Smitten: A Mafia Romance — Chapter 64

Jace lander ending up on a couch in her apartment with a cup of hot chocolate with his shoes and socks off wasn't what Korina had dreamt to happen, not even in a million years and for some odd reason, she couldn't tear her eyes away from his feet. She thought them attractive, too damn attractive for a man's feet.

"Done checking my feet out?" He smirked at her, he found it pleasing that at least she found something about him attractive.

"I wasn't staring at your feet." She jumped to defend herself lying, "I find them totally displeasing and ugly."

"I know they are not." Jace took a long sip from the mug and leaned backwards on the couch, "Admit it, you are attracted to them and quit denying it."

"Don't you find it weird that we are talking about your feet?" She asked him, if he didn't find it weird, she found it super odd and she wanted it to stop.

"No, I don't." He nodded and kept sipping on the hot liquid.

Korina scoffed at him and turned to look at the wall clock, it was 8:00pm. She glanced at the window, the rain drops landed furiously on the glass and she could see a flash of lightning in the sky.

She knew the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon and why the fuck is it even raining at this damned time of the year? She was mad, mad that it was raining and furious that a strange attractive man was in her apartment, making himself comfy like they were best of friends.

What the hell? She frowned.

She turned back in her previous direction to speak to him but he wasn't there anymore, the couch was empty.

Korina got alarmed, where is he? Is he inside waiting to kill me?

"Jace!" She screamed, her voice laced with dismay, "Where the hell are you?"

"I am right here." She heard him answer and followed the direction of the voice to the kitchen.

Jace was in the kitchen with her apron on, the gas cooker was on with a pot boiling on it and the kitchen was heated up, several ingredients were laid out on the counter.

The fuck, Korina stared wide eyed, he's fucking cooking in my kitchen.

"Why are you cooking in my house? In my kitchen?" She asked glaring at him harshly, arms folded across her chest, the audacity of this man, gosh!

"I am hungry." He replied opening up the pot and turning the contents of the chopping board into it, "Ain't you dear?"

Before Korina could think of a lie, her stomach rumbled loudly betraying her and giving her away.

"I guess you are." Jace chuckled, "I will be done soon." He winked.

"We are both hungry still doesn't give you enough reason to come into my kitchen and start cooking like you own the damn place." She growled.

He only smiled at her and continued with his cooking, he so wanted to tell her how cute she looked while angry but he figured that would be crossing boundaries and he didn't wanna get kicked out.

"What?!" Korina shrieked, "You are baking too?" She had heard the oven timer go off and saw him turn to the oven, he brought out a tray of brownies and set it on the counter.

"Okay." She took a deep breath, "You entered my kitchen, cooked and baked a tray of brownies." Delicious looking brownies, her subconscious chimed in, "What next? You gonna take a bath and spend the night?"

"Nope." He said turning off the gas cooker, "unless you want me to." He shrugged.

"Don't make me throw you out man." She grumbled and pulled out a chair, she took a seat and sat there watching him while he finished up his cooking.

Jace was done about thirty minutes later. He brought out plates and laid them out, then proceeded in dishing out the food and desert.

The way he did everything with expertise amazed her, as if he had been doing it all his life, she wanted to ask if he had been a chef once and she also hoped and wondered if the dishes would be as delicious as they looked.

Korina watched as he pushed her plate of food carefully towards her.

He had prepared rice, sauce and steak. She wanted to dive in immediately as the aroma invaded her senses but decided to compose herself and not cause further embarrassments.

Jace also took his seat opposite her and set his food in front of him.

"Where did you learn to cook?" Korina asked him as they began to eat, the food tasted so damn good.

"I have practically been on my own for as long as I remember so I had to learn and get these things done." He said and from the look on his face, Korina knew that it was a touchy subject.

"So what exactly do you do?" She him asked diverting from the topic, she stood up and went to get more food from the pots, she was done with her first serving already.

"I can see you are really enjoying my cooking." He smiled as he watched her get more.

"Just managing it." She rolled her eyes trying to deflate his ego, "You haven't answered my question tho."

"Oh that." Jace turned back to his food, "I do all kinds of menial hand jobs painting, plumbing, repairs and other stuff to survive." He said, "I can even repair cars, mechanical and electrical stuff."

"Ohh, that's nice." She nodded at him.

"What do you do?"

"I work at a diner." She replied, "It's mainly a breakfast diner and as you know already, I do part time baking."

"Your pay must really be good." Jace remarked, "Cause your place is damned nice, too damned nice. I guess you aren't one of those under paid waitresses."

"I guess maybe." She laughed, "I am not really highly paid, just have to save up and all that stuff."

"Hmmm." He nodded.

Korina's eyes went to his wrist all of a sudden, something from it glinted brightly in the light.

"Is that what I think it is?" She asked leaning closer for a better view.

"What?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"Is that a Graff Diamonds Hallucination watch?" She shrieked, "You do menial jobs, how in the hell can you afford this?" She frowned, "I can swear it's the watch jeez!"

"Uhmmm." Jace shifted uncomfortably, damn! He swore under his breath, I forgot to take it off, fuck!, "I don't know what you are talking about Korina." He covered his wrist with the other hand.

Of course, he knew what she was saying was true, he had gotten the watch a week earlier.

"It is the watch Jace." She said with a straight face, "The diamonds are glinting."

"It's totally fake, an imitation, you know like the cheap imitations of designers clothes and stuff." He hoped she bought his explanation.

"No man! That shit is real." She argued, "Take your hand off, I wanna see it and I need an explanation." She moved to remove his hand.

"Nope!" He growled, "It's a fake Korina."

Before she could react to him, Jace suddenly jumped over the counter, tackled her and pushed her to the ground, a loud gunshot rang in the air.