Page 49 of Touch Me

Jace clears his throat. “Uh, sure.” When she walks out of eye sight, he mouths athank youand follows her into the foyer.

A muffled conversation ensues—her whisper screaming, him quietly replying.

I just pop in to cook and clean.

Wearing a bustier and stilettos? I wonder how long she’s been trying. Kudos to her for her efforts. That’s some unshakable confidence, indeed. Poor thing didn’t even know she didn’t have a chance.

The click-clack of her footsteps draws near—her face contorted in rage as she stomps down the steps and grabs her bags of groceries with ahmph.

Jace walks in behind her with his hands in his pockets, eyes on the floor. “Bye, Becca.”

“Screw you,” she screams over her shoulder.

Once the elevator doors close, he turns to me, grinning from ear to ear. “How was your day, honey?”

Holy shit, Jace has a sense of humor.

I understand he’s trying to brush off the encounter with humor, but I can tell by his bunched shoulders and twitchy face that it took a lot out of him. And now I’m crying inside thinking about how many times he’s had to pretend and fight his way through a situation like that.

“Cute.” I cross my arms over my chest, my jealousy refusing to retreat. “What was that?”

“Just a problem I’ve been trying to get rid of for a while. Thanks for your help, by the way.”

“How did she get in here? She walked right in.”

“She lives in the building. She usually flirts with the doorman, and he puts in the code for my floor. She’s been doing it for months. Usually only when rent is due. I’ve told her dozens of times she can drop a check in my box or pay online, but she insists on coming up here every month, armed with bags of food and cleaning supplies. And always dressed like that. That was pretty tame compared to some of these things she’s shown up in.” He wipes a sheen of sweat off his upper lip, and I can’t help but notice the slight tremble as he blows out a deep breath.

“Wait. She pays you rent? Do you own her condo?”

“Uh, yeah.” He grabs an apple out of the fruit bowl and tosses it up in the air before catching it. “All of them.”

“All of them? You own this building?”

“It came up for sale about a year after I moved in. So I bought it.” He shrugs.

“Wow. Just wow.” The oven signals the bread is ready, and I make a mental note to return to this conversation at some point.

“Anyway, thanks for your help.”

I don an oven mitt and bend to retrieve the bread. When I turn to place it on the cooling rack, Jace has a smirk painted on his face.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.” Jace laughs and shakes his head. “I’m just a little surprised is all. Little Cassie Sinclair didn’t waste any time p-putting my hand on her ass.” He stammers over the words and doesn’t make eye contact.

I don’t know if this is a subject change or an attempt at flirting. His pulse hammers in his neck and, if he needs this to calm down then, fuck yeah. Bring on the flirting.

He tosses the apple again, and I snatch it out of the air. “And you didn’t waste any time smacking my ass.”

“I was trying to tell you to cool it with butt bouncing.”

I stifle a giggle. “Why?”

“Because I was trying to concentrate. I was having a hard enough time touching you, and then your ass started bouncing in my hand. It was very... distracting.”

Little Cassie Sinclair is coming up with all kinds of brain movies involving a crack on the ass right now.

I clear my throat to break up the arousing imagery in my head. “Well, you were very convincing. I don’t think she’ll be back.”

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