“I appreciate you saying that. I’m not uncomfortable around you,” she said, reaching for my hand on top of the desk. My body buzzed at the contact. It felt like I was waking up the morning after our night together and seeing her again, like the last four years had been a dream. Only, during that dream, I’d met someone who I was kind of crazy about and he was less than fifty feet away from us right now.
I pulled back my hand and straightened in my seat.
“Kayden,” she said, her voice tight. “When you’re done with Jace, do you think you’d have time to go for a walk with me? You’re the last meeting of the day for him and there is something else we should talk about.”
A million questions flew through my head so quickly I couldn’t even decipher which ones made sense and which ones my brain had concocted with zero evidence to support them. But one stood out among the rest:Did you also wake up four years ago and feel like it was a mistake not to make each other any promises or stay in touch? And if you did, how do I reconcile that with the man filling my every waking thought?
Before I could ask anything, Jace’s door swung open—right on time—and my face snapped to his at the sound. He looked between Olivia and me warily. He had dark circles under his eyes, his beard was alittle longer than usual, and his face was paler. He looked exhausted, like he really had been working late for the last week. I felt bad for doubting him.
He ran a hand through his hair, snapping on a professional smile. “It’s good to see you, Kayden. Come on in.” The formality in his voice sent a shiver through me. I knew why it was there, but I preferred the smooth honey of his voice when we were alone or the way he sighed contentedly when I praised the way he sucked my dick.
“Kayden?” Olivia pulled my attention back to her.
“Yeah, of course, we can do that,” I said, forcing a smile as I remembered her request to talk.
I walked to Jace and stepped into his office, waiting for him to shut the door behind us before turning to face him. I reached out a hand to graze his cheek and he signed contentedly at the contact. “How are you?” I asked.
He took a deep breath and stepped closer. “I’m sorry I wasn’t around last week. I’ve been under a lot of stress.”
I scratched softly at his beard. “Is that normal for you? To have weeks like that?”
Jace shook his head. “I’m hoping it’s temporary.” He cupped his hand over mine and held my hand against his face. “I really missed you, Kayden.”
I let out a small breath of relief. I hated that I needed to hear it and that his words of reassurance were so necessary, but they were. I pulled his face to mine and kissed him gently, letting my tongue softly skim over his bottom lip before pulling back. “I really missed you too. But it’s okay. Do you want to see my revised plans?”
He nodded sadly, and I desperately wanted to know what was eating at him. He sat down in his usual seat in front of his desk. I decided to wait and focus on the work for now and sat next to him.
I handed him the printed schematics and leaned close as I walked him through the first option. It allowed for the art therapy space but compromised slightly on the structural integrity, not enough to be concerned with the weather in Boston, but not something I’d recommend to clients living in the Midwest. The second option expanded the footprint of the building slightly, but not enough to compromise the current plan for the outdoor space on the property. I opened my laptop and set it on the edge of his desk to walk him through the financial projections. The second option would raise the costs of the project, putting it slightly out of the budget Jace had given me to work with in his original RFP, but it maintained full structural integrity.
I glanced at Jace as I reassured him that option one would be perfectly safe and up to code. So far, Jace had been easy to work with and forthcoming with his thoughts, but now he was staring at me with a faraway look and frowning so much that I was pretty sure he’d zoned out a while ago.
“Are you paying attention?” I asked, as the vacant look in his eyes deepened. I adjusted my glasses. I was way too tired to walk him through all of that again.
Jace blinked at me and a look of longing took over his face. I was used to being the one hiding my emotions since Jace never seemed like he was doing that with me—until now. I always knew where he stood and right now, he was making me guess, which I didn’t like.
“Jace,” I said, snapping him out of it.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you hate both options? Because if you do, you need to just spit it out so we can start over again.”
“I don’t hate them. I’m sorry, I barely even heard what you said.”
“What is going on with you?” I asked, putting my hand on his knee. “Talk to me.”
He looked down at my hand before looking at me with pleading eyes. “I don’t think I can do this right now.”
My heart plummeted to the ground while simultaneously starting to beat out of my chest as a feeling of loss cascaded over me.
Chapter Eighteen
Jace
“What?” Kayden asked, blinkingat me slowly. “You can’t look at these designs right now? Or you can’t do this?” He gestured between us.
I grabbed his hand, bringing it to my mouth so I could kiss his palm gently. “Not us,” I quickly clarified. “Never us.”
His shoulders dropped as he sighed in relief.
