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“Absolutely. I told him he could pick where it went. I’m not going to disappoint him.”
Kia smiled at him. Her eyes warmed as she held his stare. His fingers twitched to pull her closer to him, but he didn’t have that right.
The sound of a throat clearing pulled their attention away from each other. Kia blushed and looked down.
“My back is totally open, so right shoulder blade would work for me,” Pete said, breaking the awkwardness in the room.
Kia pulled up her calendar on the screen. “I blocked off time for one of you to go today if you want to get started right away or if you need to think about it some more. You can call and schedule something.”
Jeff looked at the clock on the wall. 4:30. “I thought you normally got off around now.”
“I do, but Max is doing a sleepover at my sister’s tonight, so I can work late if you want to get started.”
If anyone was going tonight, it was going to be him. Maybe afterwards he could talk Kia into grabbing a bite to eat or something. “I’m good with going now.”
“Great, give me half an hour to tighten this all up and make the stencil, and we can get started.”
“Can we stick around and see you get started?” Ryan asked.
“Of course.”
Gonzo leaned against the edge of the drawing table. “What’s your schedule like coming up? I know we all want to get this done before the season starts.”
“Gonzo’s a pussy so he’ll probably need to break his up over several sessions,” Jeff joked.
“Fuck you. I can sit longer than you can.”
“Bullshit. There’s no way you wouldn’t tap out before I did.”
“Okay boys, this isn’t a competition. There’s no shame in needing to go slow.”
Pete burst out laughing. “You clearly don’t know us at all.”
Ryan threw his arm around Pete’s shoulder. “Everything’s a competition.”
“Awesome. You’re those kinds of guys.” Kia rolled her eyes.
“What do you mean, those kinds of guys?” Jeff pinned her with a look. The way she said it, being one of those kinds of guys didn’t sound like a compliment.
“Oh, you know. The ones who talk all big. Then they tap out after twenty minutes with some lame excuse about how they don’t normally react like this. It must have been something they ate that isn’t sitting right.” She raised one eyebrow as she looked around the group, daring them to be that guy.
Gonzo puffed up his chest at the challenge. “Not happening.”
Kia patted him on the chest. “We’ll see. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
Gonzo growled, which only made Kia laugh harder. Jeff smiled as he watched her interact with his friends. She fit well with them, bantering easily. It was cool. And fuck if it didn’t make him like her even more. Damn it. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about her like that. Things were complicated enough without him lusting after the mother of his child.
After several minutes of schedule manipulation, they all had appointments booked for the initial session.
“We’re gonna go grab something to eat and then we’ll be back in half an hour. You want me to bring you back anything?” Jeff asked.
“An iced coffee, sweet with oat milk, would be great. Thanks.”
“No problem. Be back in a bit.”
Twenty minutes later, Jeff and his friends strolled back into the shop. She took one last cursory glance at her station, then wandered to the front.
Jeff smiled as she walked up, and he held out a to-go cup.
