Page 18 of Forever Fickle

Karen was going to meet Reaper’s wife at the funeral, but instead, the team had asked her to man the phones instead because they hadn’t intended to be closed today… and had rescheduled one of the classes.

She was invited over for cocktails instead – and Sophie, Reaper’s wife, was a joy. The woman was full of nervous smiles and couldn’t take her eyes off the stony man she’d married. It was a little unsettling to see the two of them together – almost as opposite as night and day.

Today was a new day.

She only had to deal with Jace for the week… which meant five business days since they were closed on Sunday, and he was flying back out either Sunday or Monday.

This was day one out of five.

Pulling her Kia into the lot, she parked in the gravel spaces along the fence, so she didn’t have to cross the runway to where Harley normally parked her car.

It felt like she was doing something wrong and unsettling to drive across the runway – and she would rather take the extra few steps than to have the heebie-jeebies all day long. Maybe someday it wouldn’t bother her… but until then?

She’d walk.

Getting her purse and her keys, Karen walked up to the building and hesitated, before realizing that Armadillo hadn’t arrived yet. The man always seemed to pull in right before eight and she was the only one who ever got their right at seven thirty in the mornings. Maybe it was because she was used to being up so early for school?

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for whatever was about to happen and anticipating the worst imaginable. Jace had asked her out to dinner, so she expected this week to be full of different attempts.

As she unlocked the front door, she realized that she smelled coffee.

“Good morning…” Jace said, leaning around the door frame. “The coffee is almost done brewing and I found some donuts in the microwave.”

“Those are old,” she said, hesitating. “I forgot to throw them away yesterday before I went home.”

“Oh…” he uttered, looking chagrinned. “I’ve already eaten one. How old are they?”

Karen couldn’t help but smirk, realizing the guy obviously had a thing for pastries, breads, and obviously… hot cakes, like his name.

“A day…”

“Oh whew…” he grinned, reaching up in the cabinet to get out two coffee mugs. “I’ve had worse before.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised,” she replied, standing there at the kitchenette doorway, watching him.

She had intended to go in, make a pot of coffee, and then start filtering through the emails and letters that she’d set aside yesterday… only to realize that she would obviously have company – who wanted to talk.

A part of her expected to have him strutting about in boxers, or walk out of the bathroom with just a towel, or even still be asleep… but nothing prepared her for the clean-cut man before her who was obviously a morning person as well.

Jace was standing there in an aqua colored Polo shirt, khaki pants, and had sneakers on. He was already showered, shaved, and smelled incredible, because she got a faint whiff of pine scented cologne.

“I’m going to have another donut… do you want to try one?” Jace asked politely, pouring two cups of coffee and turning to set them on the table between them. “You can come in – I promise that I don’t bite.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Then why are you standing so far away?”

“I was going to set down my things in the office.”

“Okay,” he shrugged, getting the box of donuts out of the microwave. “Go ahead and then you can fix your coffee.”

“Thanks for the permission,” she said sarcastically, walking off to put her purse down, and heard his heavy sigh in the distance.

Wincing, she realized that she was the one being rude, and he’d done nothing but attempt to be nice to her. Setting down her purse and throwing her keys onto the desk, she took a deep breath to steady herself.

She didn’t want to think about how handsome he looked, or how just being nice was unsettling to her. She could deal with egotistical or angry so much easier. She dealt with upset fathers, concerned parents, or irate mommies all the time at school… butnicedidn’t come around as often – and certainly not from someone so attractive.

This was all just a big heaping mess of a mistake waiting to happen – and she had to outlast him being here.

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