He laughed as he looked down at himself. “I thought we were painting the ceiling, not me,” he joked, lifting the roller up and dragging it down my chest, covering my t-shirt inpaint.
“Josh!” I squealed as the cool paint seeped through the thin fabric, making meshiver.
He smirked at me, raising his eyebrows, as if challenging me. I smiled sweetly back at him before I bent down and put the tray on the floor. If he wanted to play then I was game. I slowly got up, my head level with his chest. He was grinning at me and his eyes sparkled with amusement. Even covered in paint, he was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. I put my shaking hands on his hard chest and he inhaled sharply as I touched him. I slowly dragged them down his paint-soaked t-shirt until my hands were covered inpaint.
“Sav?” he said slowly. Glancing up at him, I saw the smile had left his face and his eyes were fixed on mine. Giving him a smirk of my own, I raised my hands and ran them through his hair and down his face, leaving trails of paint in the dark stubble that covered his jaw. My hands tingled from touching him, and my heart was racing. I laughed as I saw the look of shock on his face. Moving quickly, he grabbed me, his large hands wrapping around mywrists.
“What are you doing?” I whispered as he pulled me into his chest. He reached my hands up, placing my paint-stained palms onto mycheeks.
“It’s only fair that you’re covered in paint too,” he murmured. My heart was beating out of my chest and my breathing hitched. We stood in silence, his hands still holding my wrists, our eyes locked on each other. After what felt like an hour but could only have been a few seconds, my phone chimed in my pocket, and whatever spell we were under was broken. Josh quickly dropped my hands and took a step back, his eyes looking anywhere but at me. “I bet that’s Libby,” he said quietly. I nodded and reached into my pocket to check themessage.
Libby:Hey Sav, yep we’re free, count us in. Are you ok going out withJosh?
Remembering that Josh was seeing Beth, I sighed loudly. Had I just imagined that we’d had a moment? Or was it really just friends messing around? Was I looking for more than was there? I shook my head and typed a reply toLib.
Me: Josh has a date so I don’t have to worry about that. Come to the house at 7 and I’ll drive. Looking forward to some dancing, it’s been toolong.
Libby: Are youok??
Me: I’m fineLib.
Libby: Ok, if you sure. We’ll see you at 7, can’twait
When I looked up, Josh had gone back to painting the ceiling, his dark hair smeared with yellow paint. I dropped my phone on the bench, picked up a brush, and slowly began painting the wall. We worked in silence, tension hanging heavily between us. After about 15 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore and needed someair.
“Do you mind if I go clean up? I could go for a nap before I go out tonight,” I said quietly. I watched as he turned around to faceme.
“Of course, I’m nearly finished here anyway,” he replied, giving me a small smile. “I’ll see youtomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked,confused.
He nodded. “I’ll be back in the morning to continue with the painting. If I get an early start, I should be able to get most of the rooms painted by the end of theweekend.”
“Josh, you really don’t have to give up your weekend. I’msure—”
“I’ll be here,” he said, cutting meoff.
I sighed. “Okay, thank you,” I mumbled. “See you tomorrow then. Have a good night.” I didn’t hang around to hear his response. I didn’t want to think about him having a good time with some girl; I just hoped they didn’t end up in the same bar asus.
There was no one at home when I got back to the house, and I slowly dragged myself upstairs, heading straight for my bathroom. I was desperate to crawl into bed, but didn’t want to get paint all over the sheets. I caught my reflection in the mirror over the vanity as I walked in: I had yellow paint all over my face, and patches of yellow in my hair. A column of paint ran down my t-shirt from the roller, and splashes had made it onto my old jeans. I was amess.
I peeled the paint-soaked clothes off and stood in just my bra and panties. The paint had seeped through my top, and my once black lace bra was now smeared a pale yellow. I also noticed I had paint all over my stomach and across the tops of my breasts. I was going to kill Josh if it didn’t wash off. Huffing to myself, I turned and started running the faucet to fill the bath. Leaving the water running, I wandered into my bedroom in search of my iPod, wanting to listen to some music while I relaxed in the bath. As I walked back through the door, I walked straight into a hard body. Not expecting there to be anyone in my room, I let out a scream. Warm hands grabbed me around the waist, pulling my body againsttheirs.
“Savannah, it’s me,Josh.”
“Josh!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing in here?” I took a small step back, his hands digging into the bare skin of my waist. I looked up to see his eyes fixed on my practically see-through bra. My body reacted to the feel of his hands on me and my nipples pebbled and pushed against the fabric. I could tell by the widening of his eyes that he could see how my body was responding to him, and my face heated with embarrassment. I stepped away, his hands dropping from my waist. Immediately missing the feel of his hands on me, I reached my arms across my chest, attempting to hide the fact that I was wearing almostnothing.
“I’m sorry, Sav,” he finally said, dragging his eyes up to meet mine. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I knocked, but when there was no answer, I assumed you’d be in the shower.” He held my phone out to me. “You left this at the cottage, and I figured you’d want it. I just thought I’d leave it on yourbed.”
“Oh, okay.” I hadn’t realized I’d forgotten it. “You could have just left it downstairs—I could have beennaked.”
“You may as well be,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m sorry,” he said in a louder voice. “I didn’t think.” He backed away slowly, his eyes tracking up and down my body. “I’ll leave you to…get cleaned up.” His eyes finally landed back onmine.
Suddenly, realizing he had more paint on him than I did, I blurted out, “You can shower here if you want.” He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I don’t mean shower here with me, I mean in Brody’s bathroom. You can borrow some of his clothes, you know, if you don’t want to get paint all over your truck.” The words rushed from my mouth and I closed my eyes in embarrassment.God I sound like an idiot.“Shit! I left the water running!” I exclaimed, hurrying into the bathroom and quickly turning it off before the bathoverflowed.
“Everything okay?” Josh asked from behind me. I spun around to see him standing in the doorway, his tall frame filling the small space of my bathroom. I nodded. “I think I will have that shower, if you don’t mind. It’s either that or drive home in my boxers,” he said with a smile, looking down to his paint-splatteredclothes.
I bit my lip as I imagined him in his just his boxers. I’d seen him plenty of times in his swimming shorts when we’d all swam in the lake as kids, but it had been a while since then and his body had filled out withmuscle.