Page 75 of Playboy

She scrunched her nose up. “I know. I plan on taking tomorrow off and just chilling around here.”

She kissed his cheek and then walked into the kitchen. He followed, watching the sway of her hips as she walked.

“I made Italian Sausage sandwiches and fries for dinner.”

He lifted his nose and sniffed the air again. “I was wondering what that delicious smell was.” He looked at all the shopping bags again. “It looks like you did a little shopping,” he said, motioning with his hand toward the bags in the living room.

She flashed him her beautiful smile, which he loved seeing on her. “I did. I splurged on some new painting supplies. And a few Halloween decorations.”

“Painting?” That was new, he thought. He never heard her talking about painting.

Gabby picked up two plates, each with an Italian Sausage sandwich and a mound of French fries, and walked over to the small kitchen table where Playboy stood.

“It’s a hidden hobby of mine. When I get really stressed out and need some calmness in my life, I like to paint. Well, I used to. It’s been forever since I picked up a brush.”

Playboy pictured her doing many hobbies, but painting wasn’t one of them. He was intrigued.

She handed him his plate, and he gave her a quick kiss and thanked her for making dinner. They both took their seats and started eating. He wanted to know more about her painting.

“So, what exactly do you paint?” He asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.Damn, that’s good, he thought to himself as he savored the spicy taste.

She wiped her mouth with her napkin and took a sip of water before she responded.

“I like to paint landscapes. You know, like, the mountains, water scenes, open fields, even jungles. Those sorts of things. Though, when I’m feeling out of sorts and just want to throw something together, I’ll do an abstract. Then it just looks like the paint vomited on the canvas,” she joked.

Playboy smiled, hearing the happiness in her voice as she spoke about her hobby. He could tell she really enjoyed it.

“That’s pretty cool. I don’t think that I know anybody who paints.”

“Well, now you do,” she said, winking at him and then popped a fry into her mouth.

Playboy then thought of something that Bear had mentioned a few weeks ago when they were sitting around talking.

“Have you ever painted walls in a room?”

“You mean, like a mural?”

“Yeah. I guess it would be like a mural.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ve only painted on canvas. But I’d love the opportunity to create a mural. I probably never explored that because, depending on the size of the project, they can take a lot of time. Why do you ask?”

“I was talking to Bear a few weeks ago, and he mentioned Jocelyn was exploring the idea of painting a desert scene on one of the walls in their bedroom.”

“Not that I care what she wants on her walls, but why a desert?”

“Jocelyn and Bear have a long history together.”

“Like how long?”

“Long. We are talking back to when they were kids. Anyway, a lot went down between the two of them when Bear went to the Naval Academy, and Jocelyn went away to college. They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since the end of college until Clover found herself in her bind, and Jocelyn ended up at Camp David when we were there.”

“That had to have been awkward for both of them.”

“It was a little. They didn’t have a chance to really catch up because things went south with Clover’s situation pretty quickly.”

But weeks later, Jocelyn was sent to Chad to lead a project for the First Lady’s Global Water Initiative, and our team was assigned to protect her.”

Gabby’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh, wow!”

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