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“I... That’s not what I meant.” She bit her lip, looked around and dredged up a smile for him. “I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know what I mean.” Just that being so close to him was going to play havoc on her efforts to keep her attraction for him under control.
But that was not his problem. It was hers.
Kon’s intense brown gaze searched her face, his own expression giving nothing away. “Mikhail will feel more confident with both of us only across the hall from his own new bedroom.”
Emma couldn’t argue that. “You’re right.”
“So?”
“So, this is fine.” She sighed internally, trying for gracious. “Better than fine.”
“Good. Mikhail and I have a surprise for you.” Kon’s smile took Emma’s breath and did some very interesting things to other parts of her body that she did her best to pretend were not happening.
Their son chose that moment to knock loudly and then come careening into the room. “Mom, Mom... Wait till you see what Dad and me did. You’re gonna love it!”
Grateful for the timely interruption, Emma’s smile for her son was a lot more natural. She allowed him and Kon to lead her downstairs. She thought they were going to the outdoor pool, which Mickey was over the moon about, but they turned down the hall in the back and stopped at an open door, clearly waiting for her to go in first.
What she saw took her breath away. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the beautifully landscaped grounds, the lush outdoor pool area off to the right.
The view and the size of the room were impressive enough, but it was what the room held that made it hard for Emma to even get out words of thanks; she was so overwhelmed. It had been outfitted as a painting studio, all of her things moved, but also added to.
Everything she could imagine needing to paint, not just her commissions, but multiple easels and a full set of watercolors, as well as acrylics and oils with the top-of-the-line brushes to go with each. A lot of artists stuck to one medium, but she’d always been happiest when she could flit back and forth between these three.
She looked at Kon. “You remembered.”
“I remember everything about you,” he promised her. “You said that your ideal studio would have the space for all your supplies and you would not have to pack up one medium to start a project with another.”
It had been her dream, but one she’d never realized. She’d felt lucky to have room for any kind of studio in her and Mickey’s little house. Being able to keep art in her life at all had been a luxury, but necessary for her sense of well-being. She’d stuck to watercolors for her commissions and had stifled every desire to create with something else.
“Look, Mom, see all the windows?” Mickey spread his arms expansively.
Emma grinned. “I do. They’re wonderful.” She opened her arms and got a big hug from her son. “You’re wonderful. Thank you, Mickey.”
“And Dad. It was his idea, but he wanted my help. He took me shopping.”
That was some commitment to her happiness right there. Mickey was not the greatest shopper. He got bored when he wasn’t moving.
Emma smiled at Kon. “Thank you. Really. This is amazing.”
“Do I get a hug too?” he asked, a devilish glint in his eyes.
“You’ve gotta give Dad a hug too,” Mickey demanded.
Emma gave her son a gently reproving look. “Hugs are always voluntary, you know that, Mickey.”
“Right. Because we set our body boundaries,” he parroted what she’d told him a hundred times and she was sure his preschool staff had as well. “But Mom, he tried real hard to make you happy.”
Kon opened his arms, his expression quizzical and just a little bit challenging. It was the challenge that did it. Her back up, Emma found herself moving across the tile floor to him with determined movements.
She meant to give him a distance hug. Nothing too personal. Perfunctory. Only, her body leaned into his like it had been programmed to his touch. Maybe it had.
He had been her first and only real lover.
The last man she’d let into her personal space without limits. Somehow she let herself relax into his body, her arms going around him in anything but a perfunctory manner.
“Thank you,” she whispered huskily into his chest.
Kon’s arms wrapped tightly around her, pulling her even closer. “My pleasure.”
