fun. The second part, that is.”

At that he felt his brows draw together and his gut get tight. “Necessary?”

“It isn’t a big deal,” she replied.

“What isn’t a big deal?” he asked.

She looked him in the eye, sighed then announced, “I was sick for a while.”

His gut clenched and his chest got hot. “What?”

“It wasn’t a big deal, honey,” she said quietly.

“You keep sayin’ that, sittin’ across from you, watchin’ you, seein’ you, I’m wonderin’ if you’re tryin’ to convince you or me.”

He saw her mouth move as her eyes gave away that she was thinking about this before she admitted. “Weird. Maybe I am.”

“Tell me,” he ordered.

“Okay.” She shifted in her seat then leaned on her arms on the table to get closer to him even as she held his gaze. “I’ll admit, at the time, it was a little scary because the doctors didn’t know what it was. At first, I was just fatigued. Then, so tired, Jacob, it was wild. It got to the point I could barely get out of bed and I couldn’t wait to get back in. Then it got worse. I lost my appetite, and it’s good we’re talking about this now before the food comes, but I couldn’t hold anything down. Eventually, it was so gross and made me even more tired, I quit eating in order to avoid vomiting. I went in to see the doctors again and again. They ran a bunch of tests. Nothing.”