Page 67 of Stolen Fate

Evelyn

During my first three weeks,Jace had made himself scarce to the point that I started to question whether or not he lived at the house, and if I hadn’t seen him in the mornings right before I took over Elliot’s care, and in the evenings when he came home to relieve me of my work, I would have thought he might have had another place to stay.

In truth, I had missed him during those three weeks. I had missed his silent presence that was always hard to ignore; I missed the way his blue eyes would light up whenever Elliot talked to him; and I even missed the insane way my body reacted to him whenever he was near.

I fucking missed him, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it but soak up all the minutes in a day that I could see him.

Now, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

After our kiss, would things go back to how they were? How would I feel if they did?

How would I feel if they didn’t?

I was a mess of conflicting emotions, and it was doing nothing to help with my nerves.

It was the morning after our kiss, after I nearly gave into temptation and almost begged him to carry me back to his room and have his way with me, I woke in the morning feeling apprehensive and unsure of how I would react to the sight of Jace this morning.

My only consolation was that I wouldn’t be seeing him for long. Probably a minute or so before he left to work. Jace ran a multimillion-dollar private equity firm. He was a busy man, and it was Friday. No doubt he would be needed at the office early.

Only, he didn’t leave at his usual time.

By the time I came downstairs, dressed and ready for my day, Jace was still having breakfast with Elliot.

I paused at the threshold of the kitchen and took in the sight of them, of Elliot’s little legs swinging while he was seated at the dining table, and of Jace cutting up his sausages for him.

It was a nice sight, and it always messed with my head, because despite how Jace was as a man, how cold and aloof he could be, he wasn’t like that with Elliot.

And I shouldn’t be attracted to this side of Jace, but I was.

I really, really was.

It was no wonder most women turned into mush at the sight of a single dad. It was why single-dad romances sold so well and why I had been guilty of reading those kinds of stories in bed most nights.

I think a lot of it had to do with seeing the man as a provider that made women want to capture him and never let him go.

It was evolutionary psychology at its finest.

But this wasn’t a romance novel.

I shouldn’t be entertaining the idea of Jace and me forever, because I was too messed up for that.

Jace looked up then, as if sensing someone was watching him, and I ignored the way his eyes brightened at the sight of me or the way he smirked when he caught my blush. I should have worn some makeup today, or at least, some foundation.

Blushing around Jace, I realized, was going to be a daily occurrence.

“Hey, sleepy-head. I made you some breakfast. It’s on the warming plate.”

I looked over to it and tried to keep the fierce pounding of my heart from beating right out of my mouth. I nodded and quietly and walked over to the plate, grabbing it and sitting down across from them.

“Good mooooooorning, Evelyn!” Elliot greeted loudly.

I smiled a little at his enthusiasm. He was an early bird, getting most of his energy in the morning. “Good morning, sweetie.”

I looked over to Jace then. “Good morning,” I offered quietly.

Jace nodded. “Good morning.”

God, all this politeness was killing me.

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