Sushi for One? (7 page)

When his head fell at level with hers, Mimi lifted her chin at him.

He also tilted toward her. She smiled a slow, sensual bedroom smile, as if daring him to move the scant inches between them and press his lips to hers.

George gave an inane smile.

A spasm squeezed through Lex’s chest. Ignored and spotlighted at the same time. Shut out by the two lovebirds exchanging heated glances. Laughed at by everyone else in the restaurant who witnessed the poor plain Jane losing her handsome escort in front of her eyes.

Mimi rose languidly to her feet. A business card appeared between two fingers. Where had that come from? Her bosom? As she tilted it toward George, he plucked it from her without breaking eye contact.

She dragged a seemingly innocent finger down her neck in an unselfconscious gesture. “Nice meeting you, George.”

“The pleasure was all mine.”

Mimi’s eyes flickered to Lex. “How do you two know each other?”

“Me and Lex? Oh, her brother set us up.”

Wait a minute. No, he didn’t. Richard just asked George to show her some condos. Why did George say that? It took a second for Lex to pick up what he didn’t say.

Had Richard asked him to ask Lex out to dinner?!

No way. Richard wouldn’t be that stupid. Or suicidal — because he’d know his sister would hunt him down if she found out.

But drowning her anger, a sludge-filled sea of utter mortification pulled at her with a slow undertow. She’d needed her brother to get a date.

And Mimi would tell everyone.

Lex would never live this down. She closed her eyes to block out the sight of Mimi’s sparkling gaze and surprised, mocking expression. In Lex’s world of warm darkness, Mimi’s high, trilling voice cut through.

“Oh reeeally?” A giggle. “Well, next time I’ll be sure to take advantage of Richard’s dating ser vice.”

Lex’s eyes flew open. She needed to salvage her pride behind some white-hot anger. “Stow it, Skipper.”

Mimi’s smile hardened. She looked like she did when she had ripped the head off of Trish’s Barbie doll when they were younger. A warm, vindictive rush pooled in Lex’s heart at the thought that no amount of push-up bras and scanty clothing could make Mimi look taller than an elementary school student.

Lex tilted her head toward the far table. “Now be a good girl and go home to Papa.”

Mimi turned to George and leaned her face in close. “I hope I see you sometime?”

He gave a confident movie-star impression. “You just might.”

She sashayed away.

Lex regarded George with a neutral face and burning eyes. His smile faltered.

Over his shoulder, she spotted the waitress approaching. She snapped up a hand. “I need a box.” Lex glanced at George’s untouched crab. He’d been too busy spewing out pheromones. “He will too.”

The waitress nodded and hurried away.

George blinked in astonishment. “You didn’t like the crab?”

“I’m not hungry.”

He seemed deaf to her clipped tone. “That’s good. Lower calorie intake will definitely — ”

She couldn’t believe him. “Do yourself a favor and stop talking.”

He halted mid-sentence, his mouth open, but recovered quickly.

“Ah . . . Lex, your brother and I are good friends.”

Another lowering suspicion shot tension down her spine. “And?”

“You see him pretty often, right?”

She pressed her mouth together and regarded him with a narrowed gaze.

“Can you ask him to pay you back for my half of tonight’s dinner? I, uh . . . I’m out of cash.”

NINE

R
ichard was so dead. He was deader than dead.

Lex jammed her key into the lock and pushed her way into the house. She’d like to indulge in a good slamming, banging, crashing fit, but Dad was sleep —

“Hey, Lex.”

“Dad? Why are you still up?” Lex closed the door and dropped her bag on the couch.

He struggled to sit up in the recliner. “How’d your date go?”

Lex glowered at the Styrofoam boxes. “I got leftovers.” And she didn’t have anything better she could say about it.

He sighed. “I hoped he might be a nice guy.”

Lex froze on her way to the kitchen. Dad hadn’t even paid attention to her love life when she’d been fantasizing over ’N Sync. “Why?”

He shrugged, a floppy up-and-down motion with his shoulders, letting his arms hang down.

It usually meant he was hiding something.

“Why the sudden interest, Dad?” Lex thrust every ounce of steel into her voice so he wouldn’t avoid her question.

He peeked sidelong at her. Lex crossed her arms.

“Well, I’m going to bed.” He hoisted himself up from the recliner.

Lex slid into the doorway to the hall and blocked it with her body.

She set her mouth in a firm line and glared.

It didn’t always work, but it did tonight. He seemed to sag as he stood there. “Grandma called.”

Lex closed her eyes and resisted the urge to bang her head against the doorframe. “About?”

“Complaining you weren’t dating enough. Not making enough of an effort.” He wouldn’t look at her.

“What else?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment. Lex wondered what else Grandma had put into his ear that he wasn’t telling her. Finally he sighed. “Do you think you could try to find a nice boy to date? Just to make Grandma happy.”

The words struck like a blow from a sword into her gut. A spasm tightened her stomach, then disappeared. She inhaled a shallow breath.

Dad never asked anything of her. Never. He let her find her own way, do her own thing. He made her stand her ground against Richard, he let her choose whatever interested her in college.

This was like the warrior on his knees.

“Yeah, Dad. I’ll find somebody.” The words sounded strong and sure despite working around the tightness in her throat. “I’ll make sure he’s a Suns fan.”

Dad smiled like his old self. Lex moved aside so he could shuffle off to bed.

“Oh, Lex.” His voice echoed down the small hallway. “Mr.

Tomoyoshi called. He said to tell you he’s sorry, but he can’t sponsor the girls’ team.”

What?!
Lex turned to stare at her father. Did she hear the wrong thing? “He said no?”

Dad nodded. “Why’d you ask him? Isn’t Grandma sponsoring your team?”

“Ah . . .” Lex’s mind scrambled. “She might not after Mariko’s wedding. So, I’m asking people just in case.” Oh no! What if Grandma found out? “But don’t say anything, okay, Dad? Grandma didn’t say for sure she wouldn’t do it, and she’d be hurt I was looking.”

Her father nodded and headed back down the hallway with a yawn.

Well, Lex would have to be satisfied with that. She didn’t even want to consider what would happen if Grandma found out.

She’d have already talked to Robyn if she hadn’t been late
. . .
Yeah, yeah. Story of her life.

Her grass doubles match now over, Lex gulped water from her Nalgene bottle and looked around for Robyn. She’d just seen her . . .

“Good game, Lex.” Kin-Mun, her doubles partner, toasted her with his own water bottle and swiped at the sweat pouring down his face.

“You too.” They’d committed to this tournament weeks ago, and Lex had worried that there would be awkwardness because of their almost-date. She had discovered that her initial feelings of complete devastation — okay, maybe it hadn’t been that dramatic — had dissipated as quickly and completely as water on a hot hibachi grill, but she wasn’t sure how Kin-Mun would feel.

She shouldn’t have even wasted the neurons. She didn’t understand how, but Kin-Mun chose to pretend nothing had happened, and they’d played together as fluidly as usual. They’d returned to their competitive, easy-going,
platonic
relationship with unbelievable ease. Lex supposed that was a good thing. Kin-Mun was the best doubles partner she’d played with yet.

“You were on fire.” Kin-Mun grinned.

Yeah, she felt on fire right now despite the cool temperature. She fished her towel out of her bag and tried to stop Niagara Falls from pouring down her forehead. “Have you seen Robyn?”

“I saw her at registration earlier.”

“I arrived at the tournament late, so I couldn’t talk to her before we started. Where is she now?”

Kin-Mun used his extra inches of height to scan the grass tournament grounds. “Far side, near court three, talking to Jill.”

Lex hoofed it over to court three. Robyn knew practically everyone who played volleyball — she would know whom Lex could approach about sponsoring the girls’ team. Lex hoped she could broach the touchy topic of money with Robyn alone and with tact, for a change.

Robyn smiled and waved hello at Lex but didn’t pause her conversation with Jill. Sounded like something to do with the Nikkei Volleyball League that put on this grass tournament. Lex shifted to one foot, ready to wait.

“Lex!”

Her least-favorite person at the moment approached, sticking out from the T-shirt-clad crowd in his stylish jeans and some designer shirt that made him look muscular. Lex felt mad enough and powerful enough to take Richard down, right there in the middle of the park. She opened her mouth to lash into him when she saw he’d brought a human shield — an okay-looking guy, Richard’s age and probably single. Had Richard talked to Dad? Did he know he was in the doghouse?

Lex gave him a feral smile. “Richard. My most favorite, chaaah-ming brother.”

He froze, hand still lifted in a welcoming wave. “What have I done now?”

“
George
, you doofus.”

Richard had the grace to wince. “I told him not to do anything stupid.”

“Oh, you mean like open his mouth?”

Richard’s smile became pained. “Uh . . . Lex, I came up because I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Aiden.” He gestured to the non-descript guy hanging back behind him.

Aiden held out his hand, light eyes intense on Lex’s face. “Hi.”

She returned his brief, firm handshake, and a quiver raced up her arm and down to her toes. Must be nerves. “Hi.”

She wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be civil to another of Richard’s friends. She peeked over at Robyn — still deep in conversation with Jill.

“Richard!” A coy feminine voice made him turn and flash that famous
Come hither
smile.

“Hi, darling.” He walked away.

No, no, no! Don’t leave me alone with — !

Lex attempted a feeble smile at Aiden. He looked so calm and bland. Nice-looking, but not striking enough to make her heart pound — he already had a point against him from her Ephesians List. Although he did meet her eyes directly, which was something Richard and her father never did. “So, Aiden, what do you do?”

“I’m a physical therapist. I work at Golden Creek Physical Therapy in south San Jose.”

“Oh.” Lex suppressed a shudder. Why did anything having to do with injuries give her the willies? Another thing to add to the List:
Must have an occupation I can say without wigging out.

Silence.

Lex glanced at Robyn and tried to will her to finish with Jill so she could talk to her. From their serious expressions, it looked like something important.

Her gaze bounced back to Aiden. “I’m a manufacturing engineer at Pear Technologies.”

Aiden nodded. “Richard told me.”

“How do you know Richard?” Always a good question. Richard collected friends like he used to collect baseball cards.

“He’s friends with one of my patients. I met him last week.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t even one of Richard’s close friends, but Richard threw them together. Well, may as well go down the List. “Do you play sports?”

“I run. I’m training for a marathon right now.” Even when talking about something he obviously enjoyed, Aiden didn’t change his calm expression except to give a half-smile.

Man, he was boring.

She sighed. Robyn still talked to Jill, and Lex didn’t feel like being polite anymore. “I hate running. I only do it because I need to, for training.”

Aiden blinked. “Oh.”

Lex plunged ahead. “Do you play volleyball?”

“No, but I’m thinking of picking it up.”

Scratch Aiden as date material. No way she could respect — much less date — someone who didn’t play volleyball at a higher level. “Take classes. That way you’ll learn proper form and technique.”

“Uh . . . okay.” He looked at her as if she were a crazy cousin he had to humor.

Lex didn’t care. This topic was her pet peeve. “I hate playing with people who have sloppy form.”

“Oh . . . Okay.”

“It’s dangerous on the court. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen near-miss accidents . . .” She should shut up, she was ranting. “Um . . . It was nice meeting you.” Lex would go and stand next to Robyn’s elbow to let her know she needed to talk to her.

“You look so much like Trish — ” He ended his sentence oddly, as if he hadn’t intended to say that.

Lex paused in the act of escaping. “She’s my cousin.”

“Yeah, Richard told me.”

“How do you know her?”

“From . . . the gym.” His eyes drifted left.

“You really think we look alike?” Lex almost didn’t want to hear his answer. Trish had a bubbly personality. Trish had a decent cup size and curvy hips. Trish attracted men like Fight Night in Vegas.

“You look exactly like her.”

She realized he was studying her face. How weird. “Naw, she’s prettier.”

He shook his head — smart man. “Do you . . . go to the same church?”

The way he said the word made Lex uncomfortable. “Yeah. Santa Clara Valley Asian Church.” Although come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Trish on Sunday last week.

Aiden blinked, and a glass shutter dropped over his eyes. He still had that bland, polite smile, but suddenly he seemed farther away from her, even though he hadn’t moved an inch. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Do you go to chur — ” From the corner of her eye, Lex saw Robyn finally break with Jill and move toward the registration table. “I’m sorry, Aiden, but I need to grab Robyn about something. It was nice meeting you.” She dashed off after Robyn’s figure weaving between the crowd of volleyball players.

“Lex!” Richard stepped in front of her.

Lex tried to sidestep, but he moved with her. She stabbed an accusing finger between his eyes. “What’s the big deal, bucko?”

He jumped back before she poked his eye out. “Uh . . . You didn’t like Aiden?”

“We had nothing in common. What’s with you playing Love Connection?”

Richard winced. “Consider it an attempt to make up for George. I feel bad about that.”

Lex searched for Robyn. She thought she saw her bright yellow T-shirt in the crowd. She whipped back to Richard with her best menacing glare. “You stay out of my love life.”

“Did Aiden tell you he knows Trish?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Remember when she had to have physical therapy for her shoulder?”

“You mean that injury from work? Aiden was her therapist?”

“At first. Then she got transferred to another therapist at his facility.”

“And this is important to me, why?”

Richard’s expression baited Lex. “Trish made a move on Aiden, but he wasn’t interested, and he got her transferred to another therapist. She was so peeved that when she found out Aiden’s agnostic, she made a big deal about not dating him because he isn’t Christian.”

Oh good one, Trish. Way to make Christian girls look stupid.
Lex rounded on her atheist brother. “So you introduced him to me to see if I’d diss him too? You dork.” She
had
dissed him, but it was because she had to talk to Robyn, not because he wasn’t Christian. “We didn’t even talk about religion, so it doesn’t matter.” She stuck her finger at his face again. “In case you missed it the first time — Stay out of my love life. I don’t want to date any of your friends, because they’re all just like you.”

Richard spread out his arms. “What’s wrong with me? I’m chaaah-ming.” He laughed.

Lex growled and bopped him on the shoulder with her fist. “I’ll deal with you later.” She dashed after Robyn.