The teapot whistled, filling the noise in the apartment, and then Jensen was pouring steamy water into each mug and carrying them both out to me. I knew he could feel my eyes on him, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on him.
Nothing seemed to affect him, and he was as self–assured as he’d always been.
And fuck if that wasn’t a complete turned on.
Confident men were my kind of men.
“Thank you,” I said when he handed me a mug. I held it close to my chest, reveling in the warmth, and closed my eyes, feeling relaxed for the first time all day.
When I opened my eyes, I found his eyes on me. I shifted, suddenly feeling too awkward for words.
“Better?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
I shrugged. “Nothing happened. You didn’t have to come here at all.”
One perfectly arched eyebrow rose in question, and I took a sip of my tea to keep from talking.
“Really? We’re going to pretend nothing happened?”
“Why did you call?” I asked suddenly.
“What?”
“Earlier. Why did you call?”
The look on his face told me he knew what I was doing, but thankfully, he let it go. “I was calling to tell you Elodie can’t come to dance class tonight.”
“Oh? Is she okay?” I asked, getting a tinge of worry over not seeing her. I hadn’t realized how quickly she had become a part of my daily routine until now. I shouldn’t get close to Jensen’s daughter. I didn’t have it in me to break that little girl’s heart, but wouldn’t that be what would happen, considering how weird things were between me and her dad?
He smiled at me, as if he could see the concern in my eyes, and I didn’t know why that made him happy. “Yes, she’s fine. She’s just spending the day with my mom.”
“How is your mom?” I asked.
I didn’t know until Evelyn told me a few weeks after my accident that Jensen’s mom had been admitted to the same hospital I was in, on the exact same night. I was sure that was why he seemed so distracted when he came to see me after.
“She’s doing good. She’s enjoying retirement, filling most of her time with charity work and Elodie.”
“That’s good. I’m glad Elodie has your mom to spoil her.”
The thing about Elliot and Ensley’s birth was, even if they wanted for nothing, I always felt like there was this void in the shape of my own mother whenever I looked at them. I knew Evelyn felt the same way. We had expected that both of our parents would be here for our children, but our mom died young.
Even if I get married and have children of my own, it wouldn’t be like what Jensen had now, seeing his daughter and his mother bond. I knew I shouldn’t complain. I still had my dad. My stalker-ish urges had come up a few times, enough that I knew Jensen’s dad died when he was just fifteen. Still a kid.
I looked down at my mug, the words I wanted to ask him weighing heavily on my tongue. It wasn’t my business. Jensen and Elodie weren’t my business, but didn’t he make it my business when he became persistent that I go out on a date with him?
I didn’t know where exactly he saw this going.
“What happened to Elodie’s mom?”
I looked up in time to see the stutter come over his eyes. His always hard-to-read face became even more close-off than usual. So expressionless, I couldn’t tell if he hated Elodie’s mom or not.
I didn’t even think he was breathing.
“It’s… complicated,” he finally said.