Bleeding Heart

Not that she had a thing for paint fumes or navigating around drop cloths, but she was quickly becoming addicted to the sight that greeted her these days.

He’d put up a chair rail and wainscoting. He’d sanded. He’d primed. He’d painted the walls a greenish blue. He’d painted the wainscoting white.

All the while with his shirt off and tucked into the back of his jeans.

She’d almost melted when she first got a look at that bare back and enormous arms. She knew about the ink that splashed his arms – she’d eye-fucked them enough since moving in – but she had been oblivious of the scrawl down his shoulder blades. It took her a lot of covert squinting to finally read it: ‘Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.’

She’d googled it on her phone as soon as she was sitting in the front seat of her car. It was a quote from The Wizard of Oz. An odd choice for a man who looked like he should have Lynyrd Skynyrd lyrics inked somewhere, and she wondered whether the tattoo had come before the dead wife or as a result of.

Even if the tattoo did have a sad story to go with it, she still found it hot.

Today, like every other day, she slowed down when she reached where Seth was. He faced away from her so she didn’t have to pretend to be rummaging through her purse for something. She could just ogle him as she came down the second flight of stairs.

With his dark hair pulled into a bun at the back of his head and bare skin streaked with white paint, a picture of him posted to her Facebook wall would have caused a frenzy. Hell, she was tempted to take a quick video later for her own use, but she doubted she’d forget the way the muscles moved beneath olive skin.

Hanging back a moment longer, she forgot completely about her date with Todd and sank her teeth into her bottom lip to keep from whimpering as Seth squatted and his old track pants slipped a little lower on his narrow hips.

Enough of this, she thought, and strode forward.

‘Looking good,’ she said, gesturing at the wall, though she could have given a flying fuck about the wall.

He flashed her one of those panty-wetting smiles. ‘You don’t think the blue looks too nursery?’

‘It’s more green than blue, and it keeps things light. You’re not fixing it up to sell this place, are you?’

‘I’ve got no intentions,’ he assured her as he straightened up.

Another pornographic moment smacked her in the face as he pulled his hanging T-shirt from his waist and wiped the sweat from his face with it, then tossed the shirt to the ground. God, she could just imagine him doing it at the foot of her bed, right after he stripped her and spread her out with those rough hands.

‘It’s overdue,’ he went on, unaware of the things he did to her in her mind. ‘I need something to fill my time, anyway.’

‘I could think of more exciting ways to fill your time.’

She hadn’t meant her words to come out like that, but she couldn’t help it, not when all she could do was wonder whether the hair above his lip would tickle or prick as he tongued her clit.

If he had been oblivious before, it was clear to April that moment was gone. A crooked grin matched the naughty look in his eyes. ‘So could I.’

April nearly whimpered as he looked down her body. If he’d pushed her against the wet paint and driven up into her, she wouldn’t have shed a tear over ruining this new dress.

It ended when his smile turned sweet. ‘You look nice. Very summery.’

‘Just in time for it to end.’ She wished she didn’t have to leave. She would have been perfectly happy to take a seat on the step-ladder and see just how far she could get him to flirt back.

‘What’s the occasion?’

‘Lunch with a friend,’ she lied, though she didn’t know why. He hadn’t made a move and she wasn’t even sure he would, but she still didn’t want him thinking she was off the market because of a simple lunch date.

‘With the red-haired guy on the stoop?’

Disappointment crashed through her. She’d told Todd to wait for her at the café around the corner.

‘Yeah. I guess he didn’t buzz me.’

‘I think he wanted to surprise you. He’s got a flower.’

It was obvious that he was trying not to laugh after he said that. April had no such will-power. She laughed and gave him a slap on the arm.

‘Some people find that romantic, you know.’

‘Not me,’ he said, then guffawed. ‘I guess that’s why he’s waiting on the stoop for a hot date and I’m sweating off baby-blue paint.’

April tried not to grin too widely as she moved away, but she lost it when she got to the staircase.

‘Can you keep a secret?’

‘Sure can.’

‘I’m not really a flowers kind of girl.’

Seth’s mouth crooked. ‘What kind of girl are you?’

‘Vodka in a nice glass would win me over.’

‘Ah, so you’re more of a bad girl.’

Oh, damn, she loved how he said that. Bad girl. God, she’d be his bad girl all he wanted if he asked.

But he didn’t. Instead he glanced away, blushing a little, and hoisted his can of paint onto the step-ladder.

‘Maybe if this doesn’t work out you can find out,’ she said, and lingered long enough to watch the red begin to splotch upwards towards his ears.

She couldn’t believe she’d said that. She was so light and dizzy as she headed down the stairs, it was a wonder she didn’t trip.

Guilt poked her in the gut as she spotted Todd where Seth had said he was. She realised now that she really wasn’t that into him, especially not at that moment when she was still simmering from her encounter with Seth.

Still, she smiled as she pushed open the door. ‘Hey, I thought we were meeting around the corner.’

He smiled wide and held up a flower. Nothing as cheesy as a rose, thank God, but a sunny yellow flower.

‘I’m a little romantic,’ he said, and as she met his shining green eyes she softened just a little.

‘You’re definitely making an impression. It’s beautiful, thanks. But…hang on just a second.’

She popped back into the foyer and left the flower in her mailbox so she could put it in water when she returned, then slipped her arm into his when he offered.

She’d been gone for ten minutes and he was still semi-hard.

What the fuck did she mean by that?