Page 20 of Wet Paint

I cleared my throat and tried my best to stay composed. I couldn’t show my annoyance. “Thank you, Eleyna. I was planning on showing the painting in class next week, and I will tell you all about it then.”

I came up with that plan on the spot. I didn’t want to take it into class and show it off because I didn’t want to lie about it. About the inspiration for the colors. About how all the colors matched simply because they reminded me of Ivy.

Eleyna’s smile faltered for a second. She nodded slowly, trying not to show disappointment. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she glanced one more time at Ivy. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Yeah, see you then,” I said with a nod.

As soon as she left the building, Ivy looked up at me, one eyebrow raised. “She likes you.”

I exhaled through my nose, half amused, half annoyed. “Yeah. I know.”

“She’s not subtle.”

I didn’t reply. Didn’t want to give Eleyna more of my time when she wasn’t even around anymore.

“Do you think she saw us?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear her before she called out to me.” I clenched my jaw, then sighed. “I hope she didn’t.”

“Yeah…” Ivy took a deep breath, and when I turned to face her, she had this strange look on her face.

One I couldn’t quite place at first but then understood it was distress.

“Ivy, darling,” I said slowly, liking how that word rolled off my tongue.Yeah…I will only call her darling from now on. “It’ll be fine. She probably didn’t see anything.”

“What if she did?”

“She didn’t.” I wanted to believe it myself, so I repeated it once more. “She didn’t, and I’ll talk to her about the way she keeps trying to impress me.”

That sounded so fucking wrong. And, again, extremely hypocritical. Self-absorbed, even.

Ivy’s brows furrowed, challenge flashed through her eyes. “I talk to you the same way sometimes. Why wouldn’t it work for her?”

“Because she’s not you.”

It was a simple statement which meant a whole fucking lot. And I hoped she understood.

Ivy held my gaze, and I could see it in her. How deeply she wanted to believe me. But I could also see the shadow of doubt flickering in her eyes. That worry of being compared, of being temporary. And fuck, that made my chest tighten.

“She’s not you,” I said again, stepping closer. I placed my hand on her waist, needing to keep her close. “She doesn’t make me feel like I’m coming undone every time she walks into a room. You do. And believe me, if you didn’t mean this much to me, I wouldn’t put my job and reputation on the line. I want you. Fuck, Ivy, I want to be with you.”

That earned me a breathy little sound. A kind of sigh, one she didn’t mean to let out. It was sweet. So damn sweet, just like her expression.

Her lips parted slightly, and she leaned into me, eyes drifting shut for a second, embracing the closeness.

“I hate this part,” she whispered, sighing as she rested her hands on my chest.

“What part?”

“The hiding.”

I swallowed hard. “I know, darling. I hate it too.”

But it was inevitable. We had to.

She looked up at me. “I want to be around you and not feel like we’re doing something wrong.”

I nodded slowly, brushing my thumb across the waistband of her overalls. “We’re not doing something wrong. But we are doing something risky.”

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