“Just a little bit. Kayden handled me just fine,” I said.
“Are you eating any of this with me?” Jace gestured to the nachos. “It looks like you ordered for two.”
“I did, but I’m fine,” I said. “Martin ruined our lunch plans.”
“Sit, Olivia,” Kayden said. “I doubt these designs are any more confidential than half the meetings you attend with Jace. Eat something while we go through them.”
Jace nodded, licking his fingers. He pushed the nachos across the desk toward the empty chair. “Please, sweetheart.”
My heart did a backflip at these two men looking at me like they wanted to take care of me.
“Fine, I’m starving.” I sat down and started pulling apart the chips stuck together by pulled pork and melted cheese while Kayden opened files on his laptop next me. “Are you going to call me sweetheart now?” I asked, shoving a chip in my mouth.
“I’ve been wanting to call you that for years,” Jace said “Do you hate it?”
I shrugged and turned to Kayden. “What does he call you?”
“Baby. And Kayd. He’s the first person to call me Kayd since my mom passed.”
“Really?” Jace asked. “I didn’t realize that. I don’t have to.”
“No, I like it,” he said, smiling at Jace. He turned back to me. “Sweetheart is nice.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” I said. “I wouldn’t have mindedbeautifulorgorgeous, butsweetheart’s fine.”
Jace laughed. “When you decide what you want to be called, let me know. Until then, I’m calling you sweetheart.”
I pushed the nachos closer to Kayden and swallowed another big bite of sour cream and pork. “You want some?”
“Yes, please, they smell amazing, and I skipped lunch,” he said, digging in right away.
“Give me your laptop,” Jace said, waving his fingers at Kayden. He passed it across the desk and Jace hooked it up to his dual monitors, turning them both toward us so we could all see. “Eat and talk because that sweet woman next to you is going to turn into a drill sergeant if we run over our scheduled meeting time.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and Kayden laughed as he started walking us through the detailed designs he’d worked up over the weekend. This was the first time I was seeing more than just the computerized image of the exterior. His digital renderings of the interior space were fantastic. I knew he was brilliant, but seeing every detail of the room down to the outlets and the floor material was phenomenal.
He’d designed separate detoxing rooms made with easily washable and changeable materials, with nicer carpeted rooms for residents to move to after the detox. The amenities and range of therapeutic techniques that these two had come up with were the creative brainchild of two people who knew the ins and outs of addiction. It was like they’d created the place they wish their parents would have visited.
I watched them talk shop for a while, lost in their vision for creating a space conducive to healing, until the nachos were gone. Then I left them to finish their meeting while I worked on the reference letter for Felicia. I made sure to note her skill in dealing with challenging executives—something I was sure she possessed since she’d lasted longer than a week with Martin. When Jace and Kayden had about ten minutes left I made my way to the door to warn them but stopped myself from knocking as I heard the distinct sounds of skin slapping against skin.
“Fuck, babe. That’s so good,” Kayden moaned.
“Harder,” Jace groaned. “Stroke me, baby. I’m dying.”
Am I really allowed to listen to this?
“Like this?” Kayden purred and the sound went straight to my clit.Oh, I like his sex voice.My pussy tingled, and I froze in shock, vividly picturing what was happening on the other side of that door. I should’ve walked away, but I was transfixed and dripping wet. My core throbbed.
Overhearing them when they were a couple and Jace and I were still pretending not to have feelings for each other was one thing. This time, I felt a stab of jealously at being left out, which was ridiculous because even if Jace and I moved forward with a relationship, this would be the deal right? He and Kayden would have alone time and he and I would have alone time? We wouldn’t all be together, would we?
I wasn’t jealous of Jace being with Kayden. I couldn’t be, if anything was going to change between us. But Kayden and I had something too, and weren’t we inextricably linked because of our mutual love of Jace? Another loud groan pulled me from my spiraling thoughts.
“Fucking hell. I’m going to come on this desk,” Jace said.
“Good. That’s the goal.”
“I’m going to make you pay for this,” Jace said, groaning in what sounded like release.
I want to be in there with them. Both of them.
