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“I like cats. Lon was allergic. As soon as we settle the divorce and I move out, I’ll go down to the pound. Hopefully my new apartment will let me have one.”
“Move out? Why?” He looked around the room. “I can see how much you love this studio.”
“You can?” She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice. “How?”
“All the details. The crystals, the frilly curtains, these really useful cushions.” He patted the window seat and she grinned. “You’ve nested here.”
“Nested, hmm?” She sighed. “Yeah, I guess I have. I’m used to fussing with a classroom, making it homey and fun.”
“I like it,” he said, looking around again. “My place is generic central.”
“Really? I can’t imagine anything about you being generic,” she said as he turned his truly dazzling grin on her.
“So why are you moving from a place you love?”
“The house belongs to Lon. It’s been in his family for generations. My name’s never been on the deed. It’s my own fault for never pushing it.”
“So push it in the divorce. That’s the best time to make a stink about every damn thing anyway, right?”
She shook her head, idly stroking his hair. “Not for me. I just want this all to go away. I hate fighting. Just not temperamentally suited to it. Easier to find another place and start my new life that much quicker.”
“He’s cheating on you. Right now.”
“We’re separated. Technically I just cheated on him too.” She patted his shoulder and eased around him to stand. She didn’t really want to think on that at the moment. The last thing she wanted to feel was guilty, when she wasn’t to blame for any of this.
“You’re saying the louse didn’t cheat before the separation?”
Rubbing away the goose bumps rising on her arms, she crossed the room to pick up her discarded clothes. “No, I’m not saying that. I know he did.”
Jeff rose and wandered over to her easel, seemingly completely comfortable naked. Unlike her. “So take him for all he’s got. Any judge would side with you.”
She didn’t answer as she struggled to put on her smock. Pity her hands weren’t steady enough yet to manage it.
He glanced over at her and dipped his thumb in the little well of yellow paint in the tray. “Why are you getting dressed?”
“I’m cold.” She couldn’t exactly be relaxed while sitting around in the nude in front of a guy she’d met that evening. Clothes would help her think more clearly.
“So let me warm you up.” He openly studied her, his gaze sliding over every part of her he could still see. The rest she suspected he was remembering. “These paints. What are they made out of?”
“Vegetables and plant extracts. I teach preschool and—” She stopped talking as he approached, her horsehair brush in one hand and the cup of yellow paint in the other. “What are you doing?”
“Are they nontoxic?”
She raised her eyebrows, reasonably sure where he was going with his line of questioning. “Yes. I buy them from a company in Sweden for just that reason. Sometimes I take my paints to school and the kids get their hands in everything. These are completely safe. Washable with just soap and water and nonpoisonous if they accidentally eat them. Accidentally,” she stressed.
And she was babbling. What the heck did he plan to do with her yellow paint?
His hot blue gaze held her motionless. “Do me a favor, Karyn?”
She didn’t agree. Not yet. “What?”
“Take off your smock.”
Chapter Four
“Jeff—” Karyn began.
“I always wanted to paint stuff. Thought it would be fun. I’d like to paint you.” Jeff saturated the brush, brought the dripping tip close to his nose. “Damn, this smells good. Like ice cream.”
