“Now that Aanya is gone, looks like I’m your only option again,” Ross said as he flicked off some of the main shop lights, bringing the level of dimness to a fraction above dangerous.
“Huh. Funny how that worked out. Maybe your ego is on to something after all.” Her voice revealed nothing but a general pleasantness even as her eyes sparkled.
“What were you ladies talking about?” He made his way to the workshop with Mia trailing behind him.
“Just what I said. I was trying to recruit her into talking to you about putting images on your walls. Your walls are tired of being naked.”
He removed his leather apron, hanging it on the door hook before giving her face a slow perusal. She really was quite lovely. Every time he found himself facing her, he had nothing but a desire to sink his face into the different parts of her. “You’ve never had a problem with naked before. And what happened to your promise of not being a pushy boss lady regarding my business?”
Mia’s mouth opened to speak before it shut again, and she pressed a hand across her face.
Pleased with her lack of snappy comeback, he smiled, pulling her to his chest. He placed his lips to her ear. “I finally won one. I think I’ll savor this moment forever.”
She lifted her face, revealing a pout. “Okay, you got me. But I didn’t know that meant I was expected to quit cold turkey. This suddenly seems very unfair.”
He laughed before pressing a kiss to her forehead and releasing her. Ross returned to his work stool and organized his space. “You said it. I’m just here to remind you.”
“Hmm,” Mia replied. “It’s very considerate of you but also very aggravating.”
“How about this? You and Aanya can look over your images, and pick the ones you like best. With the online store doing well, I can probably figure something out with our budget.”
“Okay, now it’sextremelyaggravating. Where did this easygoing Ross come from? I came all the way over here—”
“Yes, so far.” He rolled his eyes.
“All the wayover here to seduce you into making some improvements to your shop and, just like that, you foil everything. I hope you’re happy because I’m certainly not. Making convincing, seductive arguments is the only fun I have these days.”
He took his time to study her body with the appreciation it deserved while he bit into his own lower lip. “Don’t mind me. I’m certainly not looking to ruin your fun.”
Mia pushed her way between Ross’s stool and his workbench. “I should hope not.”
He locked his arms on either side of her, boxing her in. “If you ask for something else, I promise to be more difficult.” The workshop was not the place for any kind of romantic rendezvous with its poor lighting, surfaces covered in plaster dust, and old machinery. Besides, he could have her home in ten minutes and do things properly. Mia enjoyed teasing him and talking big, but that’s all it usually was. This didn’t stop his brain from taking an unexpected detour, his mind wandering across the activities he’d like to do at this moment. There were parts of him that didn’t care about things like impracticalities and plaster dust.
She grinned even wider. “You being difficult does make things more fun.”
“When trying to get what you want, you don’t consider torture, do you? I’m embarrassed to say I’m not as tough as I look. I break easily.”
“Do you consider this torturous?” She planted a slow kiss upon his lips. It grew and flourished at a leisurely pace, spreading pleasure throughout his body. It was warm and smooth like syrup, and he had already developed a vicious sweet tooth for the stuff.
“Actually, yes,” he said when she pulled away. Everything Mia did made him want to lose his damn mind. Maintaining his ability to think straight could be construed as torture of the worst kind, especially when it came to his body’s internal thudding.
She laughed at him, running fingers through his hair. Her expression was carefree and filled with light. “You poor, tortured man. How you suffer. Did you have a good work day?”
“Pretty normal. You didn’t work today?”
Mia smelled of sunshine rather than coffee. “Nope, I walked around town with my camera. Natalie said we could host a special local artist thing at the end of the summer and I’m thinking about submitting something. I got my inspiration from my Día de los Muertos experience when I went with her. I thought about taking images of colorful items around town in order to create a photo collage. The images on their own won’t look like much but as a whole it’s going to look like a graphic version of a marigold, the same flower used in Día de los Muertos altars. It’s just something I want to do in memory of my mom.”
While there was a touch of bittersweet sadness to Mia, he could also detect some of the inspired gleam as well. Ross rubbed his hands along the length of her arms. “I really like that idea. It’s like you’re creating a quilt from photos. I think it’s the perfect way of honoring her.”
“A photo quilt. Yes, I love that. Anyway, Natalie has been texting me all day about things I can take pictures of that are on the gold color spectrum. It’s actually been fun just walking around town and looking at the old buildings in a different way.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re doing it. Have you heard anything lately from any of the programs you applied to?”
Her face lost some of its sunniness, her focus drew to the security window between his workshop and the storefront. Ross kicked himself. He shouldn’t have said anything, but it had been awhile since she mentioned it. If he was going to face something unpleasant, he liked to have a chance to prepare his heart. It wasn’t fair to leave him unprotected.
“Mia?”
“Is that window really one-way?” They could see out into the empty shop, but it was a mirror on the opposite side.
