Page 82 of Melt His Heart

You can really learn a lot about a person through their space. Like what I learned so far? Carson really, really loves plants.

I’ll keep that in mind.

I walk into another room adjoin from his living room. The door is already open a bit, and I step inside to see canvases about the room. A gasp escapes my lips when I get a little closer.

They’re all paintings. Of me.

In one of them, I’m leaning into my signature in bauer. They’re beautiful and scarily accurate, as if he’s studied every ounce of my very essence. My fingertips graze the rough but soft surface of the painting that sits upon his easel. I guess this is his most current work.

Warmth pools in the pit of my stomach.

“Julie! I was looking for you.” He chuckles behind me.

“You..You paint?” I feel Carson step closer, his hard body pressing against my back, my breath hitching.

“Yeah, fun fact, I was an art minor in university. It’s my relaxing pastime.” He says, “Do you like it?”

“I do. You’ve reached maximum creep level.” I tease.

Though deep down inside, I know I like that he’s kinda obsessive. There’s even just paintings of me eating snacks and hugging the bunny he gave me. But my favorite is this one atop the easel and another one where I’m holding the bouquet of alstroemeria he gave on our first ‘friend’ date.

My face holding a serene smile, dipping low into the pink flowers. It looks exactly like how I felt that night.

“Your existence is a very beautiful thing. I can’t stop seeing you.” Carson whispers low in my ear, “You could say you’re my muse.” His breath is warm, sending shivers down my spine.

“Carson.” I sigh.

When I finally turn to him, he’s gazing down at me, my heart catches in my throat, “They’re gorgeous.”

“You could take one home if you like.” He says.

No, I want one of him instead, but I nod anyway.

“Come on, that’s enough wandering for you,” Carson says, pulling me out of the room. He leads me over to the sofa, we both sit, and I must have forgotten how terrified I was on the way here. Now that we’re sitting idle again, Carson is thumbing through our movie options, and I feel my anxiety creeping back to the front of my mind.

“Is there a specific movie you want to watch?”

Yeah, the one where I don’t throw up from nerves and embarrass myself would be great.

“No, I’m good with anything,” I mumble and unwrap my snack bar, deciding to focus on eating instead and definitely not the way he smells like cherries right now.

“Alright, I’ll put something on.” I nod. Carson leans back and drapes his arm on the couch behind my head.

“This ok?” He asks, his eyes softening.

“Oh yeah..I mean, it’s your house.” I say, looking away.

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I’m ok, Carson.” I bite my lip, I can feel him smiling at me. Smirking probably because he can’t help himself. He needs to tease me and draw whatever this is out.

The movie Carson put on is actually really good, and it’s been doing wonders at distracting me from how warm his body feels next to me. We definitely have somehow inched a bit closer to each other since the start of the film though. The two characters on screen are starting to get tense with each other.

I swallow, praying there isn’t a sex scene coming up. I won’t survive. My face starts burning as they begin kissing. I feel Carson tilt his head; he’s kind of engrossed in what they’re doing.

My breath hitches as the scene between the two characters intensifies. I want to disappear into the couch because Carson hears my gasp, his brow shooting up.

“You ok?” Just this once, I wish he weren’t so attentive.