Yet, they were all going to come together and see her with her son. Jayce’s girlfriend... again.
She put her hands up and looked around the kitchen. She wasn’t used to being this frazzled, this unsure, and this insecure about anything in her life.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t know his parents or siblings. She had to get a grip.
She opened the fridge and pulled out the lemon bars, lifted them from the pan on the parchment paper and set them on the island.
With quick efficient movements, she had the bars all evenly cut and placed on a plate.
When the timer went off on her last plate of cookies, she pulled them out and touched the ones that had been cooling on the rack. Good enough for the first layer on another plate.
Thirty minutes later, everything was cleaned up and put away, her desserts wrapped and on the counter.
She went in search of her son and saw him in the loft adding to the Lego tower that remained from the week Jayce babysat and they’d built it together. Nothing was added to the height as her son couldn’t reach the top, but he was expanding the bottom.
“I’m done,” she said, pulling a cookie from behind her back and holding it out as if it was the biggest prize of the century.
“Sweet,” Archer said, reaching for it. “Thank you, Mom.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’m just excited to see Jayce again. Are you?”
She smiled. She was. It’d been two weeks since they’d had sex. Their one night together, the entire night they couldn’t stop reaching for each other.
The next morning, Jayce was already up, the scent of coffee and something sweet drifting from the kitchen. He’d been carrying a tray toward the bedroom when she intercepted him, meeting him halfway and turning him back around to the kitchen.
It caught her completely off guard. Breakfast in bed? Letting her sleep in? It was thoughtful in a way she’d never expected, but should have because it was him.
Still, the gesture left her a little cautious and slightly breathless. Jayce kept showing her pieces of himself she’d only ever heard other women whisper about, things she’d quietly tucked away as impossible fantasies of her own.
Yet here he was, turning them into reality without her ever asking.
Was it too good to be true? Was it all part of the way to win her over and now that they were together, it’d stop?
Their lack of time spent together during the week didn’t bother her as much as Archer. Maybe because later at night when her son was in bed, she and Jayce would talk or text. Like they had as teens.
Fun, frivolous, and flirty.
Each interaction made her heart race, her body heat up, her pulse thicken, and wish he was close by for more contact.
Things they were struggling to work out with Archer around.
But she wasn’t someone to send her kid away for the night so she could have sex. If Jayce thought or wanted that, they might have an issue.
It hadn’t come up with nothing more than he missed her during stolen kisses and embraces when her son left the room.
Maybe there was a touch of fun in it that was holding them over. But how long could that last?
She wasn’t ready for Jayce to spend the night with Archer in the house. They just weren’t there yet when her son finally stopped making gagging noises when Jayce gave her a kiss.
Archer’s way of being involved,andbeing a pest.
“We just saw Jayce last night,” she said, brushing his hair in place with her fingers. He needed a trim. Ugh, one more thing to add to her list.
“But we only see him at the end of the week.”
“We are all busy during the week. It makes the weekends more fun,” she said. “And if you’re ready, we can go.”
