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“Notevery…”
“T… cut the shit.”
“You can call me Temp now.”
He smirked, shaking his head as he approached me, his larger frame dwarfing me in a way that would’ve made me wary back when I was still in service to theGarden. No matter how well-trained I was, that disparity in height and weight was a disadvantage to me, something I had to be mindful of in case I needed to defend myself.
That awareness would likely never go away completely, but now?
It was far,farat the back of my mind.
At least withhim.
His arm snaked around my waist, drawing me close against his body as he tipped his head down. “Temp…,” he murmured against my lips, “…you’re not gonna distractorcharm your way outta doing this.”
“Ugh,” I grunted, pushing away from him as he laughed. “Why are you doing this? I was perfectly fine to spend my rainy day binge-watchingother peopledo this.”
“You’ve spent enough time watching other people do what you want to be doing, I promise,” he teased. “You’re not gonna progress any further by doing that.”
“Did anybody ask you?”
“Nah, but I’m telling you anyway,” he countered, throwing his hands up. “So… come on,Temp.Where the wicks at?”
I couldn’t help laughing, even though I was… feeling something I couldn’t quite identify.
Nervous but excited but irritated but happy but overwhelmed but… willing.
Contentedly.
“Over there, in those boxes.”
“And the jars?”
“Inthoseboxes,” I answered, pointing to a different spot. “And there are tools… um… spacers, I guess, that fit over the jars. To make sure the wick is centered.”
Tristan nodded. “Okay. What else?”
“The wax flakes are in those cartons. It has to be melted to a specific temperature, and the fragrance oil has to be heated too. Not a lot, or you’ll evaporate the fragrance. But if you do it right, it helps everything bind together, so you don’t have any separating, or caving, or discoloration of the wax,” I said.
“What else?”
“Then you let it cure. For atleastthree days, to let the fragrance oil really settle in. After that, you can do a test burn.” I stopped talking when I realized how hard Tristan was staring at me, enthralled. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
“Like what?”
“Like…that,” I countered, gesturing at his face like I’d actually given more information. “Like you’re… mesmerized or something.”
“Shit, because Iam. Youreallyknow this stuff, and that’s… sexy.”
“Knowing about candles is sexy?”
“No, the fact that you committed to something and learned all this stuff about it is. Now… let’s see it through,” he said, smoothing a hand through his beard. “I mean… unless you’re gonna be pussy about it.”
My head snapped back. “Me?Pussy? No sir.Neverbeen that.”
“I’on know… you seem a lil’ bit pussy about these candles, but that’s justme,” he challenged with a shrug and a smirk.
I started to threaten him with withholdingmypussy, but that wouldn’t work when he wasn’t pressed about that anyway. I also considered kicking him out, but he’d probably take the food with him, besides the fact that I would probably seem even more like what he was accusing me of anyway.
