Chapter 28

Erica

"Dammit," I muttered as I walked into the darkness of my apartment. I'd promised myself I wouldn’t let him sweep me off my feet, and he hadn't yet, but it was a matter of time. "Yeah, minutes."

If he wasn't everything I'd dreamt he could be over the last few years it would be different, but he was. Just because he had tucked tail and run the weekend before didn't mean he wasn't still that man underneath the fear.

I pulled my dress over my head and changed into a pair of jeans, a nice blouse and black flats. A quick brush through my hair and touch up on my lipstick and I was jogging back downstairs. Annoyance at the fluttering of my heart rose up sharply in my chest. How could I so quickly forgive him?

Because he was earnestly sorry. He wasn't a dick, he was lost but searching, just like I was.

He watched me like a hawk as I walked toward the car. It's the way I'd wanted him to look at me since meeting me.

What about Mitch?

"What about Mitch?" I snorted and reached for the car door. The older man in my office and I had hit it off really well. If Matt wasn't in the picture, I'd not have thought twice about taking Mitch up on his offer for another dinner, and another, and another. I glanced over at Matt as he smiled.

"You look good. Really good." He ran his hand up my thigh and squeezed softly.

"Just friends right now." I pulled his hand from my leg. "Remember? Until I feel like I can trust you with my heart."

"All right." He pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed toward town. "But don't let that old bastard at the office take my place. He could be your father. He called me son this morning."

I laughed loudly and clamped my hand over my mouth. "Did he really?"

"He did." Matt gave me a funny look. "He's lucky I didn't refer to him as pops just to give him a taste of his own medicine."

"He's a great guy, Matt."

"Yeah, and one that wants to get in your panties. Fucking dirty old man!"

"And you blame him?" I lifted my eyebrow, flirting a little.

"What? Hell no. He's smart. Who wouldn't want to spend time with a beautiful woman like you? I'm just pissed about it." He gripped the wheel a little tighter, causing his arm muscles to flex.

"I see that." I reached out and ran my hand over his forearm. "There's nothing going on between us. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about us."

"We're just friends, remember?" He clamped his hand over mine and leaned forward, licking at my fingers.

I stifled a groan and pulled my hand from him. "Stop it."

"Not a chance in hell. I messed up. I gotta make it up to you."

"You sure do." I snuggled back in my seat, letting the sadness inside of me dissipate for the time being. We might not become anything, but it was nice to be around him again regardless. "Hey. I wanted to go by sometime soon and pick up this little puppy I found at the pet store."

"Oh yeah?" His voice lightened. "I love dogs. What is he?"

"A mix between a schnauzer and a Yorkshire terrier. He gets to maybe fifteen pounds. I really want someone to greet me at the door when I get home."

"Why not get a butler? A female butler?" He glanced my way and smirked. "At least they can feed themselves and they know how to crap in the toilet."

I chuckled. "They're also capable of giving me attitude, moving things around in my apartment and being moody just because. Dogs are loving no matter what."

"This is true. You wanna go by now and we'll just skip the rest of the evening and go back to your place?" His voice had a hint of hopefulness in it.

"That sounds good, but I'm starving and I know you have your first showing coming up. Let’s go to the art supply store, grab tacos on the way back to your place and get everything set up. If there's still time to get the dog tonight, we can go up there later."

"Perfect. The showing is two weeks from today, which means I gotta get that painting on the canvas and work hard and fast to get it ready."

"Did you finish the sketch?" I turned my head a little to study him. His jaw flexed as if he were nervous with me looking at him. My insides turned to mush as I watched him. It was sickening to know that I was going to give him another chance. A chance that he could use to possibly hurt me, but I was. I had to.

He glanced over at me. "Yeah. It's beautiful, but nothing like the real life inspiration for the piece."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, sir." I turned back to the front as he pulled into the parking lot of the art store.

"No? Damn. I'll have to try something else then." He parked the car and got out, moving to the front as I got out and joined him.

"You got a lot of tools in that arsenal of yours?"

"Yep. Flattery failed, so we're moving to humor and casual touches that look innocent, but they're simply not."

I laughed and reached for the door. "You can show your game plan to the other team."

He pressed his hand to my lower back, the tops of his fingers pressing into my ass. "You're not the other team, Erica. You're my team."

I swallowed hard and walked into the store. "I love this place."

"Me too. It's like automatic hard-on for the artist." He wagged his eyebrows and moved to get a cart. "Help me get all the supplies I need." He pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to me. "You want to mark things off or get the stuff?"

"Mark things off." I put my purse in the buggy and bumped his hip. "I'll push too."

"A woman who can multitask. Hot." He moved ahead of me, giving me a great view of his cute little ass in his jeans. The broadness of his shoulders and thick muscle along the top of his back had my thoughts diving into the shallow end of the pool.

We were two consenting adults. Sure, he'd hurt me by not calling, but I'd hurt him with my note that morning too. Why hadn't I thought more about leaving him something so impersonal to wake up to?

Because he chose to sleep on the couch instead of the bed with you. Why?

"You lost in thought?" His breath was warm on the back of my neck.

I stiffened. "I guess so. I didn't even see you move behind me."

"It's a lovely view back here." He ran his nose down the back of my hair, breathing in deeply, and sending chill bumps racing across my skin.

"What's next on the list?" I whispered roughly as my nipples budded.

"Paint." He moved away and turned down the paint aisle. "I know we're not really back to where we were, but I'm going back to Dallas next weekend. I'd love for you to come with me. Bethany and Damon are planning their wedding, and Bethany mentioned a few times how well you did on my father's wedding with the decorations. You think you might be-"

"Of course I'll help." I pulled out my phone and flipped to my calendar. "I need to be in Dallas next Saturday anyway for a meeting with your father and your brother."

"Excellent." He stopped in front of the paints and bounced on his toes. His energy was contagious, and I found myself feeling lighter, happy. "You still doing yoga with Lanie on Sunday nights?"

"Yeah. Why?" I smiled as I leaned against the cart. No way was he wanting to come to my yoga class. He almost died the last time we were there. I lamented over not getting to see him suffer for the days that followed.

"I want to come with you." He handed me a few tubes of paint and knelt down to grab several others.

"You almost died last time." I took the paints and dropped them in the cart. "Matt, you don't have to fit yourself into my life to get my attention."

He stood, dropped a few more tubes of paint into the cart and reached for me. His hands felt so fucking good on my shoulders as he squeezed softly and moved down my arm. The determination in his eyes left me wanting to pant, but I held myself together by a string. There was no way I was going to play the fool again. I'd just have to tread as carefully as I could around him.

"I wanna fit myself in every part of your life," his eyes moved around my face, "your work, your fun, your sexy little body too. I fucked up. I know that, and I'm not promising that I won't fuck up again, but I'm completely into you."

I had no clue what to say, so I kept quiet and nodded, feeling like a stronger personality had finally started to emerge in the man I loved. He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine as his fingers brushed down the side of my neck slowly.

"Friends don't kiss," I murmured against his mouth. "And how do you already have me captivated again? I hate you."

"I know you do, but plan on changing that." He kissed me again, and moved back, his voice changing. "All right. Let's grab a large roll of canvas and the supplies to build a platform and get outta here. I'm starving and I have a beautiful naked woman to paint. Life couldn't be better."

I rolled my eyes and exhaled through my nose as I followed him around the rest of the store. He was going to win the battle with me. No questions asked.