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“Text me when you get home, and maybe we can bust together.”
He slapped my arm before turning to his car. “You, Hunter Rhodes, are a bad man.”
“Who better to corrupt an angel like you?”
He gave me one last look before climbing into his car. “I’m not an angel, no matter what you call me. Just a fallible human like everyone else.”
“Then we’ll be fallible together,” I said, holding his gaze.
After a beat he nodded. Then he shut the door and started the car. I watched him drive away, his taillights two embers in the dark, wondering what I was missing. Because despite the teasing and the kisses, despite how well we meshed, I was certain he was holding something back.
It feels too good to be true, he’d said.
Was that just a throwaway comment about how lucky he felt, as I’d first taken it, or was there a deeper meaning to his words? I thought we were past doubt, but if Clark wasn’t sure of me, I’d just have to show him that there was nothing to doubt.
Starting with figuring out how to tell Toby. I couldn’t expect Clark to trust in us until I trusted enough that everyone in my life knew what he meant to me.
CHAPTER25
CLARK
Drop cloths covered beautifully refinishedfloors—with only one or two scratches caused by our amateur mistakes—tape protected baseboards and intricate crown molding near the ceilings, and eggshell white brightened the walls.
A group of us sat on the floor, two big boxes of pizza open in the center of our little circle, a six-pack of beer on one side of us and a six-pack of root beer on the other.
“If I never paint another room, it’ll be fine by me,” Hunter said. While the rest of us sat cross-legged, he’d flopped back with his head on my lap and his legs over Toby’s.
Augustus, Joe, Darren, and Linc sat to my right, while Tucker, Bobbi, Wes, and Beckett sat to Toby’s left.
Hunter’s eyes were closed, and I was gently stroking my fingers through his hair, unable to resist the urge to pet him. With this many people around, we could pretend it was for show. But I knew we couldn’t fool anyone much longer. We needed to decide if this would last and either tell Toby or end it before he got hurt.
All the more reason to touch Hunter while I could.
Toby scoffed. “Dad, there’s like the whole rest of the house to paint.”
Hunter’s eyes popped open. “What?” A note of panic crept into his voice. “We’re just doing the living area for the re-enactment, right?”
“Right,” I confirmed.
“But we need to restore the whole house,” Toby persisted. “You want to make it nice, like it used to be, right? I’ve seen pictures. The wallpaper upstairs needs to come down too.”
Hunter groaned. “Do I have to?”
“Yes!” Toby smacked his leg. “It was your idea to buy it.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m never living that one down.”
“We’ll come help again,” Wes said.
“Says the guy who didn’t do any painting,” Darren joked.
“Hey, I was working outside,” Wes protested. “This place is gonna look amazing for the event in May. Those vanilla strawberry hydrangeas we planted will be beautiful out front.”
“We should get something prettier for our place,” Linc mused.
Darren sighed dramatically. “Now you’ve done it. Better give me a business card before you leave. You know the saying, happy wife, happy life.”
Linc whacked him. “I think you mean happy husband, thank you very much. Not that we’re married…yet.”
