Almost Like Love(65)

He couldn’t even think about trying to fix things with Kate until he’d fixed things with Jacob.

“Would you let me read your story? I’d really like to.”

At first Jacob said no, but when Ian asked again, his nephew agreed, albeit grudgingly. Jacob brought the book out into the living room, handed it to him without a word, and then went back to his room and shut the door.

Ian was blown away.

He’d had no idea his nephew was capable of something like this. The story was rough, of course, but it was exciting and original and compelling. He wasn’t surprised that Kate had recognized that fact immediately.

He didn’t try to push too hard with Jacob that night. He knocked on his door, handed the book back, and told him it was fantastic.

“Whatever. Did you apologize to Kate?”

“I will tomorrow. I promise.”

Now, standing across the street from her apartment in the dubious shelter of an archway, he wondered if she’d ever talk to him again.

She’d been pretty clear on that point yesterday. But Kate had a generous heart, and he was counting on that heart to give him a second chance.

Not that he deserved one.

There was a café next door to Kate’s building. Did his guilt demand that he go without coffee?

He decided that coffee could be allowed during his vigil. He’d get it to go and keep an eye out to make sure he didn’t miss Kate.

He turned up the collar of his overcoat—not that it did much to shield him from the driving rain—and went to the crosswalk.

He froze.

The blare of a car horn brought him back to his senses, and he made it back to the sidewalk without getting run over.

Kate was in the bar on the corner. She was sitting at a table by the window . . . with Chris.

In one split second he went from a sane, reasonable, penitent human being to some kind of caveman fueled by a wave of jealousy so powerful it made him shake.

Slowly, painfully, he forced himself to calm down.

What the hell was she doing with that jerk?

Awareness of the irony wasn’t far behind. Chris might be a jerk, but Ian was worse.

Rebound sex was supposed to help you move on after a breakup. But what if he’d been such an asshole that he’d driven Kate back into her ex-fiancé’s arms?

For the first time that night, he was grateful for the rain. It was cold and bleak and mirrored his mood.

It was what he deserved.

He wanted to go into that bar and break Chris’s jaw. But in a contest to pick the biggest jerk in Kate’s life, it would be a toss-up between the two of them. Chris had just as much reason to break his jaw.

So he went back to his doorway. He couldn’t see them anymore, but he had a clear view of the bar’s front door. He’d know when they came out.

And if they went back to her place together.

He didn’t have long to wait. Ten minutes later, they came through the door, saw the rain, and retreated under the shelter of the bar’s awning. They stood talking together for several minutes.

Ian shoved his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t try to tear chunks of stone out of the wall behind him.

It was obviously a friendly conversation; Kate’s body language was comfortable and relaxed. After a little while Chris said something that made her laugh, and then they hugged.

Ian tensed. Was that a goodbye-and-good-luck hug, or a first-step-on-the-road-to-reconciliation hug?

He felt a surge of relief when they separated, Chris hailing a cab and Kate hurrying down the sidewalk with her shoulders hunched against the rain. Even if they were thinking about getting back together, at least they weren’t together yet.

Suddenly he realized what he’d just tacitly admitted to himself.

He hadn’t come here just to apologize. He’d come to ask Kate to be with him.

As in date. As in exclusively. As in the thing he never did.

Of course, she’d be crazy to agree. Any friend who had her best interests at heart would tell her so. But that wouldn’t stop him from trying.

He waited until Andreas let her in, and then he crossed the street.

“Good timing, sir. Ms. Meredith just got back.”

“Thanks,” he said, making sure that Kate had gone up in the elevator before he entered the lobby.

A few minutes later he was standing outside her apartment, his heart going a million miles an hour. He was also dripping on the hallway floor, but he didn’t give a damn about that. All he could think about was the woman on the other side of this door.

He took a deep breath and knocked.

When the door opened, Kate was there with a smile, toweling off her hair. When she saw who it was, the smile faded. “I thought you were Chris,” she said, her eyes turning cold and distant.

Maybe when Chris had hailed a cab, it had been to go home and pick up his pajamas and toothbrush.