“One of the firemen can take you home if you don’t want to drive,” Jace suggested, but Molly just smiled and shook her head.
“Oh, no. I was kidding. You know us healthcare workers. Long hours are in our blood.”
“Be safe driving home,” Stella called out after they walked Molly to the back door. Stella waved as Jace turned off all the lights and locked up the first floor.
Together they climbed hand in hand to the second floor. “Go on up to my place while I lock down this floor,” Jace told her before pulling her in for another sweet kiss to her temple. Stella had been a lifesaver. She hadn’t been upset about their date going sideways or even him barking orders. Gosh knows how many times she ran upstairs that night to get supplies for them.
He watched Stella until he heard her enter his apartment and then went to lock up everything on the second floor. It didn’t take more than three minutes, but by the time he got into his apartment he found Stella asleep on the couch.
Jace bent down and slipped off her shoes. Stella stirred and then blinked her eyes open. “Did I really just fall asleep?”
“It’s been a long night.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Jace saw her struggle with keeping her eyes open and brushed the stray hair that had come loose from her bun off her face. “Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
Stella’s eyes widened in surprise and Jace laughed. “Not like that. Let’s go to bed to sleep. You can barely keep your eyes open.”
“Ugh,” Stella groaned as Jace took her hand and led her to his bedroom. “We totally failed on the romance part of this date.”
“I learned you’re calm under pressure and that you put others’ needs above your own wants, which is very sexy. Not all women would do that. Trust me. I had a date yell at me in the middle of a restaurant when I got called into the hospital once. You and I had a great meal together, and now I’m going to lie in bed holding you for the rest of the night. Sounds pretty romantic to me.”
Jace led her to the side of the bed and she sat down. He held her hands as he looked down at her from where he stood. Falling for someone wasn’t like being hit by a truck. Not for him anyway. Instead, it was the feeling of slow warmth spreading across his body as he gazed at her.
He cupped her face with his hands. Stella leaned to one side, resting her head in his hand, and looked up at him. “Thank you for everything you did tonight,” Jace told her sincerely before bending down.
His lips brushed softly against hers briefly before settling fully on them. He took his time kissing her since Stella deserved only the best. Before it had been quick and he hadn’t gotten to taste her, but now as her hands clutched his waist and her mouth opened to his, he finally got the chance. Jace savored the slow sweep of his tongue and the vibration of her moan that seemed to reverberate through his whole body. When he finally pulled back from the languorous kiss, he studied her face.
Stella’s eyes were still closed and then she hummed with pleasure as her lids fluttered open. “Wow.”
Her fingers absently came up to feel her lips. Wow was right. Jace felt that truck hit him, and he knew right then he didn’t want to let her go. So he didn’t. He pulled down the sheets to the bed and flicked off the light, stripped off his scrubs, and climbed into bed in his boxer briefs.
His hand touched warm skin when he reached for Stella. She turned onto her side and snuggled against him. In the dark he ran his hand down her side and encountered only her bra and panties. In the same slow, unhurried way he’d kissed her, he let his fingers explore all the skin Stella had exposed to him.
In the dark he heard the way her breath held and then picked up in speed. He felt the small shifts of her body and then she finally rolled toward him and used her fingers to find his lips a moment before hers took their place. She kissed him just as deliberately as he’d done, but the pressure of her lips against his was more insistent. Jace basked in the glory of Stella’s hands coming up to rest between them on his chest. Her fingers pushed gently into his muscles before she trailed them down his abdomen, over his hip, and then up his back.
It was no longer a truck but a freight train plowing into his heart and sending it tumbling as he wrapped Stella protectively in his arms and pulled her against him. He rested his chin on her head as she clutched him just as tightly. “Wow,” she said again and all he could do was nod against the top of her head.
Stella awoke with one of Jace’s arms over her waist and the other under her head. They’d fallen asleep together after they’d explored each other at leisure. Wow was the only word for it. She somehow had felt both excitement and comfort at the same time. She felt safe and also as if she were standing on a ledge about to leap into the unknown.
Jace tightened his grip on her and pulled her closer to him. He would catch her if she leapt. She knew it with an unwavering certainty. Not even her mind was telling her it was too soon to know that. Every fiber of her already knew it. Jace Davies was a good man.
“Are you awake?” he barely whispered.
“This is a very nice way to wake up.”
“I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I think we should do it again tonight.”
“You’ve got a date,” Stella said as she snuggled up closer to him before her stomach rumbled.
“Come on, let’s get breakfast. They have stuffed French toast at the café for Sunday brunch.”
Stella’s stomach rumbled again and she laughed. “If you can’t tell, that sounds delicious.”
Stella reluctantly pulled her arms away and scooted out of bed. She borrowed Jace’s hairbrush and mouthwash before splashing some water on her face. Leaving the building, they walked hand in hand to the café. She was not only awake but so excited over feelings she’d never experienced that deeply before—she was beaming with happiness.
Jace opened the door for her to the café and came in behind her, his hand at the small of her back. The room went quiet except for the sound of silverware clanking on plates. Then chaos.
“Twenty on two weeks!”
“Twenty on ten days!”
“Twenty on eleven days!”
Some people were holding up cash while others had their noses in their phones as their fingers flew over them. “What’s going on?” Stella asked quietly as Poppy and Zinnia ran around grabbing the cash and scribbling in a notebook.
“I think our night together didn’t go unnoticed,” Jace whispered into her ear. “And they’re placing bets on our relationship.”
“How could they know?”
“Because you’re both smiling like goofballs,” Miss Lily said from the nearby table. When Stella looked, she saw the Rose sisters all bobbing their heads in agreement. She’d met the elderly sisters at her garden center’s grand opening. They’d surrounded her like a pack of hungry wolves and tore her apart with personal questions.
“I told you, Daisy,” Miss Violet said smugly a moment before Miss Daisy’s napkin flew through the air and smacked Miss Violet in the face.
Suddenly weapons were brandished. A spatula met a wooden spoon over a plate of biscuits and gravy.
“Jace, Stella, join us for Sunday brunch.” Stella saw Tammy wave at her from a large round table. The handsome older man sitting next to her bouncing Cricket on his knee must be Jace’s father. Then Stella saw Piper and a hard-looking man sitting very close together. That must be her husband who sat with an arm over the back of Piper’s chair. There was also a very pretty woman who looked to be about four or five years younger than Stella, sitting with a head full of blonde curls pushed back from her face by a colorful cloth hair band.