“Afraid not, son.” Ma’s eyes glimmer with mirth. “It’s sage green, which is a beautiful color, and it’s going to look gorgeous in here with tones of beige, cream, and gold in our furnishings and fittings.”
“So much for loyalty,” I grumble, eyeballing Astrid.
She laughs, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “It’s going to look amazing, and you’ll love it. I promise.”
Da plays some tunes as we work, and we chat and laugh as we paint, and I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun with my family just hanging out. Time goes by fast, and the room is finished at lunch. My parents leave to grab sandwiches from a deli in town while Erin goes over to Astrid’s house to play with her sisters.
“You okay after last night?” I ask, stepping closer to her when we’re finally alone.
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” She peers up at me with those big green eyes that always sucker me in.
“Just checking.” I lean closer, my gaze dropping to her gorgeous mouth. “Maybe we should?—”
“Make sure it wasn’t a fluke.” She fists my shirt and pulls me flush against her. “Kiss me, Callan.”
Holding her face in my hands, I seal my lips against hers and sink into heaven. My lips explore her mouth in a leisurely fashion that disguises the rampant need twisting my insides into a frenzy. She clings to me as we kiss, and my fingers sweep across her cheeks, touching the satiny softness of her skin like Iwanted to earlier. Finding restraint from somewhere, I pull back before we descend into the same madness as last night. It would be so easy to go there, because the instant her lips touch mine, I lose my sanity and justfeel.
“Oops. I got paint on you,” I admit, poking the green slash streaking across her right cheek.
“Same.” Her eyes lower to where several green splotches decorate my shirt.
“Seeing as you like green so much…” Bending over, I stick my fingers in the paint tin. “Have some more.” I straighten up and flick paint at her, chuckling at her shocked expression as little spots dot her face, her hair, and her clothes.
“You’re in so much trouble,” she purrs before grabbing her brush and swiping it across my face.
Then it descends into a full-on paint fight as we chase one another around the room, covering ourselves in paint and laughing while Dire Straits plays in the background.
Grabbing Astrid from behind, I spin her around and laugh as she shrieks when I back her up against the window. “Let’s see how much you love green when you’re still finding bits of it in your hair next week.”
“Right back at you, soccer star,” she teases, giggling as she looks at me. “I can barely see any of your face. You look like the Hulk.”
“Maybe I’ll rip my shirt, embrace the green, and terrorize you all over town,” I quip, before dipping my head and nuzzling my face in her neck. She sucks in a gasp as my tongue darts out, tasting a clean strip of skin just under her ear. “You smell so good,” I whisper, inhaling the fruity scent radiating from her skin as my hands tighten on her hips.
“What on earth happened here?” Da says, and I rip myself away from Astrid. He’s looking at the green paint speckled all over the floor with a frown, before lifting his eyes to inspect us.
Ma smirks. “It’s just as well we bought water-based paint, or you’d have a hell of a job washing all that out.”
“Sorry.” Two pink spots appear on Astrid’s paint-streaked face. “We were just goofing around. I’ll go shower and come back to clean up the mess.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dad says. “Like I said, it’s not an issue.”
“You should shower before it dries in your hair,” Ma says. “It’d be a bitch to wash out then.”
“I’m going, but I’ll be back if you need me.”
“You’ve done enough, love.” Mum’s head cants to the side. “Tony is fitting the new skirts and curtain rail this afternoon, and then we’re calling it a day.” Mischief gleams in her eye. “You could help Callan unpack those boxes in his room though.”
“I can do that,” Astrid says, beaming up at me. “If you want the help.”
“Sure. Come back when you’re ready, and we’ll tackle it.” I’m sick of tripping over boxes in my room, and it’s stupid to continue to be stubborn when I’m the only one suffering the consequences.
“Cool. I’ll be back in a bit.” She waggles her brows before walking off, my gaze trailing her movement until she’s disappeared from sight.
I turn to face my grinning mother. “Sneaky, Ma. So fucking sneaky.”
She shrugs, still smiling. “It worked, though. Didn’t it?”
23
