A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(47)

[page]Her mother’s words strengthened Kat’s fire of determination. “Yeah,” she snapped. “And it’s your daughter’s birthday dinner, so can you just let it go tonight?” Kat closed her eyes, beating down her anger. “I’ve contacted the library on Fifth and Forty-second to reserve the reading room. He’s released on Tuesday. Our first session is a week from then.”


“Well, that’s great news,” Harrison said before Eva could say any more. He smiled sympathetically across the table at Kat. She returned his gaze before looking at Beth, who was murmuring quietly to Adam.

What the hell was going on? Sure, Beth had always spoken up about Kat’s mother, all but excusing her overbearing protectiveness, but this was something else.

Adam cleared his throat. “Austin’s here,” he said as his brother came toward the table with—much to Kat’s embarrassment—a gorgeously wrapped present.

“Hi, guys.” Austin shook Adam’s hand and lowered his voice. “I just got off the phone with Casari. We got ’em.”

Adam’s features sharpened. “Austin, man, I told you; be careful that—”

“Later,” Austin bit out. He hugged Beth and turned to Kat. “Happy birthday,” he said, laying the gift in front of her. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Austin, you really didn’t have to—”

“Nonsense. It was just something that made me think of you when I saw it in San Francisco. Open it, please.”

“I will. Austin, this is my mom, Eva Lane, and her partner, Harrison Day. Mom, this is Austin Ford.”

Her mom’s eyes widened when Austin kissed her hand. “A pleasure,” he uttered before he shook Harrison’s hand and took a seat at Kat’s side.

“Quite. A young man with manners,” her mom murmured with a pointed look at Kat. “How very rare these days.”

Ben snorted from across the table, making Kat smile. With all eyes on her, she started ripping at the deep purple paper to find a large transparent box, which contained a beautiful snow globe. Instead of snowflakes falling around the miniature Golden Gate Bridge, millions of small stars and bits of crystal spun and glittered as they caught the light.

“Austin, that’s gorgeous.” Beth gasped.

“It is,” Kat agreed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He kissed her cheek again, allowing his lips to linger a little longer than before.

Austin was once again a pleasure to be around, and Kat decided that she liked it when his finger would graze her arm or his hand would lightly catch the skin of her back when he rested it on the back of her chair. She liked when their eyes met and she liked the sound of his laugh and the way he said her name.

But there was still … something off. She was attracted to the guy. But a few times she’d shifted uneasily in her seat because that undefinable discomfort settled deep within her. Kat tried to ignore it, but it never disappeared.

*

Standing on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant after dinner, Ben hugged Kat warmly. “Happy birthday. Jesus, your mom was in rare form tonight. She needs to lower the dose.”

Kat chuckled into his shoulder. “She’s a nightmare. She and Beth both.”

“Yeah,” Ben agreed. “What was that about?”

Kat shrugged. “Who knows? I can’t even …”

“I think your mom’s a little taken with your friend.” Ben glanced at Austin, who chatted amiably with Eva. Ben’s face turned serious. “You need any info on this guy, give me a call, okay? Dirty little secrets are my speciality. Plus it gives me an excuse to play on Google.” He smirked when she pushed him away lightheartedly.