I cross my arms over my stomach. “You needed my shirt, huh?”
“Did I say needed? It was probably more of a want.” A grin tilts his lips as he stands to shrug out of the button-up shirt, tossing it on the bed. The picture he makes is too damn tempting. His wide chest tapers down to his narrow waist, all tightly packed muscles without being bulky.It’s enough to have me wondering if climbing back in bed and having him tuck me in should be an idea I explore more thoroughly.
Completely unabashed Ares stands there, allowing me to take him in, the gray shirt forgotten in his hand.
“I’ll meet you downstairs,” I say, but it comes out more like a forlorn sign. Ares has the good graces not to laugh at me as I make my hasty retreat from the room.
Chapter 20
“Here, it’s best if youdolong, even strokes. Like this.” Milo places his hand over mine as I grip the handle of the paint roller. His pushesupuntil my arm reaches a far as I can comfortably, then pulls it back down. The noise of the tacky roller running along the wall fills my ears as he continues, his hand still guiding mine until we make a tightly packed W.
“Don’t worry about trying to get too close to the molding, that will need tobe cut in,” he explains as he continues using my hand. “We need a little more paint.” Milo guides me through applying more paint onto the roller and evening it out by rolling it over the slanted tray.
I’mprettysure I have thehang of it, but I don’t stop him from continuing right along with me. Milo’s frame towers over me, his warmth and closeness making the empty room feel so much more comfortable.
Walking around the barren house after the movers left an hour ago felt strange. It’s hard to believe how much we all accomplished in such a short time. Now that all the pictures are off the walls, and all the furnitureis gone, you can see the stains their existence left behind. Rectangles of brighter paint decorate the walls, cobwebs cling to fixtures, and dust bunnies are lingering in the corners. Now the house almost feels too big.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Ollie’s voice echoes off the walls.
Milo’s hand pauses, but he doesn’t release me. “Good, I guess. Are you sure we won’t need a primer? It doesn’t look likethis place has been painted since they built it.” After using all the paint on the roller, he steps back and give me a little space to continue on my own.
“Nah, should be fine, this paint has a primer in it. One coat coverage or some shit.” Ollie walks over to inspect my work, or the color. “Looks like it’s covering okay.”
I dip back into the tray and roll off the excess like Milo showed me, and keep working. I don’t even want to count how many more rooms we need to paint.
“I’m going to grab a brush and a small bucket, I’ll be right back,” Milo announces, leaving Ollie and I alone in the room.
“Having fun, Muenster?”
I glance over my shoulder, so I can see Ollie. “I don’t know if fun would be the way I’d describe it, but I’m not, not having fun. How’s the bathroom coming along?” I suppress a smile. Ollie whined for five minutesthathe drew the short straw and had to clean the main floor bathroom.
“Done, thank fuck,” he groans dramatically. I snicker, wondering ifDante is done cleaning the second one. “You think that’s funny, do you?”
I school my features, turning to gather more paint. “Not really, but your reaction was.”
“I really hate cleaning,” he mutters dejectedly.
“Are you going to help us paint?” I push the roller over the wall, enjoying how I can see all the progress I’ve already made. Maybe this won’t take that long after all.
“Might as well. If we can get enough rooms painted, we mightbe able togetsomeflooring installed, then furniture. I can’t wait until we can set up the living room.”
Ollie’s excitement is contagious. I can’t help but think of how fun it will be to pick out all our own things. Even better, we’ll have the place to ourselves. I won’t have to feel weird about lying on the couch and watching TV with the guys, or grabbing a drink from the fridge. Not that anyone ever really made me feel weird, it was mostly my own insecurities.
“I grabbed the ladder too.” I look over to the doorway and see Milo angling himself into the room. A short ladder sits on one shoulder, while his other hand has a small paint bucket with a brush handle sticking out of the top.
Ares follows in after him, setting an empty paint tray and a roller on a longer handle on the floor. “It’s nice with it being empty like this, makes the work a lotfaster.” He glances around, noting my nearly finished wall.
Milo sets up the ladder in the corner and fills his little bucket with paint from the can, a few drops splatter to the floor. “Maybe we should have pulled the carpet up first?” He looks around.
“It doesn’t matter. This will be dry by tomorrow, then we can rip it out. Who knows, maybe there will be hardwood under here.” Ares walks over to the corner opposite Milo and crouches. He tugs at the green carpet, pulling it back to reveal plywood. He stands and kicks the carpet back into place. “Nope, just subflooring.”
“Where’s Dante?” I ask, wiping my face against the shoulder of my shirt. I don’t know if it’s having so many bodies in here or what, but it feels like the humidity in the room has doubled.
“He was still in the master bathroom when I came up,” Ares answers.
Milo is running his brush along the wall under the ceiling, making sure not to get any paint up there.
“I know you guys are excited to get this place cleaned up a bit, but we should talk about whatchanges we need tomake before we do much more than painting the bedrooms. If we are going to knock out a wall up here, put in a big master bedroom, then we’d need to add a bathroom up here too. There’s no point in doing it twice.”
