Tak dropped his utensils. Michael glanced at him and turned back to Deena, unfazed.

"I was very active with the Science Fiction Society and the Model Railroad Club. You probably had friends in one or both."

Deena sighed. How was it that Tak and John and Kenji could all be so warm and funny, and this guy-this guy could be so...awful?

"You know, there are times when I find myself missing M.I.T.," Michael said, dunking his gyoza in soy sauce before dropping it into his mouth. "Are you the same way?'

"No." Instantly, her curtness embarra.s.sed her. "It was...too cold for my tastes."

Michael grinned and nodded as though he were privy to some great inside joke. "Indeed, indeed. Still, there are times when I wish for that old school spirit, you know?"

Deena scooped a sliver of beef out of her dish and ate it. She had no idea what he wanted her to say.

"We should've crossed paths on campus at least once. And I know we didn't, because I would remember a face as pretty as yours."

Both Daichi and Tak glared openly at him.

"What?" he finally said.

Deena met Tak's gaze. He was p.i.s.sed. At Michael, at Deena, and at himself. She could see it. She shot him a look of pity, hoping to convey that she was suffering as much as him, but he met it with a hard, indifferent glare.

"Perhaps you would allow Ms. Hammond to enjoy her meal instead of feeling obliged to humor your fruitless advances," Daichi said.

"Hey, come on, Daichi. Don't start that."

That was Yoshi.

Daichi turned to his brother. "You've something you'd like to say, Yoshiaki?"

"No. He does not. And neither do you," their mother said.

Everyone fell silent.

"Maybe after dinner I can show you some of the sights here," Michael offered.

Deena could feel Tak's eyes on her.

"Um no. Tak-Tak.u.mi has volunteered to do that."

"Oh?" Michael looked from Deena to Tak, paused at the thinly veiled annoyance on his cousin's face, and then turned back to her. "Okay. Maybe some other time."

When dinner ended, John made eye contact with Deena and nodded towards the back door. He stepped out onto the terrace and she followed.

"Quite the show you've got going."

He closed the sliding gla.s.s behind them.

Deena sighed. "So is Tak ready to commit domestic violence or what?"

John grinned. "You'd have to cop to a relationship for it to be domestic violence."

"Is that your legal opinion?"

John snorted. "Hey toots, you're pretty and all, but if this goes down I'm Tak's lawyer not yours." He paused, slipped a hand in his pocket.

"Tell me something, Deena. I'm just curious here. You guys have been at this thing awhile now. I mean, formally, for close to three years, and informally, even longer. How long do you keep things up in toto?"

Deena frowned. "Now you sound like, Tak."

"No. I sound like a guy who's about to get caught between his brother and his cousin-a cousin of which happens to be his best friend."

She ran a hand over her face and through wayward curls before exhaling in fatigue.

"I don't know, John. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just hanging on by a thread-trying to keep everything and lose nothing, when I'm not even sure if that's possible. I just wish that I could-"

She fell silent when the doors opened and Mike stepped outside.

"So uh, post-Renaissance, you say, huh?"

Deena blinked at John, slow to catch the tactic. "Oh, yeah. Post-Renaissance."

Desperately, she searched for an application to the phrase. "Well, there was more unity in construction back then. And uh-and more consciousness of the surroundings, at least as far as designing was concerned."

"At least," John said distractedly, his eyes on his brother.

"Now this is a new interest," Michael said. "John and architecture."

John scowled. "Mom and dad thought the same thing when they saw you talking to a girl."

Michael's smile faded. "Pretty enough to tear brothers asunder, huh?"

John sighed. "I'm bailing. Talk later, Deena."

She watched him go with reluctance.

"Maybe I should go, too."

Michael nodded. "Alright, then. I'm sure we'll talk again."

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT.

Deena sat in the window seat of her bedroom and admired her view of the Pacific. The waters were dark and shimmering as the light of the full moon illuminated her face. She'd been certain Tak would come to her when the house was still and everything seemed safe. But as the hours dragged on, and night crept toward morning, there was still no Tak. When Deena did fall asleep, it was with a heavy heart.

Deena woke in the night and jumped from the arm draped about her. If that weirdo went so far as to- She turned and exhaled in relief. It was Tak. Deena snuggled in close, now facing him.

"When did you get here?"

He shrugged. "One, maybe two minutes ago."

"I thought you were mad at me."

"I am. I was going to slip in here and steal a little undetected s.e.x."

Deena snorted.

"Okay. Maybe you would've detected after a second or two. Point it, I've decided not to be mad since I agreed to do this c.r.a.p, and since it's your dream to work for my dad and what not."

Deena smiled in unfettered gratefulness. "That is why I'm so crazy about you!"

"Yeah, and I know someone who's crazy about you."

She pulled a face. "I don't like him, Tak. Not at all."

Tak grinned. "Mike has that effect on women. Now if only we were a couple. I could just tell him to go away." He brought a finger to his chin as if contemplating a solution.

"Not mad, remember? Not even pa.s.sive aggressive."

His gaze narrowed. "Not sure I agreed to that one."

"I see. You know, John warned me you might resort to domestic violence. He said that if you do, he'd be willing to defend you."

"John's a tax attorney. I'd probably wind up with the death penalty after slapping you."

Deena giggled. "Good. Keep that in mind when you're busy being mad."

They stared at each other, smiling, noses near touching in the dark. It still amazed her that she could be so comfortable with someone, so close without self-consciousness. She hadn't even thought it possible.

"Your grandmother's beautiful," she said. "And your mother, too."

"Uh huh."

"And I get the joke now, about John looking like his father."

"Oh you do, now?" Tak sat up. "What are you trying to say?"

Deena sat up as well. "Nothing. I just-"

"What? That he's fat? Ugly?"

"No, Tak. I would never. I just-"

He seized her, tickling as she squirmed, as she giggled her apology. He clamped a hand over her mouth and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"I can't believe you're going to sit here and laugh in my face," he said.

"I'm not. All I said was-" her words m.u.f.fled and distorted.

"And John, that poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d, do you see what he has to look forward to? What he'll look like in a few short years?"

Deena giggled.

"Again, with the laughing in my face." Tak sighed, finally freeing her mouth. "And Mike, Jesus, he's on the fast track there, isn't he?"

When Deena laughed this time, she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle it. Tak frowned at her.

"You're doing it again."

He paused, as if with a thought. "And poor Lauren. Can you picture her in a few years? With that comb-over and that gut?"

This time when Deena laughed, he tickled her till she thrashed. "I'm gonna teach you some manners, little lady. Right now. Gonna give you some punishment."

He grabbed her by the wrists, pinned them overhead and kissed her neck. His body felt lean and hard, and hers, instantly turned on.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE.

When Deena ventured into the kitchen the next morning, beckoned by the smell of coffee, she was greeted by the Tanaka women-Yukiko, Daichi's mother, June, his sister-in-law, Hatsumi, his wife, and Asami, his sister. Erin, Asami's daughter, sat at the breakfast nook swinging her feet.

"Can I get you some coffee?" Yukiko asked in that soothing voice of hers.

Deena nodded and pulled out a chair from the table. Despite the kitchen's broadness, it still pulled off a cozy feel.

She took a seat across from Asami, who sipped tea as she watched her. June took a seat next to Asami and also began to stare. Deena smiled nervously.

"So, we hear that you work for, Daichi?" Asami said.

Pet.i.te and pretty, she had wide dark eyes and black hair that fell to her shoulders, streaked with chestnut. Her clothes were expensive and reserved-dark tailored slacks and a sleeveless blouse; Deena recognized them from the new Dolce & Gabanna lineup.

"It's going well. We're in the middle of a major project that we're very excited about."

"Yes, yes we know that," Asami said dismissively. "But how is it to work for him?"

"Oh it must be horrible," June blurted. The women looked at each other and giggled as if they thought themselves naughty.