The Keys to Jericho (62 page)

She asks, “Are you two married?”

I answer before he can, “No.” It seems to hurt less that way, when I don’t have to hear him say it.

“Well, don’t let this one get away!”

I smile, but don’t comment that I’m trying not to, because he’s already gone. I only have him on loan for a short time.

Once he’s finished, we return to the car, so he can move it to the parking garage. Jared opens the trunk, seeing the large plastic bag I stuffed into it, and asks, “What’s that?”

“It’s mine.”

He rolls his eyes with an impatient nod. “Well, what is it?”

I grab the bag and frown at him. “I’ll show you when we get upstairs.”

Jared fights a smile, as he keeps up his tough act. “Should I be scared?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Absolutely.”

We make our way to the elevator, where we’re alone. Twice, I catch him trying to look into the bag. Swinging it out of his way, I laugh. “You can’t stand it, can you?”

He turns to me, putting his hands on his hips. “Nope. It could be a grenade.”

So, I do the same thing. “It’s a rocket launcher.”

“Of course it is.”

“You might not even like it.”

“Why does it matter if
I
like it?” Shit.

“No reason.”

“You got me a gift when I told you not to, didn’t you?”

“Uh…”

He sighs. “You didn’t even hear a damn word I said.”

“Nope,” I say, mocking his reply.

Taunting him with a grin, he swoops down for a kiss. His hands go to my waist, pulling me to him, and I hold onto his shoulders, not wanting him to let me go. Ever.

When the elevator dings, we end our kiss and gather our luggage. The walk isn’t far, and when he unlocks 1509, he pushes open the door, ushering me into the room.

Looking around, I say, “Wow, Jared. This is nice.” It is a decent apartment, but when I see the large windows along the back end, I gasp, “That view is fantastic!”

“Just wait until you see it at night. The windows are the same in the bedroom. You can go out on the balcony, too.” He walks past me and unlocks the balcony door, and I go out to the glass and metal railing, leaning onto it, as I peer around us. There is a balcony above us, so it creates a roof overhead.

From behind me, Jared’s arms go around me to hold onto the railing, alongside my hands. He says, “There’s an outdoor pool on the other side of the building, next to a small park. Each of their buildings is similar.” I nod as I take everything in, and he asks, “What do you think?”

“It’s breathtaking.”

He bends to kiss my neck, and I notice he took off his hat. “That describes you, Kit Kat. I meant about the apartment.” Wow.

Astounded, I watch the traffic from the nearby highway, as his slow kisses move down to my collarbone. His lips drag heavily over my skin, and I close my eyes, wanting him to kiss me like that everywhere.

Swallowing, I ask, “Why should it matter what I think? You’re the one who has to live here.”

“Because it does matter to me.”

“It shouldn’t. I probably won’t be here again.”

His kisses immediately halt. “Why not?”

“Jared. Let’s be realistic. Once we go back to work, our time together is over. We’ve talked about this.”

His lips move against my skin. “Kat…”

“What? I’m not stating a fact that you don’t already know.”

“That’s somewhat negotiable.”

I turn around to face him, and see his hair is tousled, making me want to rough it up some more. “What does that mean? You said you don’t want a long-distance relationship, let alone a relationship to begin with. I’m not going to play some kind of game with you, where you go back and forth, not knowing what you want in your future or with me.”

His frown is instantaneous and he throws out his hands. “So, you’re willing to run off and marry some random fucker just so you can get pregnant?”

“No. It’ll take some time for me to find someone I want to settle down with and marry. I want to share my life with someone I love. It’s not all about getting pregnant. Damn. I’m not some desperate old maid!” Just desperate for Jared to love me, and for him to want us to have a future together.

He crosses his arms and sighs. “I didn’t say you were.”

I lean my back against the railing, and the breeze whips at my loose hair. “You do know that since you don’t use a condom,
you
run the chance of knocking me up, right? Birth control is not 100 percent.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “Kat, stop.” It infuriates me that he doesn’t take this seriously.

“We should probably use condoms. Just like you normally do with
random
women.”

He scornfully says, “Yeah. Maybe. Or we should just stop fucking altogether, since you plan on doing that soon anyway.”

“Fine. I just hope you’re not mad if someday I send you a picture of a kid who looks like you.”

His eyes suddenly amplify and he yells, “I’d want to know sooner than
someday
! Jesus Christ! I’d want to know the minute you found out!” Not the reaction I had expected, which is a good thing, but I’m still thrown.

I stare at Jared in incredulity as he glares back at me, before looking out to the area around the building. I hear his angry breaths and feel remorseful for agitating him. However, it needed to be said.

Feeling frustrated, even though I just got here, I sigh. “I’ll start working in the kitchen so you have that done before you start work.”

Not waiting for him to answer, I go into the apartment and stay in the kitchen, unpacking the boxes, while I notice he takes the living room and his bedroom.

After a while of getting caught up in Jared’s paltry kitchenware, I devise ways for him to make his morning routine easier, as well as his everyday tasks. I also grab a pen and paper from my purse to make a list of things he needs.

Before I know it, we’ve spent hours away from each other in the same apartment, lost in our duties, without taking breaks to even eat. Only bathroom breaks and then back to it.

As I reach up to put a box into the cabinet above the stove, his hand reaches higher, pushing it for me. “Thanks,” I mumble.

“It looks great in here, so thank
you
.”

Not turning to look at him, I stack the empty boxes and say, “I want your kitchen to be ready for your morning routine and then your evenings after work. I’ll show you where I put everything and why, but you can move it all if you want. At least they’ll be unpacked.”

“I think you did a hell of a job. I’ll leave it the way it is.” He sighs and says, “I should’ve made reservations earlier for dinner somewhere. It’s too late now for a Saturday.”

“That’s okay. You have spaghetti, and cans of soup. No big deal.”

“I wanted to take you out for dinner while you’re here.”

I finally look at him with a weak smile. “Not a big deal. We got a lot done. You’ll have to go grocery shopping when you finally move in here. I also made a list of kitchen supplies you need.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

I nod and say, “I’ll make us some spaghetti.”

“I can help.”

“It’s spaghetti, not designing a building’s skeleton.” I limply smile, but his smile is even frailer before he leaves the kitchen.

During dinner a short time later, we sit at the table, quietly eating. This isn’t how I wanted us to spend time together. I shouldn’t have said the things I did, but I didn’t want to say them when it’s too late, and he’d blame me for not mentioning it to him.

When Jared is finished, he says, “That was the best spaghetti and cream of chicken soup ever, Kit Kat.”

Looking up at his feeble smile, I say, “Don’t go making fun. That’s all you had.”

His smile becomes more convincing. “I’m serious. I never thought of doing that before.”

I roll my eyes. “And you call yourself an engineer?”

Jared laughs and I take our bowls to the dishwasher. He says, “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

“Not a lot of places for me to go,” I mutter to myself as he leaves the kitchen.

As I wipe off the counter, he returns and holds out his hand to me. “Here. I want you to have it.”

“What?” Glancing at his hand, I see the broken starfish he picked up at the beach.

Grinning, I take it, feeling the bumpy arms. Giving Jared a questioning look, I ask, “Why?”

His smile is almost shy. “I picked it up for you. It’s yours.”

I suddenly giggle. “I completely forgot.” Holding onto the starfish, I go to my purse, pulling out the small plastic bag I’ve been holding onto since the beach. Presenting the bag to him, I say, “This is yours.”

Jared opens it and pulls out the broken starfish we found in the gift shop. “Kit Kat.” His smile is surprised, but honest.

“I got it when you were talking to Dash and Rio. Now we each have one to remind us of our time at the beach.”

“Perfect.”

I nod to the bag next to his blue couch. “Oh. You can also open the big bag.”

His smile flips into a frown, but his eyes are curious. Setting down the starfish, he walks over to the bag and pushes it down, exposing a beige comforter. I say, “I thought you might need one. I wasn’t sure what you have already or what size your bed is. I decided on a neutral color in a king size, so it’ll still work if it’s too big.”

Picking up the bundled package, he says, “Thank you. Wow.”

“I guess you can also use that and remember me.”

Looking at me, his smile is faint. “You’ve never left my mind for me to ever forget.” Damn. I need to kiss him.

I smile in return, and his phone rings. Stepping over to the coffee table, he looks at it and frowns. “It’s Duquesne. He usually texts.”

Remembering how Rio said Jared is a good listener, I encouragingly nod. “Oh. Well, talk to him.” I just hope Jared keeps an open mind about Liberty if it’s about her.

Jared answers the phone and takes the comforter into his room. Hearing him laugh, I figure his conversation is going to be a while, so I go out onto the balcony. The view is even more stunning at dusk with the skyscrapers lit up, casting a glow on each other, which creates a halo above them. I suppose it is the City of Brotherly Love, so it’s very fitting.

Leaning onto the railing, I sigh. I wish I could just give Jared what he wants, which isn’t much of anything. He doesn’t want me to be a significant part of his life. On the other hand, I want him to be my husband and the father of my children. To be my future. My everything. I love him like no one else.

However, I can’t even get Jared to commit to just being my boyfriend. Therefore, I can’t be dragged into a never-ending vortex with him. He wants nothing with me, other than to be his dedicated, hometown fuck. 

I blankly stare at the illuminated scenery, wishing I could spell out the answers within the dotted lights, but they’re no help. Nothing, or no one, is.

“What are you doing?”

I inhale, shaking my head, as I feel him coming closer. “Just looking at the view.”

He puts his arms around me, resting his cheek against the side of my head. “It’s incredible, huh?” Turning around, I notice his hair is damp. Running my fingers into it, he says, “I took a quick shower.”

Watching his wet hair heftily bounce beneath my fingers, I say, “You’ll get to see this view every day.” His eyes drift over my face, like he wants to say something, but he doesn’t. Knowing that I will have to first, I sigh with an apologetic frown. “I’m sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“You wanted to, though. I know you did, Kat.”

I nod. “I did because things do happen and it scares me.”

His forehead wrinkles. “Why? That’s something you want, isn’t it?”

My hand drops from his hair to feel his light beard along his jaw. “Not now. I don’t want to be a single parent.”

“You wouldn’t be. You’d have me.”

“Jared. We won’t even be living in the same city. We’re not together as a couple. I’d essentially be a single parent.”

He licks his bottom lip and darts his gaze to the side. “You could come live here. In Philadelphia.” What?

I peer over my shoulder to the city landscape. “I can’t live here. It’s not for me. It’s too much. You’re teaching me how to drive, and I’d want to actually drive. I can’t be thrown into the traffic here like that.”

“You’ll eventually learn how to deal with it. I’d help you.”

I swiftly turn away from the city to look at him. “How? You’ll be working, and so would I. I like the small-town feel of Annapolis. The schools are so different here.” I laugh and shake my head as he studiously watches me. “You don’t have to worry, though. I’m not pregnant. I’m just saying that it
could
happen, and I wanted you to be aware, so if it does, it wouldn’t be a total shock to you.”

He sighs. “Kat, I would never bail on you if it did.”

Putting my arms around him, I smile. “You promise?”