“You would?” She studied me over the rim of her cup, and I somehow held her gaze before my mouth twitched into a smile.

“What? Is it so strange? Your father manufactures the most expensive personal product being sold right now—worldwide. And the suits are an amazing feat of engineering.”

She put the mocha down and wandered over to my suit’s pod set in the corner of the large studio. “This is nice. Your first?”

“No,” I lied. “I have one back in California. The air in the Bay Area is bad, but it’s even worse in LA.”

Daiyu turned to me and nodded. “Father has a lot of clients in the LA area. It’s one of our largest markets in the United States, along with New York City.” She began walking around the apartment, trailing a hand along the rock wall. “How about a trade? I take you on a personal tour of Jin Corp, and you”—she stopped by a belaybot and tugged on the rope—“you teach me how to rock climb.”

“What?” I replied without thinking, I was so caught off guard.

“It’s more than a fair trade,” she countered.

I laughed again. “That’s not what I meant. You want to learn how to rock climb?”

“It looks fun.” Daiyu tilted her face up to take in the twenty-foot wall and rubbed her hands together. “It looks like a challenge.”

I shook my head. “You surprise me.”

“How could I surprise you if you don’t even know me?” She was pulling off her ivory sweater, and I wasn’t sure which panicked me more, that or her question.

“Preconceived notions, I guess.”

“Which are stupid,” she said, voice muffled under the wool. Her sweater rode up to show her abdomen, and for a terrible moment, I thought everything would come off at once—and I’d have Jin’s daughter standing in her lace bra in the middle of my apartment.

I was beside her within seconds, grasping at the bottom of her sweater.

“What are you doing?” she asked through the soft, opaque material.

Her stance had tensed, and too late, I saw the edge of a black top beneath the sweater. I reached for the fabric, my hand grazing against her bare stomach, and that was enough for me to imagine myself helping her out of her top, instead of pulling it down. “Just being a gentleman,” I replied smoothly, surprised my voice didn’t hitch, and tugged the shirt down to cover her exposed torso.