Chapter Twenty-Seven
Olivia
I’d been so busy with Kaylee and dress shopping for my mom that I’d hardly thought about Jace’s confession at all since Saturday night.
It was freeing to tell him how I felt, and now it was like I had the warm blanket of his love wrapped around me.
That was enough for now. It was enough because in two days I was going to introduce my daughter to her father, and I needed to focus on that.
Jace was still going to love me in two days, two weeks, two months; however long it took for us to figure out what that meant.
I stepped off the elevator on the top floor of Acker Real Estate and startled at seeing Jace in the kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee. “What are you doing? I’m right on time and I would have made you that!”
“Still not your job,” he muttered before turning to face me. He pursed his lips and stirred his coffee slowly. “Liv, now that you know I love you unequivocally, can I tell you something that might be hard to hear?”
My heart beat quickened, and I wondered if he was going to take back everything he’d said the other night. “Sure.”
“I’ve been making myself coffee every morning before you get here so I can have at least one good cup a day.” He took a slow sip. “Your coffee is terrible, sweetheart.”
“What?” I asked, jaw dropping. I picked up his pot of coffee and looked it over.
Looks exactly the same as when I make it!
“How can coffee be terrible? And why haven’t you said anything?”
“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” he said, taking another sip and sighing in a satisfied way he never did when he drank the coffee that I brought him. “I think you burn it.”
“How do you burn coffee?” I asked as I set the pot back down.
“That’s the million-dollar question I’ve been asking myself for weeks,” Jace said with a smartass grin on his face.
“Oh my God,” I yelled, as I stepped forward and smacked him playfully on the chest. “You could have told me! I’ve been serving that to the people you meet with.”
“I’ve been warning them away from it, don’t worry.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Jace Cohen! You have not.” I lifted my hand to swat him again.
He laughed heartily, grabbed my wrist, and spun me around so my back was pressed against him. “I’m telling you nothing but the truth from now on, sweetheart, and I promise that I’ve been warning people not to drink the coffee and then dumping it out when you’re not looking.”
His breath was hot on my neck, and I squirmed against him, trying to free my wrist so I could hit him again. He laughed, holding me effortlessly in place. “Careful, Liv, keep squirming and we’re going to have another incident like this weekend.”
I stilled against him, the husky tone of his voice igniting arousal I was not used to feeling first thing in the morning. I slowly turned around as he released my wrist. “Are you really going to be honest with me from now on?”
“I’ve always been honest with you. Except for the coffee and the relationship with Kayden, but that was not mine to share at the time.” He took a slow sip of his coffee.
“And the being in love with me part?”
“I never lied about that. I would have confessed if you’d asked. But it’s a fair point. I won’t hold back my feelings anymore, Liv. I don’t want to. I’m an open book.”
I narrowed my eyes in a challenge. “About everything?”
“Everything,” he said, the promise in his tone clear as he took another happy sip of his coffee.
I shrugged my jacket off. “Did you tell Kayden about what happened at the bridal shower?”
“I did.”
“All of it?” I pressed.
“Yes.”
“What was his reaction?”
“He understands that I love you and he found my desire for you to be quite arousing.”
“Oh,” I said, my cheeks flushing.
“Does that make you uncomfortable?”
“No,” I said instantly.
It makes me kind of hot though.
“Do you love him?”
Jace gripped his coffee mug tightly and smiled like a man who’d fallen head over heels. “Yeah. I think I do. He snuck up on me out of nowhere. I never thought I’d love anyone the way I love you, but he’s really something special.”
“I know. I remember,” I said. Kayden was sweet, honest, and sexy. It would have been easy to fall in love with him if I’d had more than an evening with him four years ago.
“It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. You loving him,” I said.
Jace took my jacket from me and started walking toward my desk. He hung it on a coat rack that hadn’t been there last week. “Good. Because I don’t intend to stop loving either of you. Now, can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, I’ve never lied to you. Same secretly-in-love-with-you-for-years-and-too-scared-to-say-it situation, but that’s it.”
“Good. I don’t want to pressure you to decide anything.
I meant what I said in the car about waiting until you’re ready to talk.
But I also don’t want to go back to trying to hide my interest in you.
The cat’s out of the bag, Olivia. I’ve been suppressing my love and desire for years and I’m tired of it.
So can I please love you and flirt with you openly now even if our future is undefined? ”
My heart thudded in my chest, and it look all my willpower not to throw myself at him so I could finally find out what it would feel like to have his lips on me. “Yes. Please don’t hold back at all. I want total openness from now on.”
He grinned and nodded. “Okay.”
I sat down at my desk and logged into the computer. “Don’t forget I’m taking a late lunch to get my flu shot at one o’clock.”
“Okay, can you cancel whatever I have at one o’clock, please?”
“Why? You can’t make it to one meeting without me?”
“I can, but I’m going with my best friend to get her flu shot.”
“Why?” I asked as he plopped down in the chair across from me, looking smug.
“Because you’re terrified of needles. And you’re only doing this because it’s a company requirement.”
I groaned. He was right. I believed in the science of vaccines, but I also hated needles enough that I’d rather just get the flu and be miserable for two weeks.
I made Kaylee get her shot every year and she handled it like a champ.
I’d probably be crying at the clinic today and it would be nice to have a warm, sexy shoulder to lean on. “Fine. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said.
“Is there a reason you’re lingering this morning?” I asked.
“Yeah, I have no idea where I’m supposed to be right now.”
“Oh, dear lord, Jace,” I said, rolling my eyes as my computer booted up. “The day I decide to find another job, you’re going to be completely lost.”
“Yes, I might just have to tie you to your desk and keep you forever,” he said.
My breath caught in my throat.
Jace smirked. “Wondering if that’s something I like or if it’s something you’d like?”
“Both,” I said, flushing again.
“Don’t worry, Liv. Someday we’ll answer all your questions,” he teased.
I shook off the shiver of arousal that shot through me and focused on my computer screen.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking a gentler tone. “You look tired.”
I glared at him.
“Okay, wow.” He held one hand up in surrender. “To be clear, you also look beautiful, you’re just carrying yourself like you’re tired this morning.”
“I’m nervous for dinner with Kayden. I’ve been trying to decide whether we should just be honest with Kaylee about who Kayden is from the beginning but I keep going back and forth and I’m going to drive myself crazy if I don’t decide soon.”
“What does Kayden think?” Jace asked, leaning forward.
“I haven’t asked him,” I said, clicking into Jace’s schedule for the day.
“Well maybe you should start there.”
“I haven’t seen him since we left his place together last week.”
“Hey, Liv,” Jace said, looking proud. “You should check out my schedule for the day. I think my two o’clock might be convenient for your current dilemma.”
“So you do know your schedule?” I said, feigning shock. “Was I wrong before? Are you maturing as a professional, Jace?”
“Hardly,” he scoffed. “I just know when Kayden comes in because it means I get laid in the middle of the day.”
I sighed. Of course that’s why he knows. “Your first meeting is at ten and are you two seriously having sex in there?”
“Yep. Why do you think we need ninety minutes to look at schematics every week? I get very distracted by his cologne. Listening to him talk about blueprints is hotter than you’d think.”
My face flushed. “Trust me, I get it. He is extremely attractive, and his intelligence is a major turn-on,” I said, feeling bold.
If Jace and I are going to try this new radical honesty thing, I should just dive in.
Whatever we decide to do about our love confessions is going to require it, that’s for sure.
Jace smirked at me like he liked my admission very much. “Feel free to listen if you want, Liv. I’m guessing you enjoyed it the last time and he won’t mind.”
“What?” I sputtered. “No! I mean. Maybe, a little. This is so not appropriate work conversation.”
Jace cackled, walking to his office. “You’re right, Ms. Riley, I suppose at this point in our relationship we might as well start trying to act more professional.
I’m going to be busy with my two o’clock meeting for a while later so you should feel free to take a long break, unless…
” He raised his eyebrow and smirked again.
I rolled my eyes.
He chuckled and adopted a more serious look.
“In all honesty, I think you should tell Kaylee who Kayden is from the beginning. The more I get to know Kayden, the more I understand how Kaylee’s brain works.
She’s really smart, Liv. You are too, but I think she might have his super fancy, genius brain.
If she does, she’d appreciate all the information from the beginning. ”
“You’re right. I’ll talk to him when he comes in,” I said. “I’ve long suspected that she got his fancy brain. Lucky me. She’s going to be smarter than me by the time she’s ten.”