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In between buying me things he thought I needed, Jett had managed to track down the two women who had been held captive with me at the club, and he’d learned that they had both escaped and were safely back in their home countries.
Finding the other women who had been victims of the sex trafficking enterprise had been only one of the many things I’d seen him do that told me he was a decent guy.
Okay, maybe more than just decent. To me, Jett was extraordinary, no matter how much he grumbled.
The waiter arrived to take our order. After he retreated, I asked Jett, “How old are you?”
Okay. Yeah. It was weird that I didn’t even know the basics about the guy I’d been staying with for weeks, but I wanted to know more. I just wasn’t feeling his willingness to be open with me, so maybe I was going to have to be the one who pushed.
“I just turned thirty-one last month,” he answered.
“Is Dani older or younger?”
He leaned back in his chair and looked at me. “She’s the baby of the family. There’s five of us. Harper, my other sister, is between me and Dani. And I have two older brothers.”
I took a cautious sip of the glass of wine the waiter had just delivered before I replied, “I wish I had siblings.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So I take it you don’t?”
I knew Jett would like to know more about why I was on the streets, but he hadn’t asked me anything personal until now.
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t have anyone.”
His face turned grim, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but he seemed to shake it off and reached for his drink.
“I’d like the chance to thank your sister for what she did,” I said softly. “We barely knew each other, yet she was willing to send you to help me when she was rushing into her own bad situation.”
Jett had mentioned some of Dani’s history, and what she’d been doing in Florida. I’d been pretty surprised when I’d discover that she was trying to take down a millionaire who was completely corrupt and the ringleader of not only the sex trafficking operation, but a lot of other despicable crimes.
He shrugged. “I guess you have to know Dani. She’s always had a big heart.”
“And your other sister?”
“She’s the same way,” he admitted.
“And your parents?” I asked, feeling like I was tugging information from him, little by little.
He shook his head, his expression grim. “They were both killed in a car accident. But they were both incredible.”
So are you.
Jett Lawson obviously had the same qualities when it came to helping other people as his sisters did, even though he tried to blow it off as nothing.
Since I hated the sudden sadness I saw in his extraordinary eyes, I changed the subject. “So will you be going back to Seattle soon?”
I started to fumble with my linen napkin, waiting uneasily to get his answer.
“Pretty soon,” he said noncommittally. “When I do, you’re coming with me.”
My heart tripped at the thought of staying with Jett, but I knew I couldn’t hang out as a guest of his forever. He’d already done way too much for me. “For how long?”
“Do we really need to set a time limit on friendship?” he asked.
Were Jett and I really friends? Mostly, he’d pretty much been stuck with me because he was too nice to dump me back on the streets.
I shook my head slowly. “No. Friendship shouldn’t have a time limit. But I’m…scared.”
“Of me?” he asked, glancing up to look at me as he waited for an answer with a disappointed expression.
“No,” I said immediately. “I’m not afraid of you. But I’m terrified that I’ll get too used to being with you, too used to sleeping in a real bed, and much too used to not being alone.”
Becoming accustomed to something that was going to eventually end was never a good idea.
“You’re never going to be alone again, and you need to get that into your head right now,” Jett rumbled. “Do you honestly think I’m ever going to put you out on the streets? It’s not going to happen, Ruby. I don’t care if it takes years for you to get into a position to be on your own. Until that happens, you stay with me, or you let me get you a place here in Florida and pay your bills until you can make it on your own. Those are your choices.”