Just One Kiss (Fool's Gold #10)

He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, twisting her so she found herself draped across his lap, looking up at him.

“I missed you,” he said, staring into her eyes. “After I left. I thought about you and wondered what you were doing. Part of me wanted you to find some guy and be happy, and part of me...”

Didn’t.

“You never called. You never got in touch,” she said. “If you like me, you should have done something.”

He nodded. “I know.” He looked away, then back at her. “Patience, I’ve been places and seen things. More than seen. You’re light and good and gentle. I worry that by simply being close to you, I’m corrupting your soul.” He gave her a lopsided smile. “Maybe that’s too dramatic, but it’s how I feel. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t want that, either.”

He touched her cheek. “The smartest thing would be for me to stay away from you. Only I don’t think I can. You’ll have to be strong for both of us.”

She wasn’t sure she agreed with that plan. Especially when he lowered his head and kissed her. The pressure of his mouth on hers was soft and caring. There was passion, but it was restrained. If she had to guess, she would say this was more about connecting.

She wrapped her arms around him, hanging on, aware that the man knew how to get to her. Yesterday with how he touched her body and today with how he touched her heart.

Everything was happening so quickly, she thought. She had to step back and think. Make sure she knew what she was doing. And she would...just as soon as he stopped kissing her.

Justice raised his head. “Your mom will be here in a few seconds.”

She blinked. “How do you know?”

“I just saw her car pull up.”

Patience scrambled out of his lap and staggered to her feet. “We have a meeting. Store talk.”

“Then I should leave you to it.”

Justice rose. He lightly kissed her cheek, then walked to the door. She watched him go, thinking she wanted to call after him. But to say what? The man confused her, that was for sure.

She was going to have to spend some serious time figuring out what was going on. Or she could simply try to get him alone so they could make love again. It wouldn’t provide any answers, but she would enjoy it more than thinking or being sensible.

Before she could pick a course of action, her mother walked in. Today Ava was using a cane. Sometimes her MS acted up and she needed her wheelchair, but since the work party, she’d been having a lot of good days. Always a blessing.

“Did I see Justice leaving?” Ava asked.

“He stopped by to say hi.”

“He’s such a nice boy.”

Patience laughed. “Mom, he’s in his thirties.”

“I knew him when he was a teenager, so he’ll always be a boy to me.” She looked around the store. “Look at what you’ve done. You should be so proud of yourself.”

“We’re in this together.”

“With you getting stuck with all the hard work. Still, I’ll be able to do more when the store is open. I’m excited to learn how to use the espresso machine.” Ava smiled. “My friends and I are talking about some after-hours parties here.”

“I don’t want to hear about spiked coffee.”

“Then I won’t tell you.”

They crossed to one of the tables where Patience had already set up their piles of paperwork. After they were seated, Patience opened the first folder. Although they’d made a few hires, they were going to need more staff.

“We have plenty of applications, which is great. We have the college kids who want to work in the evenings and a few moms with school-age kids interested in morning shifts.”

Her mother closed the folder. “I’d like for us to talk about something else, first.”

Patience fought against a rush of cold. “Mom, are you okay? Are you sick?”

Because with MS, danger always lurked. Even with the good days, there was the fear that something bad was going to happen.

“I’m fine. This isn’t about my health, but it is about something I’ve been keeping from you.” Ava glanced down at the table, then back at her daughter. “I haven’t been completely honest with you. About Steve.”

It took Patience a second to put the name with the face. “Lillie’s grandfather? What about him? Oh no. You found out something horrible about him.”

“No, it’s not that.”

Ava pressed her lips together. If Patience didn’t know better, she would swear her mother was blushing.

“Mom?”

Ava drew in a breath and looked at her. “Steve got in touch with me about five months ago. He’d just sold his business and was thinking about what to do with the rest of his life. He’d tried to make contact with Ned several times, but his son didn’t want anything to do with him. He wanted to reach out to Lillie, so he came to see me and ask my opinion.”

Patience stared at her mother. “You knew about him?”