He secured her hair in place—albeit sloppily—but it was good enough.
“Thanks,” she said.
“’Course.” He touched her shoulder, and a shiver ran down her spine.
She wiped her hands on the paper towels as best she could, then set about getting Motu as cleaned as possible, though the dried paint wouldn’t come off either of them without soap and water. As she did that, Luke started to clean up the paint trays.
“I can do it,” she said.
“I know, but so can I,” he replied. “Let me.”
Had he always been this caring? This kind? How had she never noticed before? There was a tenderness to him that made her want to do all sorts of foolish things.
She wasn’t very often at a loss for words, but she felt like a ship adrift today. As she continued to wipe Motu’s paws, Luke put away the paint tins and supplies into the bag she had brought them in.
He gathered the dirty newspapers and tossed them as she cleaned up Motu’s wings. The baby dragon was still coveredwith dry paint splatters, but she would give him a deep bath when they went home.
As Luke finished up, she went to the bathroom to wash her hands. In the mirror, she saw there were rogue splatters of paint across her cheek and neck; after her hands were clean, she wiped at the other spots. Evidently, she and Motubothneeded a bath.
Once she’d done all she could, she went back out, where the mess was cleaned up. Motu sat calmly on the table. She continued wiping at a stubborn spot of paint on the back of her hand with a wet paper towel until it came out.
“This is the most color I’ve seen you wear,” Luke said, and she glanced up to his lips twitching. She looked at the multicolored splatters all over her black outfit; she looked like a rebellious teenager intent on designing her own clothes.
“Hilarious,” she said drily, but her lips twitched as well, as she walked over to him and Motu. It was ridiculous, and while he looked amused, she saw something else in his expression, a tenderness on his face as he looked at her. He must have sensed the question in her eyes.
“I like you in pink,” he said, voice soft.
Her cheeks flushed, and she was sure they were the same shade of pink as the paint. She was hardly one to blush, but suddenly, she couldn’t help it. She didn’t know why.
She had never felt so shy around a man before. It was a new feeling, not entirely unwelcome. He kept surprising her and, in turn, her reaction to him kept surprising herself.
“You missed a spot,” he said, pointing to her jaw. She raised the wet paper towel to wipe at it, but before she could, he took a step toward her, easily taking it out of her hand.
A jolt shot down her spine as he brought his other hand up, holding her chin. She was entirely immobile, letting him turn her face to the side. Her heart pounded against her chest. Then, he wiped along her throat.
Her breathing stopped altogether then at the contact, his touch searing through her. She swallowed, her throat moving against his hand. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, hoping they could pick up where they had left off. As if thinking the same thing, his eyes darkened.
But then they heard a knock on the front door.
She furrowed her brows. That was weird. “The shop’s closed,” she said.
“I’ll go see,” Luke said. He stepped away from her, and once he was gone, she released a shaky breath. Her body was overcome with sensations.
She glanced over at Motu, who needed to get cleaned up. Gathering her things, she gave her baby dragon a disappointed look. He was unperturbed, and she shook her head. After she collected all her things, she headed for the door, where she heard voices.
She looked and saw Luke was talking to a group of people, all crowded in front of the door. He seemed to be barring them from entering any further, trying to usher them out as he spoke in a low tone. It was three girls and two boys—she spotted one familiar face: Farhan.
Before she could say hi, one of the girls spotted Emmeline. Her face lit up, and she pinched one of the other girls.
“Emmy, hey!” Farhan said, waving a hand above the other heads.
“Hey, Farhan,” she replied, going over.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Luke released a long-suffering sigh. Farhan pushed past his brother, entering the bookshop to give Emmeline a quick side-hug. “Love the look,” he said, glancing down at the paint splatters. “Very teenager chic.”
“Occupational hazard when it comes to baby dragons,” she replied with a smile.
“We were just in the area so we wanted to pop in and say hi,” Farhan said cheerily, and Luke muttered an oath under his breath. “This is my best friend, Basim.” Farhan set about introducing the group, and she realized it was the Din siblings, the ones Luke had mentioned before. “That’s Liliana, Jiya, and Hira.”
