Page 63

“Exactly my point. Nobody’s seen all of it. It’s enormous. What the fuck is living down there? Nobody knows. I, for one, don’t want to be the one to find out.”

“I doubt you’ll be the first interior designer to discover a giant squid or something.” I chuckled again, but I appreciated his confession.

“Good. I don’t want to be.”

I let the room fall silent for a few moments before I spoke again. “Those are reasonable fears. Both of them. Has someone—has someone left you in the past? Bad breakup?” The idea of him having to go through a heartbreak that scared him away from relationships made my stomach sour.

“No. Just my folks.”

That sent a pang to my chest, a deep ache for him that he’d experienced that kind of hurt.

After a moment, he changed the subject, taking a deep breath before he said anything else. “What about your favorite date? What’s the best date you’ve ever been on?”

I thought for a bit before responding with a smirk. “Am I allowed to say this one?”

Kieran stood and looked at me with a grin on his face. “Ellis Wilson, is this a date?”

I forced myself to sound casual. “If you say it is, sure.”

He laughed and raised his paintbrush, dipping his index finger in the paint gathered on the edge. I tried to dodge him, but he was quicker than I was, and managed to tap my nose with his paint finger.

“Hey, now,” I protested, grabbing his wrist and attempting to wrestle the paintbrush from him with my free hand. He laughed and tried to squirm away, but I managed to get the paintbrush before he escaped my grasp. My heart in my throat, I laughed, wiping my face with the hem of my shirt. When I glanced at Kieran, I caught his gaze staring at my abs, rather than my eyes. He had his bottom lip pinned between his teeth, and when he did glance back at me, there was heat in his gaze. “We’ll never get any painting done if you keep looking at me like that.”

He shrugged and stepped close. “Fine by me.”

“We’ll be stuck in a painting time-loop forever. Every day coming in to paint, every day making one color’s worth of progress before we start making out.”

“Or,” he said slowly, “if I’m really lucky, you might fuck me in that back office of yours.”

“Shit,” I murmured, heat pulsing through me and pooling in my groin. He was only a breath away from me, and it would be nothing at all to capture his mouth with a kiss, drag him back in the office, and do exactly what he was asking. My breath hitched and my heart rate sped as I imagined it. Kieran gave me a slow smirk.

“Not a bad idea, right?”

I tried to protest, gesturing at the walls, my breathing tight in my chest. When I spoke, my voice was low and husky. “We’ve only done one color so far. We have to—”

A knock on the front door of the shop startled both of us, my pulse racing for an entirely different reason. We both turned to the door as it pulled open and two people stepped inside. I thought I recognized them, but I wasn’t entirely sure.

Kieran frowned, his brow dipping low. “Micah? Max? What are you two doing here?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kieran

My body washed with cold dread, as if I’d taken an icy plunge. “What are you two doing here?” I asked again, when they didn’t respond right away.

Micah’s smile wavered. “We just came to talk.”

I frowned and narrowed my eyes. “You came all the way to Pine Bluff to talk?”

Max half-shrugged. “You haven’t been answering my calls, and Micah said you barely text anymore. We were worried about you.”

I slowly nodded, the defensiveness and tension draining from me a little. “Okay.” I was reeling with surprise. Did they come here to insist I come back?

“Could we… I don’t know, get lunch or something?” Micah asked, glancing around the shop. “Is there anything near here?”

“There’s a great diner down the street,” Ellis offered, bringing me back to the shop, mentally speaking.

“Guys, this is Ellis. He’s… my roommate, I guess?” I glanced at Ellis for confirmation and he nodded once, a tight, pinched expression on his face.