Page 36 of The Fall Fix Up

Grace nodded though her smile didn’t wane. “Right, right. We all vaguely know that the man is great with his hands when it comes to fixing things. But how about in general?”

Janae knew what Grace was trying to get at, but she refused to make it easy for her. She was trying to ignore just how closely Grace’s words resembled the words of her own devious inner voice. “He’s a wonderful roommate. Very responsible and quiet. I thought living with a man again would be a pain, but he’s—”

“Again?” Grace interrupted. “Who did you live with before?”

Fuck. Janae hadn’t meant to let that slip. “Just an old ex. But Aiden is nothing like him.” And wasn’t that an understatement. Aiden and her ex-husband, Peter, were so different that they might as well be a completely different species. “Unlike my ex, I don’t have to continuously ask Aiden to clean up after himself. Men, I swear.”

Grace snorted and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve only ever lived with my stepdad.”

“Well, take it from me,” Janae said before taking a bite of her food and chewing furiously as she thought about the endless pointless arguments with Peter. “Living with men isn’t a cake walk. Aiden is pretty much perfect when it comes to having a roommate. He’s even easier to live with than my sister.”

Grace paused for a moment before her grin morphed into something much more knowing. It instantly had Janae’s hackles rising.

“What?”

“Oh nothing. It just seems like you’re gushing a bit over your luck at finding a compatible partner.”

Janae frowned. “He’s not my partner. He’s just my roommate.”

Grace arched an eyebrow. “You’re being a little defensive.”

“No, I’m not,” she countered. Even to her own ears that response seemed a little too quick to come, like she was hiding something. In a sense, she was. Something big.

“You are.”

Janae made a face and turned her attention back to her food. Her cheeks were warm, and she knew if anyone touched them, they’d be filled with noticeable heat. She could feel Grace’s eyes on her, but she kept her gaze resolutely on her food. She didn’t have anything to say. Not really.

Grace’s chair creaked. “You’re being awfully dodgy today.”

“I’m not,” Janae replied. She tried to keep her tone calm and even. “You’re just being paranoid.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

Janae looked up in defiance. She met Grace’s gaze with a forced nonchalance that she didn’t feel. Grace’s eyes were narrowed in suspicion as she looked at Janae. Slowly, they widened.

“You’re hiding something. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” she insisted. Grace wasn’t letting go though. She leaned forward, lowering her voice.

“You might as well spill whatever it was because as soon as Vini gets word, she’ll press Aiden until he gives up the goods. He always does when she’s involved.”

Janae tried to keep up her defiance, but truthfully, she wanted to talk to someone about this. No, she needed to. She couldn’t go to Braeden with this. She didn’t know Aiden, and after the mess with Peter, she had become more than a little overprotective when men were involved. Janae couldn’t blame her. Braeden dealt with some not great men in her line of work and by the time she left the office, she wasn’t trying to deal with them in her personal life too. Still, Janae hesitated. Once she spoke it into existence, she would have to actually deal with the fact that it happened. There would be no hiding it again, no pretending it never happened to try to go back to the way things were before.

Before she could stop herself, she ripped off the Band-Aid.

“We kissed.”

Grace’s fork froze partway to her mouth and her eyes widened further. “You what?”

Janae jerked with the volume of Grace’s voice before she hissed out, “Keep your voice down.” She glanced at the door, worried that someone might have overheard even with it being closed. Grace’s shock only seemed to last a moment before she smiled widely.

“You two kissed? You and Aiden?”

“No, me and the kitchen counter,” Janae groused. “Of course me and Aiden. Who else would I be talking about?”

Grace clapped a hand over her mouth before shaking her head. Delight danced clearly in her gaze, though Janae wasn’t sure if she was excited by the fact that it was drama in general or that it was drama between her and Aiden.

“Okay, tell me everything,” she gushed when she seemed to recover from her shock. “Who kissed who? Where did you kiss? Did you . . . you know . . . do it?”