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I lost track of how long we sat there for. This was so simple. I’d never had this kind of closeness with anyone.
Except Colin.
The tiny disconnect—that I wanted this kind of intimacy from both of them—would fry my brain if I let it. That wasn’t fair to anyone, and I couldn’t dwell on the thought because right now wasn’t about me.
“You need to be pampered for the rest of the day,” I said softly.
Her dry chuckle surprised me. “I appreciate the sentiment.” She sat up and looked at me. “But that’s not what I need right now. Grab your laptop, I’ll clean off the table.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re allowed to take the time to deal with this.”
Daria shook her head. “I need to feel wanted.” She snapped her jaw shut. “I mean… I need to be doing something and you have a business proposal to make sparkle and shine.”
An impulse raged inside to wrap her up, kiss her hard, and tell her I’d always want her.
Where the fuck did that come from?
It didn’t matter because she wouldn’t take a statement like that seriously. Besides, this wasn’t about sex, and I understood where she was coming from because I felt the same way after my injury.
“Okay. I’ll be right back.” I grasped her fingertips and brushed my lips over her knuckles.
No, really, what was I doing? It was a good thing I had Daria’s crisis to focus on because I had no idea what was going on in my own head.
17
colin
I would’ve wrappedup the mural at the antique shop yesterday if Deacon hadn’t needed to close up early. Which meant it didn’t take long to finish the work once I arrived.
Barely enough time to linger on thoughts of last night. Way too much time to over-analyze Tanner’s kisses and decisions and his choosing to stop.
Sure, I told him to.
But lump that decision into the over thinking bucket as well and I could call it a massive mess.
Those thoughts would wait. I stepped back to take a bigger picture look at my work. It wasn’t perfect—as the artist, I saw every flaw and mistake—but hopefully Deacon would call it good enough.
“Holy shit. That’s amazing.” His comment caught me off-guard. I hadn’t realized he was there.
I wouldn’t correct his perception; I learned a long time ago the customer saw things in a different light than I did when it came to my work. “Thanks. I’m calling it done, but if you see anything you’d like touched up or tweaked, I can do it.”
“No way.” He stepped up next to me. “I thought you were done a few hours ago, but each new detail… man you brought this to life.”
The praise was nice. The paycheck would be good too. I pulled out my phone. “You okay with me taking a few pictures and adding them to my portfolio?”
“Yeah, of course.”
I took some close-ups of some of the more detailed work, then stepped back to get some wide angles. Deacon insisted on taking a few of me in front of the work as well, to post on his website.
“Seriously, incredible work. Brooke told me you were good, but you know.”
I did. “Sisters are biased.”
“Exactly. She undersold you, though. Hey, let me buy you a coffee, to celebrate a job well done.”
