Page 83 of Stolen Fate

I didn’t want my resolve to wane, and I didn’t want him to turn me senseless simply because there was some skin-on-skin contact.

“What are you doing here, Evelyn?” Jace asked.

I took a deep breath before plunging ahead. I wasn’t going to let his intoxicating scent distract me from what I really wanted to do.

“Simon. I need you to give him his job back.”

Jace’s face turned dark, and I moved my chin up stubbornly.

“No.”

He made a move to turn around, but I grabbed onto his sleeve before he could go anywhere. Jace looked back at me, then to where I was holding him, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t even make a move to walk away, he just stood there and took me in quietly.

“You can’t just say no.”

“I just did.”

I shook my head. “Then tell me, did he do something to you? Did he offend Elliot? What is the reason you have for reassigning him?”

“I pay my employees. Where I want to put them is not your concern.”

“It does if you moved them because of me.”

He didn’t argue against it, and I knew I’d guessed correctly.

“So what? Are you going to keep any man who might show even the slightest hint of interest in me away? Real mature, Jace. I thought you were better than that.”

His eyes flashed dangerously, and he bent down low until his lips were directly by my ear. “Is he? Interested in you?”

We both knew Jace already knew the answer. I was sure he heard Simon ask me out that day.

I moved my hands to his chest with the intention of pushing him away, but then Jace covered my hands with his and held them there. I looked down at our feet, not wanting to meet his eyes, not knowing how I would react. I flexed my hands a little and felt him tighten his hold on me. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to let me feel him. To feel his firm grip on me and to have him anchor me to him. I both wished he would let go and wished he would never do such a thing.

“Jace,” I said, and I didn’t know what I meant by uttering his name like that. I wondered if he could figure that out for me.

“Evelyn,” he said back, parroting my tone of voice.

“What are we doing?”

He moved in even closer to me—so close, I knew it wouldn’t take much for me to close the gap between us and touch my lips to his.

I could still feel the ghost of his kiss from before. I hadn’t been thinking about anything else but it for the past few days.

Knowing it was a mistake didn’t stop me from craving it—craving him.

But what if it wasn’t a mistake?

What if…

Jerry’s words came back to me.

What if we made it? What if I could have everything I ever wanted? What if I could finally move on? What if I could be happy?

What if, what if, what if?

But what if we broke each other?

I looked up and met tragically beautiful blue eyes that had haunted me in both my sleep and during waking hours. My resolve trembled a little, giving away all of my weak spots. And like the shrewd businessman that he was, he exploited it all to his advantage.

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