Page 39 of My Ex-Best Friends

“My jobs aren’t usually this erotic. It’s making me think, though. What if I did erotic body painting sessions?” Janet tapped her chin while she thought.

“In what way? Do you paint erotic images on people? Or do you paint on people’s erotic places?” I perked up. “Or! Or do you provide the tools and let the couples do the art? You’d have to get paint that was safe to go in…crevices…”

“You’re not doing that.” Colt grunted. “Well. You’re not doing the first couple. I’d let you paint me all over if I could do the same.”

I wasn’t sure I could handle grown man Colt coming onto me. I felt a little weak in the knees.

“You know what? I’d rather use chocolate so I can lick it off of you when I’m done.” He quirked an eyebrow at the paint. “You going to do your job, woman?”

I let out a shaky breath and dipped my brush in the pink paint. I needed a chance to cool off and I knew just the way to take Colt’s sexual prowess down a few degrees. He sat there, watching me intently with his hands slowly running up and down my thighs. His roughened hands on my bare thighs were slowly killing all the work I was putting in to make him less sexy.

Noah joined us just as I was putting the finishing touches on Colt. He snorted out a loud laugh and slowly clapped. “Oh, man. That’s brilliant. You’re amazing, B.”

Colt’s eyes hardened. “Brooke?”

I smiled innocently. “Yes?”

“What did you put on my face?”

I fought back a laugh but my voice was strained from it as I spoke. “Just a cute little piglet, Colt.”

“Don’t go around the kids, man. You look nothing like a cute little piglet and everything like something out of a nightmare.” He wiped his eyes. “What’d you do to piss her off?”

“That’s a very good question.” Colt raised his brows at me. “Brooke? What did I do to piss you off?”

I giggled and saw the way his face softened at the sound. It killed the lady boner killing effect of the painting. “Shit.”

“Do tell.”

I sighed. “I was trying to turn down your sex appeal. It worked, but only for a few seconds. Great.”

The thing about Colt was that he’d never been the light, fun guy. He’d had a rough upbringing and he’d been left on his own when he was too young for that to have been a thing. He was darker than Noah and Logan and I’d loved him for who he was growing up. Something heavy slipped away from him when he threw his head back and laughed at what I’d said. His face brightened, his green eyes shined, and I felt like he’d cracked open my chest and crawled inside.

“Oh, wow.” I bit my lip and glanced around, wondering if everyone else had been as affected by him as I had.

Noah had a big grin on his face and Janet was staring at the back of his head with a smile twisting one side of her mouth higher. The dads who’d been standing off to the back of the tent had dispersed around the time Colt had shown up.

When I looked back at Colt, he was smiling at me with his entire body. I didn’t know how else to describe it. It felt like every part of him was happy with me in that moment. I fanned myself. “Wow, oh, wow. Danger, danger, Will Robinson. There’s trouble ahead.”

“What are you talking about?” He stood up and pulled me to my feet. “You know what? I don’t care. Just keep looking at me like that.”

When he kissed me that time it was shorter and tamer but it sent shock waves all throughout my body. My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing, and I was pretty sure I was on the edge of falling for Colt.

Then I glanced up at where Logan had joined Noah and felt dizzy all over again. It was the three of them. I was on the edge of falling for all three of them.

How the hell would that ever work?

32

***Brooke***

Before I could paint Noah’s face he was summoned by Sinclair. I made the mistake of venturing too far away from my little tent and got cornered by Kelly. My stomach dropped as I looked around and saw there was no one to save me. The cake I’d just shoved into my mouth tasted like lead when I tried to swallow it down.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Without waiting for me to agree she pushed on. “I wasn’t always nice to you in high school, was I?”

I was so surprised by what she said that I just stared back at her. When it became clear that she was waiting on an answer I put my cake down and clenched my hands behind my back. “Honestly? No. But I think I invited some of it, Kelly.”

She blew out a breath and then let out a humorless laugh. “This is a learning lesson. Be nice to people because you never know who might end up being the stepmom to your kid.”

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