Bands of the Unpaid Dowry

Chapter 27

"Why? Tell me why you had to wake me up at seven in the morning on the one day I do not have to go to work. I'm sorry you have a peaceful summer vacation with no work but some of us need our beauty sleep. And what? To dance because you found an exciting song? And to go on a jog with you while dancing. Gosh, I love you but I'm rethinking. And now God knows where you're stealing me to." Jace bit his lip to hold himself back from laughing at his sulking girlfriend. His eyes slid to his phone to check the GPS route he was driving on before crawling his hand to her thigh to smooth it. He knew it was an important day and he did not want to do anything to wreck his plans.

"Little M, I didn't think you could be this grumpy in the morning. I really thought you were a morning person." She slipped her hand into his hand that was on her thigh and from the corner of her eye she saw the ghost smile grace his lips.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Jace quickly turned to look at her so that she could see his raised brows. He turned to maneuver the car through a bend.

"Babe, you wake me up as early as six to get me to do devotion with you so that you don't fall back asleep." Millicent's lips twitched as she acknowledged the fact. He squeezed her hand letting her know that he got her. "Which has effectively stopped my morning jogs."

"But you conveniently moved it to the night. And see, even you know the reason is so that I don't sleep."

Jace shook his head at the ease with which she gets him to do whatever she desires.

"But you do want me to do it with you." At the red light, he leaned back to watch her, who had managed to seize his heart even when he promised himself not to fall in love.

"I do. Don't you just love devotions?"

"I need to find a way to unwrap myself from your finger." He spurred the car to move and grinned when Millicent playfully tugged his hand.

"Do you even want to?" Her voice dropped lower to accommodate her suggestive tone which caused him to toss his head back and roar in laughter. He could hear her sniggering.

"Oh gosh! I love you, baby." He simply responded.

Gwen had left about three weeks ago, and his own vacation was dreadfully coming to an end. He had officially finished his art series two days ago and had wrapped and shipped them to his gallery the previous day to an anxiously awaiting manager.

"Come on, little M." Jace held her door open, and she grasped onto his hand as they approached the building, he had brought them to. "It's an art and cocktail studio."

"I never knew places like this existed here."

"Because you don't necessarily involve yourself in artwork."

"So, what are we doing here?" They stepped into the coolness of the room before he answered.

"I'm here to purchase an art set."

Jace got the set he purchased, and they returned home for Millicent to discover that he had already set up the backyard garden for a paint session he arranged for them as a couple. Now they sat at the opposite end of a rectangular wooden table facing each other trying to paint each other on the small canvas Jace had gotten. Max's little pup, which he had failed to retrieve after a month, played and yipped around the garden. Millicent believed that he did not want to spend or suffer to train it in its infancy. They had sat for about twenty minutes in the shaded part of the garden painting, but she realized that Jace had not once lifted his head to look at her and he appeared on edge.

"Are you sure you're painting? You've not even looked at me once." Her eyes playfully narrowed, and she hoisted a brow when he finally raised his head. He seemed startled to hear her voice.