Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)

Percy looked around at her office. “Even this is nice,” he said, then cleared his throat. “I mean the other offices are really big.”


“Tell me about it,” she said with a grin. “You could practically go bowling in Jack’s office. I’m fine with something a whole lot smaller.” Besides, this was just for scheduling and making calls. Her real work was done in the massage room.

“I never knew businesses were like this,” Percy told her. “All fancy and high-tech. It’s nice.”

“Maybe you’ll get a job in a place like this,” she told him. “After you go to college.”

“I’d like that. Only college is a long way away. First I have to get my GED.”

“And you will. Then you’ll go to college.”

His expression was doubtful. “Everyone here keeps talking about college, like everyone should go. But it’s not like that. Where I’m from, you did what you had to so you could get by.”

Life in the inner city. She had no frame of reference for that, Larissa thought. No moment to bond over.

“College gives you opportunities. Choices. You’re right—not everyone has that in their future. But you do now. I hope you’ll take advantage of the chance.”

He shifted on his chair. “I don’t know anyone who went to college. Not ever. My grandma didn’t get past the seventh grade. None of my friends where I grew up were going to do much more than join a gang.”

She’d been born and raised in Los Angeles, she thought. Probably not thirty miles from where Percy had spent most of his life. Yet they had very different world views.

“Change is hard,” she admitted. “This is big change for you.”

“But a good one,” he said. “I know I got lucky when you found me in the park.”

She smiled at him. “We’re happy to have you here.”

“You’re nice. Everyone here is. Sam’s kind of quiet, but he was explaining what he did. With the money and stuff. And Taryn’s tough on the outside, but inside she’s real soft. But she doesn’t want anyone to know. Kenny’s a good guy, but there’s, like, a wall.”

Larissa did her best not to react. Percy’s assessments were more accurate than she’d expected. Impressively so. “What about Jack?” she asked.

Percy grinned. “You boss him around.”

“I don’t!”

“Yeah, you do, and he likes it.”

* * *

THE NORTHERN SPOTTED Owl didn’t look the least bit amused by the process of being moved. Wildlife sanctuary workers had maneuvered her into a smaller cage, which she hadn’t liked at all. She screeched out her displeasure, her large wings flapping against the bars of the cage. Jack kept his distance and hoped the opening was secure because when that bird was finally free, she was so going to take out her bad temper on whoever was closest. He wanted to make sure that wasn’t him.

The guys dismantled the larger cage, then carried it out to their truck. On their second trip into the house, Larissa followed them.

She was dressed as she always was. Yoga pants, a short-sleeved T-shirt and athletic shoes. Her long blond hair had been pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was clean and free of makeup. He happened to know she would smell like whatever scented body lotion she was currently using. For the past couple of days it had been a sweet kind of garden-y scent she said was verbena. Whatever the hell that was.

The week before it had been lemon and the previous month she’d gone on a vanilla binge. Regardless of the lotion, under the verbena, the lemon or the vanilla was the essence of Larissa herself. A warm, welcoming fragrance that had always been like home to him. Although these days it was home with an edge.

The taller of the two owl-retrieval guys—probably in his mid-twenties—dropped his gaze to Larissa’s ass. His eyes widened appreciatively. Jack told himself it was okay for them to look and that his urge to put his fist through the guy’s face wasn’t an impulse he was going to act on. Still, he moved closer to her.

“Hey,” he said, putting his arm around her.

She looked up at him. “Wendy’s leaving already?”

“Wendy?”

“The owl.”

“I got that, but why Wendy?”

“I don’t know. She looked like a Wendy to me. They called a bit ago and said they were taking her back.” She sighed. “I’m glad she’s better, but I didn’t get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked.”

Jack normally would have teased her about the name and wanting to spend time with an owl whose idea of a party was eating small animals. But he was a little distracted by how good it felt to pull Larissa close. She was tall, but shorter than him. Slender—almost fragile. He knew she was strong and capable but at that moment, she seemed...delicate.

“There’ll be another owl,” he told her. “Or some other woodland creature you can bond with.”

She laughed. “Did you just say ‘woodland creature’?”

“I did.”

The two guys carried the transport cage to the truck. Wendy glared as she squawked and threatened. Larissa sighed.