Page 10

CHAPTER 10

For the tenth time in the past hour, Kennedy checked her phone to see if she had any waiting messages. This was supposed to be her writing time but not even the dragons, swords, or princesses could take her mind off Jayce.

It wasn't just the sex either. It was the conversation last night that stuck in her mind. Something told her Jayce didn't apologize often, or open up about himself, and he had done both. She didn't know what that meant.

Glancing at her phone again, Kennedy chastised herself. She was ready to put the dang thing in another room when it lit up with a notification.

JAYCE: I need your help.

Okay, not the text she had been hoping for but it piqued her curiosity.

KENNEDY: That sounds ominous. What exactly does this help entail?

Completely forgetting about the story she was supposed to be writing, Kennedy watched the bubbles appear and waited anxiously to see what he needed.

JAYCE: I need to find a house but the realtor sent too many options.

This was not a conversation she could have through text. Without giving herself time to think about it, she hit the call button.

"Why are you looking at houses?" she asked as soon as Jayce answered.

He sighed before answering. "Because right now I live in a shitty apartment in a really crappy part of town. Not exactly the kind of home I want Michael visiting."

Her heart skipped a beat. Whether it was from him describing his current living situation or the fact that he wanted better for her nephew was anyone's guess.

"I'd be happy to help." Kennedy hoped she didn't sound as choked up as she felt. Something told her Jayce didn't do well with overly emotional women.

"Great. I'm not sure what your day or evening looks like . . ."

She slammed her computer shut. "I can come now. I wasn't doing anything anyway."

Not a total lie. No amount of effort she gave would have her putting words onto paper at the moment.

"Okay, great. See you in a bit."

He didn't give her the opportunity to respond before he hung up.

A side note for the future: Jayce was not much of a talker, so don't take his abruptness personally.

Kennedy made quick work of shoving her arms in a hoodie and her feet into a pair of slides. Not her most attractive outfit but she never claimed to be someone who cared about what others thought. She was of the mindset that a person needed to accept her for who she was. Flaws and all.

Based on the hungry look Jayce gave her when she showed up at his hotel room door twenty-five minutes later, he also didn't give a shit about impressing someone.

"I'm in way over my head."

She could tell. Jayce looked frazzled. His hair was sticking up in all different directions as if he had run his hands through it countless times. She pictured her own fingers doing the same. Their encounter yesterday left her wanting more, but now wasn't the time. She was there to help, not fantasize about having sex with him again.

"Show me what she sent and let's see if we can narrow it down."

"Or you could just pick a place and I’ll buy it."

That stopped her in her tracks. She doubted he meant anything by it, but the thought that he wanted to buy the place she picked was causing her romantic heart to do extra flips. She needed to shut those thoughts down and fast.

"Or . . ." she countered. "You can show me the places and we go from there."

There was no use arguing when he looked determined to push the task off. There was something about his flippant attitude toward house-buying that made her want to dig deeper.

"Fine. Here are the places." He grumbled, shoving his phone at her. It was unlocked and opened to his email app. A slew of links filled the page.

Kennedy clicked on the first one and took her time looking through the pictures and reading the description of the house. Right off the bat she knew it wasn't the one. The interior was too high class, despite it being a one story. It reminded her of a place Jasmine would've picked because of the bronze fixtures throughout.

The next one was a little better, but in her opinion, it was too small. It had only two bedrooms, and based on the dimensions, those rooms weren't all that big. Jayce might be used to sleeping in a crappy apartment but that didn't mean he needed it in the house he bought.

"Anything specific you were looking for in a house?"

It would help if she knew what he liked. Otherwise she was going in blind.

Jayce huffed. "A place to rest my head at night in a good neighborhood. Otherwise, I really don't care."

Well, alrighty then. That was the most unhelpful answer she’d ever received.

"How about price range?"

She had clicked on a few of the links, but the prices were all over the map. If Jayce gave the realtor a direction to go, he or she apparently didn't care.

"I'm not worried about price."

This man sure knew how to frustrate a person. If these were the kinds of responses he gave the realtor, it was no wonder the houses were all over the place.

"How many bedrooms? Bathrooms? Does it need to have a finished basement? How about a man cave? A certain number of rooms? A garage? You've got to give me something here."

There had to be something he cared about in a house.

"A garage. It needs to have a garage. I don't care about any of that other stuff."

She blew out a breath. Well, that was something. Not really helpful in narrowing things down though since all of these listings had a garage. It was probably the only requirement he gave the realtor as well.

Now that she knew this wasn't going to be a quick fix, she kicked her shoes off, climbed up on the bed and had a seat. With her back against the headboard, she crossed her legs and got comfortable clicking on the links.

Wanting to make her life easier and to narrow it down a bit, she copied all the links into the notes app. It was easy enough to eliminate a few just from one glance. Too gaudy was an automatic no.

"How about a fixer-upper?" She glanced up mid listing when an idea came to mind.

Jayce merely shrugged. "Sure. I can do the work but I don't know the first thing about matching shit, so I would need a designer or someone for input."

She was a visual person and right now the house she was looking at had potential. Real potential, with the right love.

"Okay, hear me out." She patted the bed next to her until he joined her. Then she put the phone between them and started flipping through the pictures. "I'm no interior designer but I've got one hell of an imagination and this house has so much potential to be great."

He wasn't saying no and he looked genuinely interested in the pictures she was showing him. She took that as a good sign. When he didn't say anything after looking at the pictures the first time, she flipped through them again, letting him take over the swiping of the photos.

"You really think you could make this into a livable place?"

"I do." She nodded eagerly. "I know it doesn't help your current situation but I'm sure Shaun would be willing to let you guys spend time together at his place."

She could see the walls going back up in his eyes. He had opened up in the little time she was here, but now that guarded man she first met was back.

"Yeah, Shaun," he spat.

He grabbed his phone back without another word and typed out a message quickly. It wasn't until he was done and the phone was back on the bed that he spoke again.

"I messaged the realtor back and said I would take that one. I asked that she make a cash offer. I'm willing to pay over the asking price to get it done sooner, so we'll see what the owner has to say. In the meantime, if you could use the pictures to come up with some kind of preliminary design, that would be great."

"Wait, that’s it? Don't you want to see it? Have an inspector go over and look at it? I've never purchased a house but isn't that what people usually do?"

Jayce barely shrugged. It was like the situation didn't deserve that much effort. But it should. He was buying a house for goodness’ sake. A place he was going to live. That should warrant a hell of a lot more than a barely there shrug.

"I messaged one of my friends. He’ll have his inspector check it out and I don't need to see it. I already told you to pick one."

Just like that. This man was unbelievable.

"I wish I had a tenth of your nonchalant attitude when it came to life-changing decisions."

She could hardly make a decision without agonizing over it and weighing every option. The only reason she made the decision on the house was because she knew stripping it down to the studs meant a clean slate, something fresh to work with.

"It's just a house . A place you sleep and occasionally eat."

His words shocked her. "How can you be so callous about this? A house isn't just a building. It's a home . A place to represent who you are." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them and she immediately wanted to take them back.

"Trust me, I know. My bitch of an ex-wife made that very clear when she left. I appreciate all your help, but I think it's time you leave."

He didn't even bother to sugarcoat his dismissal of her. She understood but it still stung.

"I'm happy to help anytime."

With those parting words, she stood up from the bed, slipped on her shoes, and walked straight out the door.

The worst part? A small sliver of her heart had hoped he would call her back, but he never did.