Page 114 of The Games We Play

“Okay, I’m coming right now.” His phone rings in the distance and he glances down.

“It’s your mother,” he says, as he answers with a smug ass smile.

“Hi, Mrs. Masumi.” He says all cute and adorable, then pauses. “No, she didn’t tell me about dinner. She probably just forgot, she’s a little flighty like that, you know.” He shrugs his shoulders at me with raised eyebrows and a knowing look, mouthing,get your ass over here.

Fine, I mouth back, then shut my window.

They are going to be the death of me.

Seamus might want to show me something, but I bet my surprise is even better.

49

SEAMUS

Isay goodbye to Mimi’s mother, then press theend callbutton, tossing my phone onto the counter where my brushes and palettes are.

I’ve just finished the painting I’ve been working on for months, the one I started the day after I moved next door to Mimi.

It was the first time I looked out the back window and saw her in barely there underwear. She moved fearlessly through each pose, and I watched the lines of her body twitch and stretch as she paused, holding each position with a grace only she has.

At the end of that session, she removed her bra and sat in what I now know to be lotus pose, an overly-pretzeled way to sit with your legs crisscrossed. She pressed her hands to the center of her chest, as if she were praying, with her eyes closed and her lips parting between breaths.

Her forearms pressed gently against her breasts, covering her nipples, but showing the roundness of her full breasts that peeks underneath.

The way her hair fell over her shoulders as she tipped herchin down, how her skin glowed against the sunlight that hit perfectly with the sunrise.

It was majestic, and I couldn’t stop my hands from moving over my canvas, attempting to capture every single detail possible. I stayed up all night finishing the base of the image, but have worked endless hours perfecting every detail. And now, I’m ready to share it with her.

In fact, I can’t wait, but she forces me to because she’s late toeverything.

I only spoke to her mother on the phone for a few minutes, so I suppose she is still making her way over here. However, I’ve learned when she says,I’m on my way,I know I have about twenty minutes to burn.

So, my shock doesn’t hide itself when seconds later, she appears at the top of the stairs of my loft for the first time, her eyes wide with wonder.

She’s my inspiration. My muse. She’s been the driving factor since the moment I met her, even when we were apart she was there.

This room proves that.

Because now that she’s back in my life, I haven’t been able to stop painting.

Her eyes bounce between the portraits that surround the room and all of them are her, us, or a moment that we experienced together.

I watch her eyes as they explore the room, her lips parted in awe. Her feet gravitate toward one of the paintings on the opposite end of the room, the abstract image is of a man and a woman, us of course, kissing in the rain.

The canvas next to it is nothing but the night sky over a glistening lake, surrounded by trees with Orion shining brightly in the center. The two of us lay on a blanket near the shore of the lake, gazing into the stars.

“Seamus…” Her fingers are cupped softly over her mouth, her words are barely a whisper.

“That one was the first canvas I ever painted,” I admit, a shy undertone even I don’t recognize.

I’ve never shown anyone my paintings, except Hudson and Dane the day they came over and gave me so much shit—I haven’t invited them over since.

Who I am kidding, I never invited them over in the first place. But Dane has literally no limits or boundaries, and there was no stopping either one of them once they started inspecting every single thing in my loft.

This uneasy feeling is foreign to me. I hate feeling so vulnerable, but with Mimi, it’s different.

I want to share everything with her. Give her everything.

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