Page 28 of The Artist
With hurried steps I walked down the hallway and took the stairs from the second floor to the living room, where the fire was still going. Indiana had helped Belle pull out the couch when I went to bed. She was now alone sitting with a lamp still on and her pad in her hands.
“I thought you’d gone to bed,” she said.
Averting my gaze from her bare arms and beautiful cleavage I knelt down in front of the fireplace, feeling the heat warm my naked chest. “I did, but I worried that the fire needed an extra log.”
“Indiana took care of it.”
“Yes, I can see that. I’m just going to bring in some more wood to dry overnight.”
“He did that too, it’s by the door.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Mason, are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Turning my head, I looked at her. “Are you?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Do you have your own bedroom back home?”
She looked surprised by my question. “Yes. I have a roommate, but we have separate bedrooms.”
“Victor has to share his bed for four months.”
“Wow.”
“That’s why he was so desperate to sleep alone.”
Belle put her pad away and then the duvet lifted as she pulled her knees to her chest. “Maybe I would have let him have the couch if he’d been nicer to me, but…” She paused before muttering, “I’m tired of him bossing me around.”
“You sure it wasn’t because the thought of sleeping with me repulsed you?” My words were meant as a joke, but if I was honest there was some truth to them as well.
“What does the word repulse mean?”
“Ehh… disgust.”
Her arms folded around her raised knees and she tightened her eyebrows. “You think I’m disgusted by you?”
“No, it was a joke… it was just the way that you… I mean earlier today when Thor assigned us bedrooms… You behaved as if sleeping next to me would be…” Unable to find the right words, I lifted my shoulders in a shrug.
“You don’t disgust me, Mason. Our discussion last night made me angry with you, though.” Her eyes flickered down my body before she looked away.
“I’m sorry,” I said, realizing that the two top buttons of my pants were open, showing some of the black fabric of my briefs. “I should leave you alone now. If I’m lucky, Victor already fell asleep.”
She was quiet as I turned and walked upstairs, but then I heard her footsteps behind me and turned to see Belle in a tank top that barely covered her panties and revealed that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“If you want…” She bit her lip.
A rush of excitement tore through me from being alone with her and seeing her natural beauty on display. I had to use all my will power to keep my gaze focused on her face and not let it stray down to her smooth legs where I’d spied a cute ankle bracelet.
“I mean, the living room is large and there’s the other couch. It’s not a fold-out and you might be too big for it, but you’re welcome to stay if you want to.”
My spine felt like I’d been injected with adrenaline and I could feel my breathing picking up. Belle couldn’t possibly know how vulnerable and sexy she looked at that moment. Making sure to keep my body turned enough to hide the bulge in my pants, I cleared my throat.
“If Victor snores too much, I might take you up on it, but for now, I’ll give you some privacy. Get some sleep, Belle, we have big plans for tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 9
