Page 58 of Twisted Devotion

She beams. “I’m well, thank you. As are they.” She slides a carton of eggs onto a shelf in the fridge. “Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, no, I’m okay. Thanks, though. Jackson and I need to get going soon, but he’s asleep in the other room.”

Gloria smiles. “You seem to have warmed up to each other,” she observes.

I laugh. “Yeah, he’s not all bad.”

“I understand you’ll be leaving fairly soon. Mr. Hawthorne is sure to miss having you around. I know I will.”

A pang of sadness fills my chest. “Yeah,” I say. “I’ll miss . . . you guys as well.”

Gloria offers me another smile, but there’s a twinkle in her eye as if she suspects there’s more meaning in my words than I’d like her to believe.

“I should wake Jackson so we can get to the office,” I tell her.

She nods and says, “Have a good day, dear.”

I return to the living room as Jackson hauls himself off the couch with a wide yawn and stretches, raising his arms in the air high enough to make his shirt lift and expose the firm, toned line of his stomach.

I force my eyes away from his annoyingly impressive abdomen and meet his gaze, scowling when he winks at me.

Jackson saunters over to the desk with a smirk playing on his lips. “You like the show?”

“You usually sleep during work hours?”

He drags his fingers through his messy black hair. “I’m in charge. I can do whatever I want, Red.”

“Right.” I drag out the word as I step into the room. “We should get going.”

The smirk fades from his lips. “We can head out in a few minutes. There’s something I need to tell you first, though.” He sits on the couch and pats the spot next to him, waiting for me to join him.

I exhale heavily and walk to the couch, lowering myself onto it and folding my hands in my lap. “Okay. Go ahead.” I’m trying to keep my composure, but when Jackson gets serious like this, it’s never for a good reason.

“While you were at breakfast with Kyle this morning, Seth completed all the tests and signed the paperwork for the procedure. You know as well as I do that I shouldn’t be sharing this information with you, and under any other circumstance, I wouldn’t. But Seth gave me permission to tell you.”

I swallow hard, nodding. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

His brows knit. “Ah, he said you might take it better coming from me.” He shrugs. “I’m not sure why, but I told him I’d talk to you.”

I press my lips together. “I told him.”

“About?”

“Us,” I finally say after a long moment of hesitation.

His eyes widen ever so slightly, but his voice remains the same. “What exactly did you tell him?”

Pushing my hand through my curls to get them out of my face, I say, “That we slept together.”

He chuckles. “Interesting. I hope you made me sound good.”

I roll my eyes and smack his arm. “Has his procedure been scheduled?” I ask, bringing the conversation back around.

Jackson nods, and his soft, golden gaze fills with empathy.

“When is it?” I whisper, my heart hammering in my chest.

He glances down, and I suck in a breath.

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