Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“Thank you.” The sweetly sheepish smile that peeked out as he glanced down at his lap made me ache to pull him into my arms.
But we weren’t there yet. We still had questions to ask and about forty-five more minutes to kill.
Deciding to play nice now that it was my turn, I gestured around the house to the parts we could see. “So far, I haven’t seen anything on the walls. Why are your walls all white and why don’t you hang at least your own art up?”
His pout said he hadn’t wanted me to play nice. “That’s no fun.”
Trying not to laugh too hard, I shrugged. “It was my pick, unless I get two. If I get two questions, I promise one will be naughty.”
That had the rascal sitting up straighter and nodding. I wasn’t sure where on the scale of grown-up to not grown-up he was hanging out at, but he wasn’t as distracted as he’d been at the door, so I was counting it as a win of some sort. “Yes. That.”
I flashed him a teasing grin as I shook my head and made a tsking sound. Just the idea that I thought he was naughty had him blushing again, but his excited wiggle and the way he didn’t back down said I should continue the game. “Alright. My second question is going to be…about the lingerie.”
Just the word had him going still like a startled animal and he swallowed hard.
I waited for a few seconds to see if he would safeword, but he just waited silently. “I want to know what you were thinking when you heard me talk about the lingerie.”
His groan was so dramatic I almost laughed.
That was not an I’m too shy to answer that kind of sound.
“Oh, they’re both terrible.” Plopping his elbows down on the table, he rested his head in his hands and pouted. “If I don’t answer, will you tell me I’m being naughty and spank me?”
“Not until the hour is up, and you won’t get to come.” My answer earned me another sigh and his head flopped down onto the table as he let his arms collapse dramatically. “Do I need to give you a time limit for pouting?”
“That might be a good idea.” His slightly muffled answer had me fighting the urge to laugh, but I had my expression under control by the time he sat up. “Fine.”
That seemed to mean he was only going to take a few more deep breaths before answering.
“First, I can’t decide what to put on the walls. I have stuff in nearly every closet that I like but there are too many choices. I don’t know what should go where.” His sweet shrug made him look adorable, but I just nodded and tried not to let him see how cute he was in case he got offended.
“I tried to have a decorator come over and help, but she hated my couch and she said I needed new rugs and things went downhill fast when I told her she couldn’t go in my playroom.” The way his brows pulled together and his lips pinched said how frustrated he’d been.
“I had it locked, as well as my studio, and she was pissed. She started lecturing me about needing to see personal spaces and getting a feel for how I lived and I just…I was just done.” His sigh was more downtrodden than frustrated and he seemed to be blaming himself somehow. “I managed to tell her we needed to reschedule. Later, I emailed her that I wouldn’t need her services any longer and didn’t answer when she tried to call me back.”
I wasn’t sure what was going through his head exactly, but I just laid it out how I saw it. “I think you did a good job. It was clearly hard for you to confront her about it and I bet it was difficult even laying out the boundaries to begin with.”
That had him looking up at me and I could see a spark of something pleased in his eyes.
“Do your best and then call in reinforcements.” When he frowned, I just smiled. “Phone your grandmother next time and tell her they were unprofessional. She’ll have fun coming to your rescue.”
That got a laugh out of him and I could see the stress fading.
“I should have. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” He sighed, looking around the house. “I should casually mention needing help at some point and then she’ll charge right in and fix it.”
She would.
“Or if we keep seeing each other after tonight, I could help?” Gesturing toward myself, I shrugged. “Gallery guy here. Remember? I can hang a painting.”
Camden’s mouth fell open. “I forgot about that.”
He was adorable.
“Then I think we have our second date planned out for us already.” I couldn’t help chuckling at his bashful grin. “I’ll bring lunch this weekend and we’ll start getting it figured out?”