Page 34 of Jessica's Hero

After watching so many other people find their person, is it finally my turn?

I hesitate, thinking for a second before answering.

Thanks. It’s hard to think about it that way, but you might be right. I want you to be right. And I really, really want this thing with Kane to work out.

A few seconds go by before she replies.

I am right! You’ll see. Next thing I know, you’ll be inviting me to your wedding.

I snort at the screen. A wedding? Let’s get through a month, first.

Before I can respond, Hazel sends a string of heart eye emojis, followed by another message.

Okay, I have to get to bed. I’m helping prep for Wing Fest tomorrow. We have to make enough wings to serve at least three hundred people. That’s a lot of wings!

Chuckling, I grin as I send my reply.

Wings are always good! But okay, get to bed. I should do the same. Have a good night!

As soon as I get the message that Hazel’s character, Jinx, has logged off, I do the same. Pushing up from my computer chair, I stretch my arms in the air and rotate my neck, trying to loosen my muscles after spending the last two hours hunched over my keyboard.

Back when I was in my twenties, I could sit for hours at the computer without getting stiff. But as I rub at a sore spot on my neck, I eye my chair with a critical eye,wondering if I should upgrade to an ergonomic one with lumbar support.

Wow. I’ve really reached the pinnacle of excitement in life. Instead of dreaming about jewelry and trips, I’m fantasizing about an office chair with lumbar support.

Although… what if I sprung for one with a massage feature, too?

While I walk around the house shutting off lights and checking the doors, I mentally work through my finances, trying to figure out if I can afford the splurge. Though my pay at the lab is decent, most of it goes towards bills—the mortgage, student loans, my car payment, plus all the debts I’m still paying off from when my mom got so sick.

Logically, it would be smarter to save the money. Buy one of those lumbar cushions off Amazon, instead. But even as I tell myself that, Hazel’s words repeat in my head.

I deserve it.

Maybe I really do.

Maybe, after all the crap I’ve dealt with over the last seventeen years, I deserve something good in my life.

I’m not just thinking about a fancy chair, either.

After a final check of the downstairs, I’m headed up to the bedroom when my phone buzzes with an incoming text. As soon as I get to the top of the stairs, I glance at the screen, my heart lifting to see a message from Kane.

Hey, just wanted to check in. Everything ok over there? You in bed yet?

I make my way into the bedroom and plop down on the bed. My reflection in the phone screen shows me grinning like a loon. Which feels like my default whenever I hear from Kane.

Everything’s good. Just got off the computer and am heading to bed. Well. I’m in bed now, but not ready to sleep yet.

Three dots blink for a few seconds before his response appears.

In bed, hmm? I could say something else about that, but I won’t. Not yet.

He doesn’t have to say anything when my imagination seems to be doing a pretty good job of it.

My breath catches at the thought of Kane in bed with me, his muscly chest on full display and his jutting length only hidden by the thin fabric of his boxers, a damp spot seeping through as evidence of his arousal…

Or is he a briefs kind of guy?

Or… would he go commando?