Page 92 of Break the Ice
“Cute…” Jayden trails off, twisting his cap backwards to show his face.
“What?” I snicker at the narrow-eyed look he spears me with.
With a roll of his eyes, he huffs out a long breath as we come to a stop outside a glass encased room.
“So, I know you’re going to argue with me, but you should be aware that I will argue back. I’ll keep arguing until I wear you down and I get my way.”
“Huh?” I frown at his bizarre remark.
“I always get my way, Finley-James.”
“Ugh, not you, too. It’s the worst name ever and?—”
“I think it suits you. It’s…cute.” Jayden twists a strand of my hair around his finger, his stare holding mine as though there’s more he wants to say. While I keep waiting for it, he never does. Not a word while he gently moves the curl to the side and slowly unravels it over the rest.
Like before, I’m awash with sensation. The anticipation of his touch has my pulse picking up so that it’s whooshing in my ears.
I don’t know what’s happening to me, but the longer the moment goes on, a niggling thought begins to murmur through my stupor.
He’s not Elijah.
Jayden’s not my person. He’s not the man I’ve loved since we were children, and he’s not the one I’m meant to be feeling anything for.
What am I doing?
“Jayden…”
“No arguments,” he grins at me as he taps his iPhone on the reader on the door to the glass room, and it slides open for him.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Morrow.” A woman greets him when we walk in.
Pausing at the front desk, he greets her in return. “Hi, you must be Jennifer.”
“Yes, Mr. Morrow, that’s me.” The woman practically froths at the mouth. It’s not like he actually knew her name; it’s on her badge. Her bigbadge with the font large enough for the legally blind to read in the dark. “I have your order ready for you. Follow me.”
“Fantastic.” Jayden takes my hand again—this time I’m too aware of his touch to ignore the way the calluses on his hands feel on my palm when he ushers me to the main counter. “Is it all set up?”
“Absolutely, the tech director of the store took care of it himself. Just like the last order,” she pulls a bag from beneath the desk along with a document for Jayden to sign, “everything’s inside and ready to go.”
“Thank you, Jennifer.” He gives her a grateful nod, dismissing her before he takes out a phone box and places it in front of me. “It’s all set up and ready to go.”
I look up at him from the box on the counter. “Thank you.”
It’s the only thing that comes to mind as he lowers himself to my height and takes out a lilac phone. “Your favorite color.”
“My favorite color.”
“Okay, so I got you these too.” He places another box in front of me. “There’s an Air Tag for your keys, another for your purse, one to keep on you, and a spare. That way, Eli and I can find you anywhere, and you never have to search for your keys the way he used to before I put one of these on his keychain.”
He chuckles at his remark, but it’s another way of seeing how deeply he cares and knows Elijah.
Maybe this is why my feelings are so confused. Because we both care so much about the same man that it’s impossible for our emotions not to bleed into each other.
That makes some kind of sense, and I don’t feel so guilty about what I’m feeling for him. We’re friends with a mutual love.
That is it.
That is all.
