Just The Right Black

Chapter 39

Jace wanted to punch something so hard it'd make his knuckles bleed. The pain would be a much better feeling than the feeling of wanting Ariana but being unable to have her. It was pure torture.

"Alright," He said, "Thank you, Bridget."

He hung up the phone and ran his hand through his damp hair. Bridget had called to remind him of the video conference he had today which was one of the many things he had on his schedule.

He went to put on some comfortable clothes before he padded out of the room and downstairs. As he took the last step down, he stopped at the sight of Ariana in the kitchen, cooking. She was making pancakes and they smelled heavenly.

Jace walked to the kitchen and sat behind the island while he watched her with a smile.

"Honey, Chocolate or Maple syrup?" She asked,

"Excuse me?" He did a double-take,

Ariana turned around to look at him,
"Do you want honey, chocolate or maple syrup to go with your pancakes?"

"Oh," He thought she'd called him 'honey', "Maple."

She turned back around, flipped the pancakes on the pan then prepared a plate for both of them and placed his in front of him along with a hot cup of coffee.

"I had no idea you knew your way around the kitchen."

She was silent as she moved the last batch of pancakes from the pan to another plate and placed that on the island before she grabbed hers and made her way around to sit next to him.

"I used to make this for my mum before everything," She put her plate in front of her, "She loved my pancakes."

Ariana smiled and Jace loved to see her smile.

"What happened?"

"Nothing...yet."

Jace watched her face before he took a bite and... oh damn.

"Wow!"

Ariana looked at him.

"Now I know why your mum loved your pancakes."

She gave him a big smile that reached her eyes.
"My dad made the best pancakes. When I was little, he would take me to the kitchen when he was home and we'd make so many pancakes it could feed an army then we'd take it to my mum in bed. She was so happy then...we both were."

Jace watched her expression go from happy to sad in seconds.
"Tell me about your dream."

She looked at him.
"That's what it is," She looked away, "A dream."

He was certain then that it wasn't just a dream.

"I'm going to do something that involves not making my leg any worse. You should go to the office and make something of your time. I'm sure Bridget didn't call for nothing." Ariana got up and headed to the living area with her plate

"About that," Jace began, "I mean about what happened before Bridget called."

Jace turned in his seat to find her sitting on the sofa opposite the t.v., her shoulders lifted and dropped in a sigh.
"There's nothing about that to talk about."

Ariana grabbed the remote and turned on the t.v., she needed to fill the awkward silence between them and she didn't want it to be their voices. She thought how it was funny that one moment could change everything. She never found silent moments between them to be awkward, at least not before what happened in his bedroom minutes ago.

"You know I keep waiting for you to step out there to enjoy the view more or go for a swim."

Ariana ate her food, eyes locked to the t.v., as she watched whatever it is that played in silence. Jace sighed, getting the message. He took his plate of pancakes and cup of coffee and went to his office to get started on the day's work.

Later, after she finished her breakfast and washed the dishes, Ariana went up to the room as she went over in her head the theory Shay had. The director who was a part of Jace's friend group had called the guys and asked if any of them knew how Mark found out about the get-together.

Apparently, Mark had walked in on their conversation in a bar the day before the get-together. Jace's step mum had called and asked them to do something fun for him because he'd been stressed lately. So, Mark knew where the get together was going down.

Ariana was on with Shay coming up with ways on how to get Mark when they decided to call it and continue later. She was about to end their call when Shay decided to ask about Jace.

"How's the billionaire treating you?"

"Same."

"Really?"

"Yea. What did you expect?"

"I don't know. Something interesting with the way he put himself out there for you with the director."

Ariana sighed.
That had been a big deal.

If Jace hadn't done that, she'd be at home beating herself up and overdoing her treatment to get back on the field as soon as she could which would have both been the wrong things to do.

"I got to go," Ariana said, "We'll talk later."

"A'ite." Shay said before she hung up.

Ariana fell back into the headboard and thought about what Jace said about stepping outside. She got up and went into the walk-in and picked a one-piece swimsuit suit Bridget had gotten for her as per Jace's orders.

Ariana put it on and grabbed a towel on her way out of the room. She headed downstairs and then stepped out to the lanai. The outdoor noises were no longer muffled, she could hear everything, the light breeze, the birds in the trees, the leaves rustling. She dropped her towel on one of the chairs and went towards one end of the swimming pool. She reached up and pulled out her hairpin before she slid into the shallow end of the pool. She got a feel of how her leg could handle the push-back as she cascaded through the water before she began to swim back and forth the shallow end. There was a restriction but nothing she wasn't able to handle.

Jace who'd been in his office most of the morning, stepped out to get a glass of water to drink. He headed out of his office to the kitchen and went to the fridge to get a bottle of water. He opened the cap and poured some into a glass when he heard the splash of water coming from the pool. He smiled knowing who it was as he placed the bottle back in the fridge and walked towards the glass partition. He almost choked when he saw Ariana in a white one-piece swimsuit. She stepped out of the pool, her hair dripping behind her as she went to grab her towel. He sighed at the sight of her and couldn't help but make a mental reminder to thank Bridget for the swimsuit.

He'd wanted them to train both in the gym and in the pool but Ariana had been pushing herself so much in the gym, he knew the pool would be overdoing it, so he'd let that go but seeing as just a few minutes in the pool had almost gotten rid of her limp, he would need to put it back in. Also, seeing her in a swimsuit might have something to do with it as well.

Ariana looked up and caught his gaze, the way he looked at her was not like any other way he'd looked at her before. She broke the spell when her phone rang. She bent to pick up her phone from the chair and answered, with Jace watching her. He watched as the shock on her face transformed and soon her entire face was lit up with that breath-taking smile. She said something and wrapped the towel around her mid-riff before she hung up and headed inside.

"Everything alright?" Jace asked as she walked inside,

She opened her mouth and closed it. She had tears in her eyes which was a shock to Jace.

"My mum's awake." She said with a big smile.

Jace frowned, confused as to what she meant by that but only one thought came to mind.