Her Singapore Fling by Kelly Hunter

think?’
    â€˜I don’t know. That’s why I asked.’ She eyed him solemnly. ‘Have you ever forgiven me?’
    â€˜Jian—’ Jake didn’t even know where to start when it came to answering that one. ‘I didn’t realise what I was asking when I asked you to become part of the Bennett household back then. We didn’t give you much support. I didn’t give you much support. I never blamed you for leaving when you did.’
    Much.
    Jianne spooned a small serving of greens onto her plate to accompany her equally small portion of prawns. Jake eyed the remaining food on the table.
    â€˜You should eat more,’ he muttered.
    â€˜Why did you agree to help me?’ she asked.
    â€˜Because you needed it.’
    â€˜Any other reason?’
    â€˜Maybe I just like to fight.’
    â€˜That’s not news.’
    â€˜Sorry.’ Jake managed a half-smile at her not-quite-hidden disgruntlement. Jianne had hated the fighting lifestyle he’d once lived. She’d resented the mental and physical demands it had placed on him and she’d been horrified by his thirst for more. Gentle, nurturing Jianne had never really understood the anger that had raged in him back then or his ferocious need to tame it before it spilled over onto the people he loved. He hadn’t had the words to explain it. He didn’t have them now. ‘Maybe I figured that helping you out would provide me with a new challenge. A different kind of fight from the ones I’m used to. And maybe the general consensus is that I owe you and that it wouldn’t have mattered what you asked of me, I’d have done it.’
    Jianne’s eyes widened at this. She opened her mouth as if to speak but no words came out. She closed her mouth, blinked, and tried again. ‘You mean I’ve had an honour-bound slave at my disposal all these years and nobody thought to mention it?’ She looked bemused. ‘It’s not a scenario I’ve ever imagined. Certainly not in reference to my relationship with you.’ A whisper of a smile tilted her lips. ‘Then again, it does have a certain basic appeal.’
    â€˜Easy on the enslavement, Empress Wu,’ he warned. ‘Nothing good ever comes of it.’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know. You could be naked but for a loincloth,’ she murmured. ‘There could be oil involved.’
    â€˜Not in this lifetime.’
    â€˜This slavery thing,’ she continued serenely. ‘You’re the one obeying the orders, right? As opposed to giving them?’
    Jake speared her with his most intimidating stare and kept right on eating.
    â€˜Just checking,’ she said. ‘I’d hate to get it wrong.’
    Â 
    Jacob wouldn’t let Jianne help wash the dinner dishes, though he didn’t object to her tidying the table and putting the leftovers in the fridge. His minimalist kitchen meant minimal clean-up afterwards. Jianne could see the appeal. But the tense silence in which he washed those few dishes didn’t hold much appeal at all. She’d thought they’d made some progress towards feeling at ease with one another over dinner. Clearly she’d thought wrong. ‘Can there be music?’ she said.
    â€˜There can if you go upstairs. There’s a sound system up there.’ Not exactly subtle in his attempt to get her to go somewhere he wasn’t. ‘I’ve some paperwork to do in my office,’ he said next. ‘I’ll turn in for the night after that.’
    â€˜Is there anything you need from upstairs?’ she asked politely. ‘Clothes? Toiletries?’
    â€˜Not tonight. I’ll get the rest of the things I need tomorrow while you’re at work. You are going to work at your office tomorrow. Right?’
    â€˜I am.’
    The man looked downright relieved to hear it. ‘And when’s this house-warming party you want me to take you to?’
    â€˜Friday.’