Chapter 96 | No Contract Between Us

"Because I won’t buy that answer from you."

Xu spoke before Su’s hand left the workbox.

The room had gone quieter since the last clerk left. Smoke still lived in the timber from the fire, faint beneath lamp oil and paper. The door behind Xu was almost shut. On the other side, Golden Crescent had settled into the dull sounds of closing work.

Su’s palm remained on the locked lid.

Xu looked at her across the table. "The guards are guards. Money is money. If I help this branch, that doesn’t make you a debt I collect later."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"And if I choose you?"

"Then you chose me."

That answer held between them.

Su pulled the key from the lock and slipped it into the inner fold of her robe. The workbox stayed where it was.

"Very neat," she said.

"You asked."

"I asked why you never named a price." A small curve touched her mouth. "You answered as if I were worried you’d send me an invoice."

Xu’s mouth almost moved.

Su caught it and gave him a flat look. "Don’t."

The almost-smile disappeared.

She drew her hand from the workbox at last. "You said something to me before you left Thousand Pines. You were much less careful then."

"I remember."

"Do you?" Her tone lost the last of its teasing. "You made it sound very simple. If I chose you, you expected all of me. No half-measures."

Xu didn’t look away. "I still do."

For a moment, Su said nothing.

"You don’t own this branch now," she said.

"No."

"You haven’t tried to."

Xu’s gaze stayed on her. "I haven’t."

Her fingers shifted against the table. "That’s before I choose anything. What happens after?"

Xu watched her.

Su’s mouth tightened. "Men are often very careful before they get what they want."

"I’m not asking how you behave while you’re trying to impress me," she added. "I’m asking what happens when you no longer have to."

"I don’t have to impress you now."

Su’s mouth flattened. "That wasn’t an answer."

"Then ask me what you actually want to know."

She rested her fingertips against the table instead. "Fine. Suppose you come here tomorrow and tell me you need my eastbound caravan for something at your compound. I look at the route books and tell you moving it will break deliveries I’ve already promised. What happens?"

"You run the caravan."

Her brows rose. "Just like that?"

"It’s your branch. You know the route. I don’t."

"And if you need it?"

"Then I tell you what I need and why. You decide what the branch can do without turning your books into garbage."

Su studied him. "Suppose I tell you the answer is no."

"Then it doesn’t move."

"Even if you hate the answer?"

"Hating it won’t teach me your routes."

The reply seemed to catch her wrong-footed. She looked toward the locked workbox, then back at him.

"So being your woman doesn’t suddenly make you a merchant."

"It doesn’t."

She nodded once, slowly.

The silence stayed. Su didn’t reach for another joke.

Su’s fingers tapped the table, then stopped.

"And if..."

She broke off.

Xu waited.

Her jaw tightened.

"No. If I think you’re wrong," she said, quieter now. "About something that isn’t mine to decide. What then?"

"You tell me."

Su stared at him. "That simple?"

"Tell me why. If you know something I don’t, I want it before I decide."

"And if I still think you’re wrong after that?"

"Then say so."

A breath left her nose, almost a laugh and not quite. "You really don’t make this easy to argue with."

"You aren’t supposed to make it easy."

Her gaze sharpened.

Xu continued, "If it’s mine to carry, I’ll make the choice. That doesn’t mean I want people around me who only tell me what sounds pleasant."

"So I can tell you you’re wrong to your face."

"If you can explain why."

A brief flicker of amusement touched her eyes, then vanished before it reached her mouth.

"And if I can’t convince you?"

"Then I heard you, and I decide."

Su tilted her head. "Convenient. You also get to decide which choices belong to you."

"Not here." Xu glanced at the worktable between them. "This place is yours. If you choose me, that doesn’t make your books mine. If we’re talking about something I have to answer for, I’ll hear you before I decide."

Su’s fingers stopped moving. She glanced at the locked workbox, then back at him. The key stayed hidden inside her robe.

She held his gaze. The smile didn’t return.

Xu moved first.

He walked around the near end of the worktable and stopped in front of her. The sword at his hip stayed sheathed, clear of the table. A narrow space remained between them.

Su’s eyes flicked to it, then returned to his face.

"Another question," she said.

"Ask."

"The best route for a shipment is also the dangerous one." Her voice was plain now. "Not bad weather. Not a broken wheel. Men waiting for it. I know they’re there, I know what they want, and I go anyway because the profit is worth it. What do you do?"

Xu didn’t answer at once.

The pause made her shoulders tighten by a fraction.

"If you’re asking whether I’ll pretend to understand your ledgers better than you do, no."

Su waited.

"If you’re asking whether I’ll stand there while someone tries to kill you because the numbers looked good, also no."

Her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"Even if I tell you to stay out of it?"

Xu’s eyes stayed on hers. "If it’s become a question of whether you come back alive, I’ll stop the danger."

Su glanced past him toward the locked workbox. "And the branch?"

"Still yours."

Her gaze came back to him. "The route?"

"Still your call when nobody’s trying to put a knife in you."

Su looked down for the first time that evening, then raised her eyes again. The merchant polish hadn’t returned with them.

"You’d interfere with me," she said.

"With someone trying to kill you."

"That’s not quite the same answer."

"It’s the answer I’m giving."

She searched his face, perhaps waiting for the softer version. Xu gave her none.

"And afterward?" she asked.

"Afterward, you can be angry."

Su’s brows lifted.

"You can explain why."

Her lips parted. For a beat, nothing came out.

Her gaze dropped briefly to his mouth.

Then Su crossed the narrow space between them.

Her fingers caught the edge of his outer robe near the collar. Her other hand settled against his forearm, light at first.

She kissed him.

The next breath changed it.

Her fingers tightened in his robe. Her mouth stayed against his, warm and deliberate, and when Xu answered the kiss she leaned closer rather than breaking away.

His hand came up and settled firmly between her shoulder blades.

Su inhaled sharply through her nose.

Xu took control of the pace.

He deepened the kiss without hurry, keeping steady pressure at her upper back. His free palm planted on the worktable behind her, a little to the side. Su stayed upright against him, her grip still tight at his collar and her other hand firm on his forearm.

When Xu shifted the angle of the kiss, she followed immediately.

The careful merchant who had spent the day correcting guards and suppliers had no answer ready now. Her breathing lost its measured rhythm. The fingers at his collar tightened again.

Xu held the kiss until her grip tightened once more, then ended it.

Su’s lips followed his for a fraction before she caught herself.

Xu let her go and lifted his palm from the table.

For a moment she remained close, eyes half-lidded, breath warm against his jaw.

Then Su stepped back.

Xu turned around the same end of the table and walked toward the mostly closed door. He stopped before it rather than opening it himself.

Behind him, Su drew a slow breath and let it out.

By the time she came around the table, her expression had almost returned to normal.

She passed him and put her hand on the door.

"Well," she said, her voice rougher than before. "At least there’s nothing for me to read before signing tonight."

Xu looked at her.

Su opened the door. Dim light from the front hall cut across the floorboards.

"Disappointed?" she asked.

"No."

That answer earned him a look sharp enough to be familiar.

She stepped aside.

Xu entered the front hall.

The branch looked different after closing. Most lamps were dark. The front shutters were barred, and somewhere toward the rear yard a guard coughed before boots scraped over stone.

Xu hadn’t reached the middle of the hall when Su spoke again.

"Xu."

He stopped and turned.

She stood in the workroom doorway, her hand still on the wooden panel.

The composure was back now, but not the easy smile she used across a bargaining table.

"Come tomorrow night," she said. "After we close. After the last clerk leaves."

Xu held her gaze.

"I’ll be here."

Su nodded.

Then she shut the door.