Then Meredith appeared. Her organized, no-nonsense manner put me at ease. I’d immediately tried to break her of the no-nonsense part and discovered she had a sarcastic, witty side that I loved. Once we started joking around, we didn’t stop. We flirted and touched until she wasn’t needed on set anymore, and then I’d taken her back to my place.
And once again, when something important to me was threatened and I was rattled in a way I could never admit out loud, she appeared. Hopefully full of ideas that were going to save me from myself.
I realized it had been way too long since anyone had said anything, so I cleared my throat. “Well, my photogenic ass isn’t why you’re here today.”
She smiled, but those little stress lines around her eyes gave her away. Was it awkwardness, or was she replaying our night—like I had, damn near a hundred times—since she went back to Vegas?
“Right, be a diva on your own time, apprentice. Let’s get to work,” Roxy said, her words bringing me back to reality. “Youall know why we’re here.”
My stomach rolled with guilt.
“To be clear, Luke was right to turn the customer away,” Dane added as if reading my mind.
“Abso-fucking-lutely. We’ve brought Meredith in to get us past this. We only have her for a month, so let’s not waste her time. We’ve got an hour before we open. Let’s fill her in on who we are and what we do and brainstorm how to fix this shitshow.”
Meredith went around and talked to each staff member individually. Having her in my space, her perfume cutting through the smell of the disinfectant we used, was distracting to say the least.
She saved me for last, finally plunking down at my workstation ten minutes before we would have opened. “How have you been, Luke?” she asked.
I nodded. “Good. Yeah, this place keeps me going.”
She cocked her head. “Why’s that?”
“Everyone needs that one thing that helps them get through, drugs, booze, a pet, a friend. Art is mine.” I realized I’d let my usual goofy-guy mask slip more than I’d intended and dropped my eyes. “You know, when I’m not dazzling the regular folks with my model good looks.”
She smiled and then readjusted her position in the chair. “Is it okay that I’m here?”
She spoke clearly but was fidgeting with a ring on her thumb. “I wasn’t expecting to see you, and I’m sure you weren’t expecting to see me.”
I hadn’t expected this conversation. Clearly, she was a bigger adult than I was. I leaned back on my stool and stretched my shoulders, giving myself a minute to come up with a reply. Myfeelings about her being here were a jumbled mess, and even if they weren’t, would I tell her about them? Finally, I decided to be professional and detached. “I’m glad you’re here.”
She pursed her lips and nodded.
“We really need help to get out of this mess.”
“Did you work here when I was in town over the summer?”
I nodded.
“Surprised it didn’t come up.”
“Well, once I met you, I had something else that keptcoming up, and it was a little distracting.”
“It was a little distracting for me, too.” Meredith’s cheeks turned pink, and she fought hard to keep back a smile.
“Not too little, I hope.”
She laughed. “You know the answer to that.”
Shit, we were flirting. We weren’t supposed to be flirting.
She jumped up from the chair at the same time I stood from mine. We ended up face to face, our bodies only inches apart. She was shorter than I was, and I knew from experience that if I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger and tilted it up, I could kiss her luscious pink lips and still be able to thrust my hips against hers.
Her tongue snuck out to lick her lower lip, and I suppressed a moan. I knew what that tongue was capable of. I knew how it felt in my mouth, on my neck, on my cock. The organ in question twitched in my jeans. It was all too much — her heat, her perfume, the memories. I took a step back, then another. It was my workstation, but I was retreating. It had only been an hour that she had been here, and I was ready to throw out every concern I had for the shop and bend her over my table. That couldn’t happen. The non-dick controlling part of my brain knew that.
“Luke,” she said with a question in her eyes.
“I, uh, got to get something before we open,” I finished lamely. “I’ll see you around.”
