Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(26)

“Saturday, that would be-” She broke off, remembering who she was and what she was doing … and who he was. “Uh, I’m not sure if I can. Can I let you know?”

“Sure.”

“So what do you do?” Jen asked him, not sure what expect him to say. She hadn’t had a chance to research him. Was he a playboy, living off of daddy’s money? Or did he have a real job? A front job? Or was he a legitimate person, just trying to get out from daddy’s shadow?

“I make apps.”

“Apps? Like on my phone?”

“Apps, like on your phone, yep.”

“Anything I would have heard of?”

Coleton’s eyes flicked to the left and he chewed on his lip for a second. Jen caught both movements, and wondered if he was getting ready to lie about something. Finally, he said, “I don’t normally tell people what apps I’ve created, but …” he seemed to consider for a second and then said, “I tell you what, you let me take you out again, and I’ll tell you.”

“Deal.” Jen smiled, thinking she liked him. Then cautioning herself for the thought.

Their waiter brought drinks and took their orders. Jen ordered a sandwich, hoping to be out of here quickly. She didn’t like leaving Ivy and Ryker alone for too long, even if she was technically still working.

“So you’re from San Fran?” Coleton asked.

Jen noticed how handsome his dark eyes were and tried to un-notice it. “I’m from here, but I moved to San Francisco when I turned 18. I needed to get away, you know?”

Coleton nodded vehemently. “I do know. So what brought you back?”

Jen thought hard, not sure how much to tell him. She didn’t want to lie too much. Honestly she didn’t want to lie at all, but she knew she would have to, at least a little. He must have seen something in her gaze because he put his hands up. “Sorry, if that’s too personal. You don’t have to answer.”


“No, no, it’s OK. My boyfriend cheated on me and I needed to get out of town. Keep myself from doing anything stupid. Get away from him.” Jen dropped her eyes, feeling ashamed, and not sure why. Adam cheated on her, he was the one who should be ashamed, not her. When she lifted her eyes and gazed cautiously at Coleton, the sudden compassion in his face caught her off guard. It made her remember what he’d said the last time she’d seen him. And she was happy to change the subject.

“Why did you quote that line from Rumi before, in the pawn shop?”

A strange change came over his face. His eyes lit up and at the same time his face contracted. And did he blush a little bit?

“You know Rumi?” he asked enthusiasm in his voice.

Now it was her turn to blush. “Well no, I don’t. I looked it up on the Internet.”

He nodded, the light still in his eyes. “I love Rumi. I love a lot of poetry. And I have an annoying habit of repeating lines that pop into my head. So I just figured I’d get it over with, so if you found it too annoying you’d know early and you could tell me to get lost.”

Jen stared at him, a little caught off guard. She’d never known anyone who read poetry. In fact she thought it was an art form that was mostly lost in this hustle and bustle world they now lived in. And would a criminal enjoy poetry? How would she know, she didn’t know anything about poetry. Well, except that line he’d quoted.

“Where the lips are silent the heart has a thousand tongues,” she said. He smiled, clearly pleased. “What does it mean?” she asked. None of the websites Ivy had found it on had said.

“It means something different to everyone, and in every situation. To me, in that situation I guess it meant that I was fascinated by your bit of teasing and I didn’t have anything clever to say back. But I wanted to keep the exchange going.”

Jen felt herself melt a little bit at this frank admission. She grabbed her water cup and took a long swallow and damned her fragile emotions. What the hell was she thinking? She wasn’t cut out to be a damned undercover officer! She had to go back and tell someone she couldn’t do this. Not with this guy. Her frantic, buzzing thoughts made her remember what she was supposed to be doing here.

She put her water cup down. “Did your parents read you poetry? Is that what got you interested in it?”

His face darkened immediately. Their sandwiches came and he made a show of inspecting his food until the waiter was gone.

“My parents? No. They don’t like poetry. In fact my father downright hates it.”

Jen raised her eyebrows slightly, but tried to cover it by biting into her meal. After she finished chewing she said, “Oh sorry, that must be hard, for you to be interested in something your father dislikes so strongly. You two aren’t close then?”

“Hardly.” He bit into his own sandwich and looked out the window, a small frown on his face. Jen thought frantically. Should she keep asking questions about his father? Or would that put him off? Argh, why didn’t she have a manual? 7 Safe Questions to Get your Target Talking or something! Or at least someone could have told her what kind of things to ask. But she had a feeling that everyone else was as surprised as she felt at being alone with him already.

He broke into her thoughts. “What do you wear, half-suit or full-suit?”

Jen smiled, happy to be over the hard stuff and back talking about surfing. There was always time for the hard stuff. She hadn’t formed any solid opinions yet, but she was halfway to believing that Coleton did not work with his father. And he was nothing more than a harmless app creator. No dangerous criminal here.