by Ann, Natalie
“I’ve got it. I’m keeping it simple. Light gray on all the walls down here. Boring, I know, but I decided on white quartz counters with a little gray in it and a marble backsplash. I’m not into bright colors.”
“That’s fine. It’s going to be neutral and still look great. You can decorate around it.” If she was ever to pick her dream kitchen out, it might be the exact way Josh was doing things, but she knew better than to share that so early into their relationship.
Part of it was scary they were so in tune, the other part was she had no right to make claims to his house after they’d only been dating a short period of time.
And making claims on anyone or anything hadn’t been something she’d ever done before, just to amp up the scary in her mind.
“I’m not much of one to decorate, but maybe you could help me out there?”
“I’d love to. Are you doing any of the bedrooms upstairs?”
“I figured you could do my bedroom if you want. I’m painting a blue in there, just a little darker. Boring again, but I’d rather have the room darker anyway.”
“That works,” she said. “What about your bathrooms?”
“I’m not touching the master yet. I want to replace the shower and cabinets in there, maybe even remove the tub. I just didn’t have the time last week to gut it and I’m still thinking about it. I’ll work on it on the weekends when I finally decide. Good thing I’ve got enough bathrooms in this house that I can be without one when I rip it out.”
“Wish I could help you,” she said, “but I’m really swamped with work. Things will slow down the closer we get to the holidays though.”
In the past she always worried when that happened and prayed it picked up, but this year she was looking forward to the downtime so she could help Josh out. Plus she’d built her money up over the years enough that she didn’t stress as much about it like she’d done before.
“Let me show you the paint color I’ve got for my bedroom. I bought a taupe-type color for the half bath and full bath upstairs. I figured most of the painting will be done by the time I move in.”
“It won’t take me long to do your bedroom, so I can do the bathrooms too while you tackle the downstairs.”
“If it works out that way, great. If not, I’m not too worried. It always seems like it won’t take long to paint until you spent hours taping around windows and ceilings.”
“Taping,” she said. “Who tapes? I’ve got a steady hand and don’t need to.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Really?”
“Really. Trust me. I go around the room and outline the windows and ceiling and then I’m painting. I’ll have your room and the bathrooms done before you finish the downstairs. Guaranteed.”
“Are we placing a bet?” he asked, his hands going to her waist and picking her up and then flipping her on his shoulder to take the stairs two at a time.
She was hanging upside down staring at his nice new floors and giggling. “Winner buys dinner and gives a massage.”
“Now I really want to win,” he said and set her on her feet in his room.
“It’s so big in here with the furniture missing,” she said.
“Are you sure you can beat me now?” He started to rub his hands together. “I can’t wait for that massage.”
“Oh, you’re on,” she said. “What’s that?” she asked when she looked at the paint cans and brushes on the floor next to tarps.
“It looks like a teddy bear. Waiting for you,” Josh said.
She moved the first few steps and felt her eyes mist up. Talk about sweet. There was a white teddy bear that was probably as big as her torso wearing pink overalls with a pink and purple bandana on its head and a paintbrush in its hand.
“This is adorable.”
“I thought it was appropriate.”
“It sure is. I can’t tell you the last time I was given a teddy bear.”
Never is when. She never got one when she was a kid and as an adult she found most men didn’t bother.
She picked it up and hugged it tight, felt a little foolish when she heard him laugh, but she didn’t care. She was so touched over this.
“I thought she could keep you company while you painted.”
“I’ll have to think of a name for her. She might take up space on the bed at night.”
“Oh no,” he said, “I’m not sharing the bed with a stuffed animal.”
“But you bought her,” she reminded him.
“Doesn’t matter.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “I’m going to get to work so we can get this done.”
“I left my bandana in my purse down there. If I don’t put it on my head, I’ll have paint in my hair.”
“What color is it?” he asked
“Red,” she said. “Why?”
“Just didn’t know if it’d match the bear or not.”
She shook her head when he left to go get it, so she started to spread out the tarps on one half of the room. There was a three-step step stool for her to reach the ceilings too. She’d noticed one downstairs for him. He really thought of everything.
“Here you go,” he said, walking into the room and handing it over. She’d pulled her hair up in a bun and now just wrapped the bandana around her head.
“Give me a kiss before we start.”
“You sure do like to kiss.” He reached around and picked her up again, laid his lips to hers and said, “I’m still sure I’m going to get my massage.” Then he let go of her, swatted her ass and walked out.
Yeah, that was perfect. Just like him.
21
Fair and Square
Josh was starting on the last and final room downstairs—the family room where he knew he’d spend most of his time.
It’d taken him a few hours to tape around the windows of every room on the first floor and then the ceiling. Thankfully only the family room and kitchen needed a coat of primer as the living room and dining room had wallpaper and he’d removed that last week. The primer dried while he painted the rest of the rooms.
He was just painting around the tape to get that done first so he could finish the rest with the roller when Ruby walked downstairs. “Wow, it looks so different now.”
“I know. That dark brown is gone and this room doesn’t look so much like an old man’s den with the wood burning stove removed too.”
“You did a good job matching the wood in that area where the brick was for the stove.”
“Thank Nathan. He did it for me. I could have, but he’s much faster than me. I owe him big.”
He was thrilled to get that stove out of the room, but then the brick that it was sitting on was an eyesore. The room looked completely transformed.
“He does good work. I might have to recommend him to some people who are looking to get work done,” she said.
“I don’t think he does that kind of work. He likes being his own boss and flipping and doing things on the side. He doesn’t like timelines, which of course is hard with our job.”
“Oh yeah, I kind of forgot that.”
“Are you done?” he asked when she started to wash her hands.
“I am. I told you I would be. You are just starting in here?” she asked. “The front is all done and looks great. Amazing what paint can do to make everything look so bright.”
“It helps having the white trim which is more my preference than dark.”
“I never knew that,” she said, picking up the roller. “You cut around the tape and I’ll roll. We’ll get this done faster. Or better yet, I can cut with you. Let me go up and get the brushes I cleaned.”
“No, I’ll do that, and you roll. We’ll get done in no time now.”
He was trying not to sound grouchy that she beat him. Sure, she had less space to do than him, but those bathrooms took a lot of time to cut around windows and mirrors and such. She’d done the half bathroom down here after she’d finished his room, then gone back upstairs to do the larger hall bathroom.
“Don’t get annoyed because I beat you fair and square.”
“I’m not annoyed. I get to give you a massage later and there is no losing in that. Not when I get to put my hands on you.”
“I just might have to return the favor back to you,” she said, winking at him.
Together they made quick work of finishing the kitchen and family room. He stood back and looked at everything and couldn’t believe how different it all was. Even though the kitchen still had the old dark gray counters, his new ones would be here in another week along with new appliances. There was nothing wrong with the ones here, but the white just didn’t go with the look he was aiming for and he figured he might as well do it all at once.
“I look forward to it. I can say that I’m thrilled to be in before the holidays. I wasn’t quite sure that was going to happen.”
“You work fast and have a lot of friends to help you out.”
He started to roll up the tarps while she washed the brushes out in the sink. “I’m pretty thankful for that. I haven’t been here long but it’s like a brotherhood of sorts. I’ve spent plenty of time with some of the other guys giving a hand on the weekends.”
“You’re a pretty easy guy to get along with,” she said. “I’m sure most see that and know they can count on you.”
“It’s nice to know I can count on them too.”
“Does that mean a lot to you?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, wondering why she would ask that. Then he remembered that she didn’t have many in her life she could depend on. No family at all by the sounds of it. He walked over and pulled her into his arms. “You can count on me. I’ll always be here for you.”
“I know,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder. “Now let’s get this picked up. I’m all hot and sweaty and I’m starving.”
“Do you have a change of clothes with you in the car?” he asked.
“I do. I figured I’d get cleaned up and change at your place.”
“Nope,” he said. “There is a perfectly good shower upstairs that I’ve used a few times. We can clean up here and then go get some dinner and crash at my place later. Are you staying the night tonight?”
She didn’t always stay the night when they had to work the next day, but since he hadn’t spent the night with her since last weekend he was hoping she would.
“If you want me to. I’ve got clothes for work tomorrow too.”
“I do want you to. Maybe you could start leaving some clothes at my place. Here, I mean, once I move in.”
She tilted her head a bit. “Are you sure? It hasn’t been that long that we’ve been dating.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “Surer than I’ve been about a lot of things.”
She smiled at him. “Okay. No reason to rush though.”
He wasn’t sure he liked the tone of her voice. That maybe she wasn’t as vested as him. Then he had to remind himself it hadn’t been that long and he could be moving faster than she was comfortable with. She didn’t say no, but she wasn’t jumping on it like many other women did.
If he was hurt, he kept it locked up. “It’s just clothes, Ruby. Not anything else. But if you don’t want to, that’s fine. I thought it’d be easier for you.”
“You’re right. It is just clothes. I’d offer to have you leave some at my place, but now that you’ve got this big house I’m sure you won’t want to stay at my apartment much anymore.”
“I can stay there,” he argued.
“Okay. You can leave a change of clothing there if you want. But if the truth is known, I think I’d rather stay here. There is just so much room.”
He was trying not to be confused over her change in attitude but decided to push it aside for now. She was conceding to spending more time together in his mind and that was good enough.
“Ready for a shower?” he asked. “We should christen the house proper.”
She giggled and it warmed him up like a shot of whiskey when he had the flu. He was probably reading more into things than he should be.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs to the hall bath. “What do you think?” she asked.
He’d completely forgotten she’d painted it even though he could smell the fumes still in the air with the fan running. “Looks pretty perfect to me,” he said, looking at her face and not the walls.
She shook her head and pulled her shirt off, then started to unbutton and unzip her pants, dropping them with her underwear.
He reached over to turn the shower on and disrobed too. “I’ll just keep my hair in the bun since I know there isn’t any paint in it. I doubt you’ve got a hairdryer here.”
“Nope, sorry. I’ll get one for you though so you don’t have to keep bringing yours when you stay.”
He should have done that by now, but it didn’t even cross his mind since he never lived with anyone before. He’d had plenty of women stay the night at his place in the past, but just hadn’t permanently lived with one.
“I want to argue and tell you no,” she said, “but I’ve got my mind on other things.”
Other things being his dick that was standing tall in front of her, her hand wrapping right around it, stroking and squeezing.
“Is that the massage I’m getting?” he asked, his eyes closing.
“Nope. Get in the shower and I’ll soap you up good and give you one.”
He did what she said, stepping under the hot spray. She got her hands wet and lathered them up, put them on his back and just started to rub and squeeze. Knead all his sore muscles.
“That feels pretty good,” he said. “Not as good as where your hand was before.”
“You mean like this,” she said, reaching around the front of him, stroking and pulling, gliding up and down and around the tip.
“Yeah,” he moaned out. “Just like that.”
“Turn around,” she said. “Well, rinse off first, then turn around.”
He knew where her mind was going and wasn’t about to let her get off track.
When he was facing her, she got down on her knees, the water hitting his back and blocking her while her mouth closed over him.
Soft. Wet. Heat. Just sucking him in. Sucking on him. “Jesus.”
“He’s not here to listen to you,” she said. “No need to talk to him.”
He choked back a laugh and let her continue what she was doing.
Her hands were added to the mix, pumping up and down, her mouth working the opposite direction. Then her lips stopped at the tip, her tongue swirling around while her hand continued.
“You like that, don’t you?” she asked.
“Shit yeah.”
She closed over him completely again, applying enough pressure he thought for sure he was going to blow any minute. “Ruby.”
“Shh. Just enjoy,” she said.
Why not? She said he could so he was going to.
And enjoy he did while she moved up and down, steam filling the room, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the hot water or the smoking woman on her knees sucking him off.
Then he wondered why he was even thinking that and just let his body feel as she took him up and then over, his groan echoing off the walls.
“Wow. That was one hell of a massage,” he said. “Now you turn around.”
She let out a laugh and did as he said, bracing her hands on the wall at the back of the showers. “Wish you had a condom with you,” she said.
“We’ll make it work another way,” he said, his hands moving around her front, one going to her breast, the other between her legs. “You are nice and ready for me. I like that.”
“I’m always ready for you,” she said.
Her head went back when he pinched a nipple, then used his other hand to flick her swollen nub forcing a squeak from her lips. “I think you like it a little rough but would never ask for it.”
“You always know what I want,” she said. “So give it to me.”
He did know. He’d always know and he’d never forg
et.
His mouth went to her neck to kiss, his hands working overtime, the one slipping down further, two fingers entering her. “That’s it,” she said, her head dropping down now.
He moved his fingers in and out, brought his hand from her nipple to her nub and started to rub that fast and furious while his other hand pumped fingers in and out.
She was starting to moan like him, starting to squeal and then she just shouted out her release while he felt the throbbing and fluids all over his fingers.
“Now that is how you christen a new house,” he said into her ear.
“Glad I could help,” she said slightly out of breath.
She helped him all right. In more ways than one.
22
Hurts My Heart
Ruby didn’t know what to say when Josh told her to leave clothes. It might be moving too fast for her. For someone that didn’t want to depend on anyone, even though he told her she could.
In her mind, leaving clothes might be a sign of commitment that she wasn’t quite ready to give.
She liked taking care of herself. She liked not having to worry about losing her heart to someone and then having them walk out of her life when they were done with her.
“Keep it locked up then there’s no way to get hurt” had always been her motto.
But then he acted all nonchalant about the clothes and she felt like a fool. When she offered for him to leave a change at her place she thought for sure he’d say no.
He didn’t and that was fine. But she really would rather stay here and then told herself to not get attached to him. Or this house that she was falling in love with.
Her confusing thoughts were just...confusing.
She’d always wanted to live in Paradise Place. Ever since she first entered this development showing a home that was way over her budget years ago. It still was, but the more she was here the more she wanted to stay.
Was that clouding her judgment too? Or was she overthinking everything like she tended to do?
But it wasn’t just the neighborhood, it was this house. What Josh had done to it was pretty much everything she would have done too.
