Page 34 of This December

“Hey, do youwanta spanking? ‘Cause it sounds like you’re trying to lure me in with naughty behavior.”

I’d been a few steps away, but paused at Cole’s interesting threat.

He must’ve seen the fire in my eyes because he shook his head. “Oh no. I’m on to you now, missy. No spanking untilafteryou make some art. So get going. I want to see at least one art in the next hour. Hop to!”

“One art?” I laughed then squeal when he stomped threateningly in my direction. “I’m going! I’m going!”

“And we’re totally circling back to that whole backbend/gymnastics thing later. Don’t think I didn’t make note of that little truth nugget.”

My laughter echoed around me in the hallway as I made my way to our bedroom. And my heart was so much lighter when I pulled out my art supplies I’d gathered from my parents’ house. I didn’t have much, but I definitely had enough to do a few landscape sketches at least.

I set up under the huge bay window, pushing a side table into the space and angling a comfortable chair behind it. Then I carefully lined my pencils and erasers up on one side of the pad, sharpening a few that needed it and arranged them in order of size then in order of preference.

Gah.

Just start already!

The pencil felt awkward and weird in my hand at first. My lines too dark. Too sharp. Just all wrong.

So wrong.

I balled up my first page and tossed it over my shoulder.

A few flakes of snow fluttered past the window, and my eyes flicked to the tall pine trees surrounding the house. The way the light filtered through. The soft puddles of snow collected on a few branches. The absolute stillness of the moment.

Perfect inspo for a drawing.

My hand flew over the paper. Drawing lines. Shading with the pencil then smudging with my finger. I drew completely uninterrupted for several minutes, my heart racing like I was in that stupid cardio class Chrissy had made me go to with her a few weeks back.

Cardio made me think of my new favorite workout—AKA sleeping with Cole—which made me think of that expression on his face when we talked to Jace about the statement and what we wanted to label us as. That burning look of desire, tinged with so much more.

I ripped my landscape off, left it on the table, and headed for the bed. Something about drawing Cole demanded that I get horizontal. I sprawled out on my side with my sketch pad next to me. Here on the bed, I could so easily picture that look on his face.

I drew and drew.

Page after page littered the bed around me. So many expressions on his face I was dying to capture. Lust. Joy. Concentration. The way his hands looked when he touched me. The absolute forearm porn when he rolled back his sleeves to make dinner.

I had no idea how much time passed. I just knew I had to capture them all.

“Wow.”

I blinked and realized Cole—the real Cole—was now standing above me. He stared at the mess covering the bed then picked a paper up and studied it. The expression on his face mirrored the one I was currently trying to capture. Concentration. That wrinkle in his forehead wasn’t right. I grabbed an eraser and rubbed it on the spot on the page then tried again.

Papers rustled in the background, but I was focused on the way his hair fell over his forehead. That rumpled spiky mess I loved to run my fingers through.

“December, this is amazing. I don’t…I can’t…wow. I don’t know what to say.”

“Huh?” I jerked my head up and the room slowly came back into focus. The dim afternoon light still filtering through the window. The chaos of our bed. Papers everywhere. Some balled up, others rumpled as I’d moved on to another spark. Absolute insanity.

“Sorry. I kinda lost track of time. Is my family here already?”

“Already? You’ve been locked in here for three hours.” Cole put down the paper in his hands and picked up another one. His breath hitched as he looked at it. “I can’t believe you did this with only those pencils. This is amazing, December.”

I’d never been good at taking a compliment. When I looked at the drawings around me, all I saw were the things I should fix. The way his ear wasn’t quite right. And I really should’ve shaded his scruff in more there. “I need to fix something on that one, actually.”

I reached out to take it from him, but Cole danced away. “What? No. In fact I might want to make this one my album cover. This is fucking awesome.”

“Oh god. In that case, let me fix it. Please. It’s not done.”

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