I glance around, but no one else seems to think he looks strange. Milo is chatting with Matt, running his hand over the kitchen counter. Dante disappeared at some point, and Ollie is holding up his phone with swatches of colors against the wall.
“I don’t know, I guess I’ve never seen you in shorts. I’m used to suits and the occasional pair of sweats.”
“I think it would bekind of restricting to work in my suit pants, but I can change if you’d like.”
I swat his arm when he moves to my side. “Stop it, itjusttook me off guard.” Ares grins at me teasingly. He places his arms behind him and leans against the counter. Milo and Matt have moved into another room, leaving only Ollie and Linda, but they’re much too interested in the paint colors to notice the blush that stains my cheeks as my eyes travel over Ares. He’s just way too damn attractive for his own good. He’s not even trying, and I can’t take my eyes off him.
“I wish it wasn’t so far away, but I doreallylike it. I can see why you snagged it up.” Rosa enters the room, coming over to me. She leans in for a quick hug and retreatsbackto Mal who is right behind her. Dante must have gone looking for them, because he’s follows them in.
The room feels smaller with so many of us in here, but I’m not uncomfortable in the least. A thrill of excitement goes through me, they’re happy for us. My thoughts careen to my mom, and how she would feel. The excitement fizzles away.
I lean against Ares’s arm, not even realizing I’m looking for comfort. Knowing they’re here and part of this journey makes me think about her, how different things could have been if she told me the truth, or if her pair wasn’t a nutcase.
Ares wraps his arm around my back, his hand going to my neck as his fingers begin to trace over my skin. “Looks like you guys got most of the stuff from the living room. Should we start on oneof the bedrooms, so we’ll have room for our stuff?” Ares continues his massage, not realizing the happiness I was feelingis now tainted.
“Yeah, I know the room down here is bigger, but we need to replace the flooring. So, I think we should just throw everything upstairs, that way we don’t have to juggle it around when we get the floors done.” Ollie turns to face us, proving he really was paying attention.
“That’s fine, it’s probably best if we hold off on anything that isn’tabsolutelynecessary anyway since we rushed the move,” Ares concedes.
“It’ll be easier with us here anyway, we have the rest of the week off to help rip out carpet and do any demo that’s needed,” Milo adds, leaning on the doorframe.
“What can we do to help?” Mal offers.
Chapter 18
It’s late by the time I finally crawl into bed. Carolyn and her guys showed up a little after our talk in the kitchen with several boxes of pizza and drinks. My eyes are gritty and my hair feels like I’ve been at the beach from the amount of dust we kicked up moving everything around.
I almost feel guilty getting into bed without a shower, but the thought passes quickly when my back hits the mattress. A long sigh leaves my lips and my eyes close quickly.
“The movers will be here early, I’ll probably stick around to help them. Ollie wants you to go with him to pick out paint.” I turn on my side and face Milo.
He’s still shirtless and I hope it’s a trend he keeps. I reach out and place my hand on his chest. “I don’t know how you’re not already passed out. You kicked major furniture butt moving today.”
Milo places his hand over mine, trapping it against his chest. “I’m a little tired,” he admits, his eyes growing heavily lidded.
The floor creaks and Ollie shuffles over, and drops on the bed next to Milo. You’d think he did all the heavy lifting to day instead. Curling on his side he wraps his arm over Milo’s waist and places his hand on my hip. He lifts his head so I can see him over the bulk of Milo’s shoulder and purses his lips. I lean up and place my lips on his, knowing that’s what he wanted. He drops back down, and I hear the smack of his lips as he leans in and kisses Milo’s back. “Night guys,” He says around a yawn.
I peer up at Milo and give him a little grin before I smack a quick kiss against his lips. “Night.”
* * *
“Oliver,” any patience I had evaporated an hour ago, “I don’t care if it’s two shades off, they look exactly the same, just pick one.”
“Someone didn’t get enough sleep last night.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me, still not taking me seriously. I let out a long groan.
The girl with an orange apron behind the paint desk makes a little pouty face. “This one is a little brighter with more golden undertones.” I roll my eyes at her statement, both of them are yellow.
“Why didn’t we bring Dante, he’s the color expert?”
“Because, Muenster, Dante is putting together our bed.” Ollie tweaks my nose. “You don’t want to sleep on mattresses on the floor again, do you? I sure don’t.”
I bat his hand away. “I slept just fine, princess.”
Ollie narrows his eyes on me, a devilish gleam twinkling in his eyes. “I’ll show you princess.” He drops the two cards with the paint colors and reaches for me, I squirm to avoid his hands, but he’s too fast. In one quick movement he hoists me over his shoulder and swats my butt, hard. “We’ll go with this one.” He reaches down and points to oneof the cards with his other hand.
“Put me down,” I grit out through my teeth, looking around to see how much attention he’s drawing.
Ares comes up the aisle, breezing over like it’s no big deal that I’m ass up in a home improvement store. “All settled?”
