Addison had to admit she was a bit taken aback at the luxury of Jace’s apartment. It was in an old refurbished building in the center of Denver. The parking lot was on top of the suites. When they got out of the car, she noticed there were a couple of spots that had Jace’s name on them, and all of them were occupied. He’d been nonchalant about how many cars he had as they went to an elevator with a waiting attendant. She didn’t know what to call the guy, but he was friendly with Jace as they went to his floor.

When the doors opened, Jace’s suite was directly across the small hall. He unlocked the door, and the first thing she noticed was how huge and full of light it was.

“Wow.” Immediately, she smelled something wonderful. “How did you?”

He winked at her. “Professional football player. I have connections, remember?” Letting out a nervous laugh, he held her bag and moved her down the hall into a large open space with tall windows. The architecture was modern. It looked like it was modeled after a warehouse. “It used to be a factory, but they refurbished it into apartments.” Jace shrugged casually and walked out into the living room.

Looking out the huge wall-to-ceiling windows, she was overwhelmed by the view of Denver and the Storm stadium.

“I chose this place because I can literally run over to the stadium, and the practice facility is right next to it. Lots of times, I just use the run over to warm up.”

She laughed, thinking it was still probably a mile to the stadium. “Yes, a warm-up.”

Quirking a smile, he gestured to a different hallway. “This way. You’ll like your room, I think.”

Following, she was pretty sure she would like anywhere Jace Harding took her. At Lamaze, when he’d passed out, she’d gotten to see him a bit out of sorts and vulnerable, and it had been nice. It wasn’t like she hadn’t realized his sacrifice to stay with her and help her, but at the class, she felt even more gratitude towards him.

What would she do when he wasn’t living with her anymore, when she had a new baby? Would they even stay in touch? They would, right?

“Here it is.” He waited for her to enter the room. To her surprise, it was very feminine with soft blue walls and white, see-through curtains. The bed had a pink and blue floral print cover, and all the furniture in the room looked comfortable. There was a separate room that held a couch, a television, and a rocking chair. Beyond that was a huge bathroom with an enormous bathtub and shower.

“Mom and Dad come and stay sometimes, especially after a game. Sometimes, Mom will come stay for a couple of days and cook for me or just be here.” He shrugged. “She’s been worried about me these past couple of months.”

Addison paused at the bed and touched the soft fabric of the bedspread. “It’s so soft and beautiful.”

Jace put her bag on a footstool next to the bed and smiled at her. Their eyes held, and she felt butterflies in the lower part of her stomach. “What?” he asked, looking less intense than normal. He had worn jeans, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes to Lamaze. She couldn’t help thinking about how it had felt to have his strong arms around her, to lie back against his solid frame.

Yeah, she was attracted to him. Way attracted to him. Which was stupid because he was Jace Harding. Her friend!

Putting a hand out to her, he waited. “Let’s go see what the chef cooked up.”

“You want me to take your hand?”

The side of his lip tugged up. “Hey, I did have my hands on your sensitive belly button tonight.” He said it like he’d won some game.

Giving in, she took his hand and followed him out of the room, back into the living room, and into the modern kitchen with hanging steel lights and sterling silver appliances.

The table was elegantly set, and the Italian food looked delicious. She suddenly realized she was starving. He pulled the chair out for her, and she sat.

The kitchen, just like the living room, featured floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the city. The sun had gone down, and the lights were just turning on.

He sat, crossed himself, and bowed his head. “Do you want to pray?”

She did, finding herself thanking God for so many things including the food, the chance to have Jace help her, and the baby. She asked the Lord to bless Jace and his job contract, praying things would work out like they should for him. When she ended the prayer, she was surprised to find tears on her face. It felt like her emotions were so up and down at the moment.

At the end of her prayer, his eyes were wet too. “Thank you. Why are you crying?”

She shrugged, embarrassed. “I don’t know.”

He nodded, gesturing to the food. “Now eat, woman. Blood sugar.”

Smiling, she dug into the delicious meal of fish, brown noodles, and vegetables. She could tell the meal was good for people with blood sugar issues, but it was still delicious. Judging by how quickly he ate, Jace was obviously hungry too.

They both ate quietly for a bit, and then she asked, “What team do you think you’ll be traded to if they don’t give you more money for your contract?”

Staring out at the city, Jace shrugged. The edge of his jaw looked pronounced. She noticed he kind of gritted his teeth as if he was thinking hard. “Don’t know. I guess one of the California teams maybe. The California Wave needs a good running back. I thought California might not be a bad place to go.” He turned to her. “The beach. The sun. Might be a nice change from the winters.”

Her heart hammered inside her chest. “Yeah,” she said noncommittally.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, there was something. You don’t like California?”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, I went to Disneyland when I was young. That’s pretty much all I know about it.”

“Hmm.”

“Does it matter if I like it?” she asked, frustrated. She knew her face was turning red, and she knew her voice revealed her angst about having him leave.

Spreading his hands, he said, “I guess not.”

It didn’t make sense to her why he would be acting this way. What did he mean, did she like it?

They lapsed into silence for a few more minutes, eating their meal. It was strange because it felt like they were in a fight, but she knew they weren’t. They didn’t have any cause to be.

A couple more minutes into the meal, she heard her phone buzz, which was unusual because she didn’t get that many calls. Jace got up and rushed to her purse, dug out her phone, and handed it to her. After talking for a few minutes on the phone to the director at the Refugee Center, she got off with new tears falling down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong?” Jace looked visibly upset, like he would pound whoever had made her cry.

“You,” she said, sniffing.

“Me?” He put his hand to his chest.

“You bought furniture for that family I was helping today. Didn’t you?”

Looking caught, he exhaled and took another bite.

More tears flowed. “I don’t understand you.”

Looking up at her, he smiled. “Hey, I promised you a million in donations. I thought I’d just get started.”

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes, hating the fact that everything Jace did made him more attractive to her. She shook her head, thinking that in two weeks she’d be having a baby, and he would be leaving. At the beginning, it hadn’t mattered, but now it felt harder to handle. She took a couple of more bites and a sip of water.

Jace let out a long breath. “You’re a good influence on me, Livingston.”

Surprised at this admission, but liking it, she didn’t know whether to take it in a patronizing way or in a “thank you for being in my life” kind of way.

“Hey,” he said. “I was thinking we could use my hot tub. It’s in my room. Well, in another room inside my room. You could soak your feet for a couple of minutes and talk to me.”

Thinking about sticking her feet in a hot tub sounded heavenly, and seeing Jace’s abs might be a bit heavenly as well. No, no, no. She had to get those kinds of ideas out of her mind.

“So what do you say? Hot tub?”

She stared into his hazel eyes, feeling more than a little lost as the candlelight touched the flecks of gold and melted her heart.