Page 90 of Ashes
“Then I’ll take you,” he countered, but I didn’t want to interfere with their routine.
I was about to tell him he didn’t need to when Valentina chimed in. “I’ll drop her off. I have some business to attend to in the city anyway.”
“On a Sunday?” Kai asked.
She simply rolled her eyes at him and downed the rest of her coffee. She placed it in the sink and brushed past me and Jamal. “Let’s go.”
I stood on the balls of my feet and pressed a kiss to Jamal’s jaw. My cheeks instantly burned bright at the realization of what I’d done, but before I could overthink it, I whipped around and followed Valentina out.
CHAPTER 24
JAMAL
I reluctantly headed backinto the kitchen.
Realistically, I knew it was more logical for Valentina to take her because if I did, I’d just spend however long she spent with her friend waiting outside for her to be done.
But I couldn’t hide the fact that I was disappointed to not spend more time with her today. We both worked quite often and with her schedule, we hadn’t had the chance to see each other as often as I’d like.
The only time we did was in my car when I drove her to and back from work. And that would soon change since the garage where Kai had taken her car when it broke down was almost done with the repairs.
I’d considered buying her a brand-new one because hers was quite frankly not something I liked her driving, but I knew she wouldn’t want that. She had a strangeattachment to that old piece of metal and I didn’t want to take that away from her.
I stood in front of the stove and poured the mixture of egg, vegetables, and spices into the pan. I then turned the heat on under a new pan and placed slices of turkey bacon into it.
The room was awfully quiet, the silence suffocating as I felt Kai’s gaze burning the back of my skull with a million questions. I frowned, peering at him over my shoulder to find him now perched at the kitchen island, sipping on his coffee.
“Can I help you with something?” I asked him.
He stayed quiet for a moment, studying my face before he finally said what I knew he’d been itching to ask since I walked in not too long ago with Sienna.
“Anything you want to tell me?”
“What do you mean?” I deflected.
He gave me a look that saiddon’t play me for a fool. “Jamal, she was wearing your clothes.”
Oh. I’d forgotten about that.
I returned my attention back to the pans. I folded the eggs with a spatula in one and flipped the bacon with tongs in the other to buy myself some time.
“So?” he prompted.
I had no idea how to answer. On one hand, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs that Sienna was mine. That whenever she was around, I couldn’t think straight.
That she was all I could think about.
That I wanted her. Needed her. That I…
That I was falling for my wife.
That final realization hit the hardest. I couldn’t hide it or pretend I didn’t anymore. I’d never loved anyone or been in love. Sure, I had occasional casual hookups while in college, but my heart was never in it.
But now…
I slid the cooked bacon onto a paper towel covered plate and placed the omelet in another one. After heating up some bread in the air fryer, I placed everything onto the island.
“I have all day,” he added, putting his elbow on the island and patting the seat right next to him.
