Page 42 of All I Feel

I rolled onto my side and cozied up beneath the blanket. “I’m already in bed. Work tomorrow.”

There was a lengthy silence before he asked, “Now that you mention it, I’ve always wondered something.”

“What?”

“Do you make it to work on time?”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Lark and I were known for being habitually late to everything. “That’s the one area of my life that isn’t in complete disarray, Ace. Somehow, I manage to show up on time every morning.”

“That’s good to know.” His tone was amused. “So, are you still up for hanging out tomorrow?”

“I am. Are you?”

“Yep. Do you just want me to come over, or would you like to go out and do something?”

He was offering to go out somewhere. I tried not to read too much into it.

“It was nice being out of the house today. I’d love to go out and do something, if you’re up for it.”

“Alright. Do you have anything special you’d like to do?”

Spending time with Ace was easily its own reward. “I suspect I’ll have a good time no matter what it is. Surprise me.”

“You’ve got it, Princess.”

I could hear the smile in his voice.

“I’ll let you go now, so you can get some sleep. And I’ll reach out sometime tomorrow with some options.”

“That works for me. Thanks, Ace.”

“You’re welcome. And thank you for the unnecessary heads-up.”

I laughed. “Okay. Goodnight.”

“Night, Tess.”

I felt as though I could’ve talked to him for hours. But I forced myself to end the call. And since I was eager to see what tomorrow would bring, I found it wasn’t long after I closed my eyes that I finally drifted.

TWELVE

ACE

It wasseveral days ago when it hit me.

I tried to ignore it, tried pretending that it wasn’t what it appeared to be. What it felt like.

But with each day that passed, it became clearer that I wasn’t going to be able to disregard any of it. So, I’d been allowing myself, slowly but surely, to do the opposite. To embrace it, even if I couldn’t do it in all the ways I really wanted to.

My feelings for Tessa Stone were growing, far faster than I ever could’ve imagined. And I needed to do whatever was necessary to see to it that she’d be mine.

The moment I stirred this morning, before my eyes were even open, the plan for the day hit me. But since I wanted her to feel like she’d been able to choose, I reached for my phone so I could give her some options.

It was early, but I wasn’t going to allow that to deter me.I liked the idea of being the first person to contact her. If I had my way, there’d come a time soon enough when I wouldn’t be reaching out to her over the phone in the morning.

For now, I’d just have to settle for knowing that it was me she was on the phone with last night when she was in her bed. I tried not to think too much about what she might’ve been wearing while she talked to me. I still had that image of Tessa in her nightie burned into my brain. Princess, indeed.

Forcing that thought from my mindagain, I sent off a text to her.