The Heart That's Meant to Love You

Chapter 58: Deflection

"Kieran, do you have a minute?" Jack asked from five feet away.

Kieran sighed. He did, indeed, have a minute, but he knew where this conversation was going and they had already circled around to the same conclusion seven times.

"If this is about Natasha, I already passed on her message."

"It's not about that. I'll deal with that myself."

Shocker. Jack never took the initiative to deal with anything, least of all his own twisted love life.

Kieran gave in. If it wasn't about Natasha, it must be about work. He couldn't neglect that. "Go ahead. Tell me."

"Janelle quit this morning."

Go figure. Janelle had barely done her work anyway. Kieran would have fired her way back before the Niall incident. Jack, being a soft-hearted loser, had allowed her to stay despite all her bad habits. It was about time she left.

"What do you want me to say?" Kieran held out his hands, unable to form a good comeback. "I'm sorry for your loss?"

"It's not like that." Jack scrubbed his hand through his hair. "I don't miss her. I just don't know what to do with the things she was in charge of."

Ah, so that's why he had come. Kieran should have seen this one a mile away. When the slackers left, of course Jack would turn to the employee who did his job.

"Stop beating around the bush." Kieran speared Jack with a stern glare. "Tell me what needs to be done."

"There are two ad shoots on Friday," Jack spouted the information almost before Kieran finished his sentence. "And she had an appointment to go take headshots on Saturday morning."

"I have a private session on Saturday." Kieran winced at the eagerness in his own voice.

He didn't know when it had started, but nowadays Kieran looked forward to seeing the little rich girl. Thinking about it made him smile. Imagining her presence around him made his heart feel... fuzzy. Kieran didn't like it, but he couldn't change it, try as he might.

And, believe him, he had tried.

Jack gave Kieran a sideways glance, but all he said was, "Oh, do you?"

"Yes. I do." Kieran attempted to paste a disinterested look back on his face. Just in case Jack sensed something was off.

"Okay... I can do the headshots, then." Jack folded his arms, clearly suspicious. "You can do Ruby's afternoon shoot that day."

Fearing that Jack might really see through him if Kieran refused that, too, Kieran gave a nod of approval. "As long as she doesn't mind waiting if the other session goes over."

Kieran, himself, didn't believe he was expecting a paying customer to wait on him. All because he wanted to show off to a girl in order to prove a point. It didn't seem logical, but somehow Kieran had lost control of the words coming out of his mouth.

"Sure..."

Jack drew the word out too long. Leave it to someone like Jack to suddenly figure things out, even though any other time he would overlook it selfishly. Could he be selfish when Kieran needed him to be?

"May I ask—"

"No. You may not." Kieran shut down the question before it could come out of Jack's mouth. He didn't want to have that conversation with his boss.

Jack scratched a finger against his jaw. "Okay, but, hear me out."

"I would rather not."

"You're acting weird. Like, really weird. And secretive." Jack narrowed his eyes. "Do you have..."

Kieran held his breath, waiting for the question that he would have to lie to avoid. Jack, of all people, had suddenly grown a brain and Kieran would be the first victim of such an atrocity.

"...some kind of illness?"

Okay, he took back everything he assumed about Jack having a brain. Kieran let out his breath. "I'm not sick."

"So you really have a private session?"

"Yes."

"But it's not on the books."

"It's on my private books."

"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I guess it's possible."

"Oh, it is." Kieran turned halfway, intending to flee as soon as he could. "I've got things to accomplish. Are we done here?"

"I still think something is really weird with you," Jack complained. "You've been way too happy lately."

Kieran knew that, too, but he didn't have time or energy to explain it to Jack. Kieran didn't deserve to be happy, and he couldn't ever be happy with the woman who kept making him smile.

Thankfully, a high-pitched feminine voice interrupted Kieran's inner panic.

"Jacky!"

Jack winced, but quickly recovered and shot a bright smile to his lips. "Yes, my little snow-blossom?"

Well, it appeared that those two had decided to stay together.

With a shiver to shake off the taint of their sweetness, Kieran turned and fled. Jack would forget about the conversation in a few minutes, for sure.

As for Kieran, he had some planning to do. Because he could no longer stay on the fence with the little rich girl. Because one way or another, he had to commit to a plan. Either let her go or milk her for every penny. Kieran had trouble seeing the better outcome of either of those two plans.

He had started the relationship to get money. To survive the debt that Tawny threw him into. Kieran wasn't sure why it didn't seem to be working out like the previous dozens of girls he had cheated. What made Naomi different and why did Kieran fall for it?

Of course, if he had the answer to those questions, Kieran would turn and run. Any smart man would have already done so.

"You're sick and twisted," Kieran chided himself.

Naomi couldn't have him and he couldn't have her, either. So why did he keep pulling her back in? Only time would tell, he supposed.

If only Kieran had known that the time for enlightenment would be so quick in coming.