AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He grabbed at my polish. “You!”
“You want me to paint my nails?”
He nodded, and Liam raised his gaze to mine in silent question.
“I am a professional,” I said with a flip of my hair, which earned a lazy smile.
“Okay.” He placed both of his hands flat on the table, fingers splayed. “Do your worst.”
I pushed my container of polishes to Finn. “What color should Daddy get?”
He dug through, finding a bright blue, and I took it from him. “Nice choice.”
Finn sat in his father’s lap as I painted Liam’s nails, both of their heads bent at the same angle, watching like it was the most fascinating thing they’d ever seen.
“I’m only gonna do one coat,” I told Liam, who remained silent, which made me laugh.
That was when he slanted his gaze to me. “What?”
“It’s funny. The two of you,” I said with a tilt of my chin. “You’re both so cute together.”
Finn took the opportunity to squeeze his dad’s cheeks. In return, Liam pretended to bite at his son’s shoulder until Finn shrieked in laughter and took off toward the living room, leaving me to finish painting Liam’s nails alone.
His fingers were long with atrocious nail beds. “You have to stop biting your nails.”
“How do you know I bite my nails?”
I dragged the pad of my thumb over the jagged and reddened nail of his middle finger. “Not good, Professor.” Then I tapped his callused knuckles. “I’m sure it splits a lot if you’re boxing. Does it bother you?”
He lifted one shoulder, his eyes still on my hands as I finished up with the polish.
“I’m not sure you’re going to impress anybody with these dry hands.”
That got his attention. He stared at me as I put the cap back on the bottle and set it down. “It’s not my hands I hope to impress people with.”
I playfully rolled my eyes. “I’m sure everybody else loves your big brain. But I like a guy with nice hands.”
It took me a moment to realize what I’d said, but before I could take it back, he smiled, the quirk of his lips walking a fine line between humor and flirtation. “I don’t impress you?”
I was stunned into silence as the air between us crackled, and since the earth didn’t open up and swallow me whole, it took me a long time to recover. “I-I didn’t mean?—”
“What should I put on my hands?”
“Hm?”
“What should I put on my hands so they aren’t dry?”
“I, uh…” I dropped my gaze to the table, where he tapped his thumbs a few times. “I have some good lotion if you want.”
“Yeah. I’ll try it.”
Without looking at him, I slunk away from the table, pretending like I wasn’t tingling everywhere from a combination of mortification and temptation.
I couldn’t be attracted to him.
Absolutely not.
Rule number one.
