Page 63 of The Chance

“What is this?” I sweep my arm out, gesturing to the paper bag on my counter and the mess of pans on the stove.Himbeing here as if there’s nothing wrong between us.

He follows the movement, his throat bobbing with another swallow and when he finds my eyes again, his are hardened.

But that does nothing to hide the heat in them.

“Answer mine first, Vida,” he says as he rounds the counter, approaching me slowly enough that each step kicks up my heart rate until it’s pounding behind my ribs.

I step back.

He rushes forward, catching me with a hand to the back of my neck.

I swat it away.

“Fuck you,” I snarl.

He steps in close again, forcing me back, back, back until my ass hits the couch.

My palms slam against his chest and I hiss.

“Back off.”

Those eyes of his are molten orbs staring right through me before they narrow then drop to the hands barring him from coming closer.

I’m so focused on watching his bent head, waiting for that gaze to swing back up, that I startle when his grip wraps around my wrists. It’s tender. Gentle.

Give me three days.

My heart leaps into my throat when he tugs, turning them to see the calluses split open and just as raw as the organ in my chest.

“Mac,” he sighs and looks up at me through his dark lashes.

“Don’t,” I choke out, my stomach clenching.

Jordan shakes his head. “Don’t what, Vida?”

I lick my drying lips, and his gaze drops to the movement.

Give me three days.

Blatantly, hotly, he trails back up.

But then he migrates his hold to an elbow and spins away, pulling me all the way to the kitchen sink where my brother made me keep a first aid kit.

He drops the red plastic on the counter next to me, pops it open and digs through it.

His grip finds my hand, his touch light as he smears the clear goop onto each break in the skin with so much care that my eyes burn. I sniff when he adds one of those giant sterile pads and wraps gauze across it until it covers most of my hand and part of my wrist.

“Why?” I whisper to the top of his head, his clean apple scent filling my chest and breaking my heart all over again.

“Because.” He rips a piece of tape from the roll with his teeth and secures the gauze. “I choose you.”

I stop breathing.

His thumbs swipe over his handiwork, his gaze slowly rising to mine.

“I’ve always chosen you.”

Jordan fucking shrugs like he didn’t just ruin my life with one fucking sentence that not even my fantasies dared to dream up.

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