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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The sight of his smile did something to me every single time.

Curtis looked up when I paused in the doorway of the small room we called the workshop and his grin was immediate. My breath caught in my chest. He was gorgeous, he was incredible and I was so completely in love with him.

“What do you think?” he asked, holding up a brilliantly embellished women’s tank top. The Scratch logo my dad had designed was prominently centered and showed up beautifully on the black material while rhinestones dotted the neckline. It was definitely a little loud for my tastes but there was already a big demand for the shirts so my dad and Curtis had been working on different designs. College kids who didn’t even have any ink had started coming in all the time in search of the shirts because it seemed like a local trend had been kicked off.

“I like it,” I said, closing the door to the workshop behind me.

Curtis’s expression changed and my heart pounded as his eyes swept over me. “Maybe you should try it on.”

I looked down. “But I’m already wearing one of your shirts.”

He leaned back in his chair a little and I saw his hand brush across the front of his pants. “I won’t complain if you take it off.”

The door didn’t have a lock on it. I took a second to listen for the sound of anyone approaching but all I heard were distant echoes. Over the past two weeks Curtis and I had been pretty faithful to our own rule of not fooling around while at work but sometimes when he looked at me the way he was looking at me now my legs felt weak and I forgot all about rules.

Curtis kept his eyes on me as I slowly pulled my shirt off. The bra I wore underneath was black lace and I saw him swallow hard.

“Throw it,” I said, holding my hand out to catch the new shirt.

“I have a better idea,” Curtis said, hopping off the workbench and closing the short distance between us. “You know how hard it is to keep my mind on work today?” he asked, wrapping his arms around me.

I smiled sweetly and let my hand travel low, cupping him in my hand. “No, how hard is it?”

Curtis looked at me seriously. “Say it again.”

“Hard.”

“Wiseass. You know what I mean.”

I did. I slipped my arms up around his shoulders and stared up into his eyes. “I love you.”

He pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you too, baby.”

I said the words first. This morning we were the first ones to pull into the Scratch parking lot and I had a sudden flashback of the first time I encountered Curtis Mulligan. It happened right there. But in that moment he was just some sullen hot stranger who I’d never see again. That wasn’t so long ago, less than the length of a season. Yet in terms of the heart it was ancient history.

There were no doubts. I loved him and I told him so. He said nothing at first, then he exited the car, walked around to the passenger side, pulled me out and while our arms were wrapped around each other he told me he loved me too. We probably would have stood there making out for the next hour if Uncle Deck hadn’t pulled into the spot beside us and glared behind his sunglasses.

“I should get back to the front desk,” I said as Curtis started kissing my neck. But even as I said it I was angling to give him better access.

“You can’t,” he said, breaking away and looking down at me solemnly.

“I can’t?”

He shook his head. “No. Look at you. You’re not dressed properly.” He unhooked my bra with an expert flick of the wrist. “Look at that. Now you’re practically naked.”

“If only somebody would give me a shirt,” I giggled, then had to stifle a moan because his mouth had found my right nipple. My back was against the door now and Curtis wasn’t content to play with one nipple. He wanted the other one. Then he wanted to get on his knees, run his tongue over my belly, pull my skirt down and torment me with his tongue while I moved eagerly against his mouth.

Then all the fun came to a screeching halt because someone was trying to open the door to the workshop.

“What the hell? Is something blocking the door?”

I breathed a small sigh of relief because it was only Freya but there was still the problem of my nudity to solve. Curtis helped me hook my bra and handed me the shirt after I pulled up my skirt to a decent position.

Freya raised an eyebrow when we finally opened the door but she also smiled. My father would not have been so amused. It went without saying that we were expected to refrain from having sex in the workplace.

“You’re a bad influence,” I whispered to Curtis when Freya was gone.

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