Sticking his gigantic hands in his pockets, Grey shrugged, broad shoulders moving easily under his shirt. “No trouble,” he said. “Sushi sounds good. I’m hungry.” It struck Jaya that he spoke like a Neanderthal in a cartoon, in stunted sentences and abrupt monosyllables, a good bit of the time. Rather strange for a nobleman.

Isha glanced at Jaya. “Okay. Let’s do it, then.” That she was willing to give him a chance wasn’t entirely surprising to Jaya. That was Isha, never prejudging people for where they came from. And maybe she’d decided Grey Emerson would be unable to mastermind a vicious scandal. He could barely manage to string two sentences together. She had a point, but Jaya wasn’t yet ready to arrive at the same conclusion. Grey Emerson might just be an extremely good saboteur.

Grey raised his eyebrows, asking Jaya for permission to come, and Jaya bowed her head, giving it. Besides, if he, the most committed recluse Jaya had ever come across, wanted to come to sushi with them, that was a sign her plan was working, wasn’t it? Even though she was tired of all the flirting, perhaps she was nearer the finish line than she’d thought. The idea filled her with a burst of renewed energy. “Excellent. Thank you, Grey.”

Grey

He tried not to stare at her—or at the pendant, minus one ruby—as they rode in the Escalade. Sure, Jaya Rao had seemed truthful when she told him about the scandal with Isha and why they’d come here to St. Rosetta’s. But that didn’t mean his guard was down. She still wore the pendant. And the fact that both Rao sisters were here, at St. R’s, in the middle of their high school careers? More than a little unsettling.

He clenched his fists on his thighs. Was that the only reason he’d volunteered himself as their escort? Grey wasn’t one to lie to himself. Somewhere in some dusty corner of his mind that was beginning to light and spark as it hadn’t ever done before, he knew the whole truth was a lot more complicated. He stole a glance at Jaya Rao, her smooth brown skin, her laugh that was both confident and sexy, her obvious protective love for her little sister. Yeah, the truth was a lot more complicated.

It felt strange, going out to dinner with them when he barely knew them. He rarely went out to get food with DE, Leo, and Rahul, and then only when they begged and pleaded and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He felt his social muscles, stiff from lack of use, creaking and snapping every time he tried to make conversation. Jaya and Isha carried most of the conversation seamlessly; they were probably used to it from all their training.