Talk about closing himself off, I thought with amusement. But before I could actually say anything, my phone rang. I bounced off the bed and ran into the living room to answer it.
"Risa? It's Jak," he said, rather unnecessarily given his rather handsome face was crystal clear on the phone's screen. "You wanted to know if I'd heard anything unusual concerning fires?"
My heart began beating a whole lot faster. "Yeah, I did."
"Well, I might just have something. But it'll cost you."
I snorted. "I'm not giving you a story, Jak. Not on this one."
He grinned. It touched his eyes, warming the dark-chocolate depths and creating the usual havoc with my pulse rate. He might have caused me untold heartache in the past, but there was still a tiny part of me that remembered—and maybe even hungered for—the good times.
"Oh, I don't want a story." He paused, and the spark in his eyes grew. "I want a date."
"No."
"Fine. I'll talk to you later—"
"That's fucking blackmail, Jak."
"Yep." His voice was cheery. "I believe there's still something between us, Ris. You keep saying there isn't, but you lie, and we both know it. A date should sort it out one way or the other."
"Jak, I'm not getting into a relationship with you." Annoyance filled my voice. "Accept that and move on."
"I had, but then you went and kissed me, and it just reminded me of how good we'd been together."
I rubbed my forehead wearily. I hadn't actually kissed Jak—I'd kissed Azriel. At the time, he'd been wearing Jak's image, as we'd thought Jak might have been the target of a sniper. Those suspicions had turned out to be wrong, but I couldn't entirely regret it, because that kiss was the reason Azriel and I had finally ended up lovers. What I did regret was telling Azriel to give Jak full memories of what had happened that night—kiss included.
"Jak, just tell me what you've uncovered. It's important."