"It's been a few years, Jak. People and tastes change." And I wish my tastes had changed. Wished I could honestly say I no longer found him so damnably attractive.
"I haven't changed. Not when it comes to coffee, anyway."
Meaning he'd changed in other ways? Somehow I doubted it. I punched in an order of coffee and cake for us both and swiped my credit card through the slot to pay for it. Then I faced him again. "I want a favor."
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "I would have thought I'd be the last person on earth you'd ask a favor of."
"You are," I snapped, then mentally clawed back the escaping anger. "But you're the only reporter I know, and you happen to specialize in paranormal and occult news and investigations."
"I do." He studied me for several moments, his gaze still wary. As if he'd been the injured party in the whole sordid mess. "And what do I get in return for granting this favor?"
"A story that could blow anything else you've written out of the water."
Excitement flared briefly in his dark eyes before he managed to control it. But I'd expected nothing less. For a man like Jak, the story was all.
"Does this favor involve doing anything illegal?"
"I doubt it." I paused, but couldn't help adding, "Although we both know that wouldn't exactly faze you."
Amusement teased his lips and an ache stuttered through my heart. Not over him. Not by a long shot. Or rather, not over the memory of what we'd once shared. Even the hurt of his deception couldn't erase all that had once been good. And that sucked.
"You and I both know the childhood your mother presented to the world was a lie," he said evenly. "I had sworn statements that proved it, and your mother never did refute them."
I gave him a somewhat bitter smile. "The people who mattered knew the truth about my mother's past. No one else needed to. Not then, not now."
"What about the public she was defrauding?"
A waitress approached with our coffees and cakes. I gave her a smile of thanks and waited until she left before saying, "My mother's psychic powers were real, and they helped a lot of people. Shame you didn't do a story about that rather than besmirching her name."