Page 104

Nina’s expression goes from confused to shocked to furious in less than a second. I want to laugh, but I know I’m about to be on the receiving end of that anger.

She lurches for a paintbrush and throws it across the studio at me. “Rhode Augustus Tremblay, you’re such an asshole!”

I duck, but the paintbrush misses me by a long shot. Blue paint splatters all over the doll painting. Personally, I think it’s an improvement. “Has anyone ever told you that you’ve got the aim of a blindfolded elephant?”

“Well, you’ve got the aim of an arrogant asshole.”

I fight a laugh. Not her best comeback, but I’ll cut her some slack since she’s probably having a hard time focusing. “Go ahead. Keep insulting me. It makes me so hard for you.”

She pins me with a venomous stare. “So, you’re just going to torture me?”

I shoot her a dry look, nodding to my erection bulging in my jeans. “This is torture for me too. Trust me. There’s nothing I want more than to bury myself inside you until you’re scratching my back, but I’d rather prove my point.”

She crosses her arms, shifting on the bench like she’s trying to get some relief. “Okay, point proven. You do more than give me orgasms. Can you please finish what you started?”

“No. Not yet. I came here because I wanted to give you something. Not because I wanted to finger fuck you in an art studio.”

“Rhode, please,” she whines. “This is so unfair.”

The way she begs my name has me reconsidering, but I’ll take care of her later. My willpower’s steel. “Welcome to life.”

“You can’t use my own comebacks on me.”

“But they’re so good they deserve to be used twice.”

After adjusting myself, I dig through my gym bag, pulling out the cross-stitch I’ve spent the past month making. My heart’s pounding almost as much as my dick as I hand it to her. Now, I’m thinking one of the stitches looks a little off-center.

I gulp, handing it over. “Here, I made this for you. I wanted to apologize for what I said at the party. I didn’t mean it. If someone’s making you come, it better be me, and only me, but I want you to think of me as more than a man who gets you off.”

She looks down at the cross-stitch, and I watch her reaction. I want to see that smile spread across her lips because this pattern took me a million tries to get right. I’ve got so much extra thread in my garbage. She frowns.

Shit. It’s not that bad, is it? I thought this one turned out better than normal.

She reaches out and strokes the design like it’s made of glass. “It’s a turtle.”

Alright, that’s a good sign. I told Cruz it didn’t look like a rock. “Yeah, but not just any turtle. It’s a snapping turtle.”

Her eyes trace the threaded words I sewed into the pattern. “You can snap if you need to, just don’t break on me.” Her voice goes quiet. “Did your mom make this one?”

I smile big, damn proud of my handiwork. If she thinks my mom made that, it must be good. “No, that was all me. Took me forever too. What do you think?”

I try not to sound too eager, but it’s hard when I’m noting every change in her expression. She doesn’t say anything for a while. A long time, so long that I’m second-guessing every stitch.

Finally, she smiles, but it’s smaller than I want. “Thank you. This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever given me.”

“You like it?”

“Yeah, I love it.” Her throat moves as she eyes the stitched turtle. “I’m sorry too, about what I said. I didn’t mean it, but I was feeling a little anxious at the party, and I took it out on you when I shouldn’t have. Then, I was embarrassed with how I treated you, so I avoided you all week. It’s a bad habit I slip into sometimes, and most people let me push them away. You and Gwen are the only ones who’ve stayed.”

“I didn’t know that,” I say, pressing my lips to the top of her hair. I’m really starting to despise her no-kissing rule, but I’m trying to respect what she wants. “Next time, talk to me. If you’re feeling anxious, tell me what you need, and I’ll give it to you, but don’t pull away. I’ve missed our late-night phone calls.”

I rub the back of my neck, heat prickling in my cheeks. “You’ve uh, kind of become the first person I want to tell everything to. When I got the ¡Vamos! sponsorship, you were the one I wanted to call.”

How can I tell her that I want to lick every inch of her body, but I fucking blush when I say that I like talking to her?

Her eyes widen behind her glasses. “You got the sponsorship?”

“Yeah, I did. I'm not sure if I'm going to take it, but they finally offered me one.”