Page 58 of Always Mine

“I have no clue.” He lifts a shoulder. “I’m sure either would be fine.”

Well, that helps me none.Clearly, Billy is not the grown-up I need.

“I’d say wrap them around all three,” Wyatt chimes in, pulling our attention to him. “Then we can hang some ornaments from them on the outside. Make it look more festive.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” Better than what I was going to do—not that I had much of an idea anyway.

Wyatt smiles, holding out his hand for the garland. “Here, I’ll help.” My heart almost bursts because holy shit. He’s smiling…at me!

I loop the first bit through the rail and pass it to him. He starts to twist it, rolling it down and back up the bars. I’m not sure how this is going to look in the end, but I’m putting a lot of faith in the ability of plastic ornaments. They will take away from the possible disaster, right?

Maybe I should just ask my ma again. If only I knew where the hell she went. “Where did our mamas go?”

“They had to go get more decorations. Apparently, some of the stuff from last year wasn’t stored properly and it’s all broken now,” Wyatt says.

Glad he knows. I swear, no one ever tells me anything.

“Here.” Billy slides in beside me to tape the piece of garland that I’m holding onto. He tapes and tucks it under, making it appear like it’s just floating there. “There you go.” He pats my shoulder. “Now you can help him with the rest.” Then he tosses me a wink, going back to whatever the hell he was doing.

So smooth, Billy.

I roll my eyes, grabbing another strand of garland from the bin, knowing Wyatt is going to need it soon. “How should we connect the garlands to each other? The pieces are only twenty-five feet long.”

The trailer we’re building the float on is about fifty feet, so we’re going to need several to cover all the rails completely.

“Maybe we can staple them together?” He pauses, holding out his hand for the garland. “Then put an ornament over the spot so you can’t tell?”

I pass it to him, then rummage around for the staple gun. “That’ll work. Plus, people will be far enough away from the float anyway, so I doubt they’d be able to see how we rigged it.”

“That’s also true.” He takes the gun, trying and failing to get the pieces together. “Ugh.” He growls, looking up at me from his kneeling position with those big blue eyes of his. Yeah, my mind roams to a place it shouldn’t. I have a lot of core memories of him in this very position, and nine times out of ten, it ended with me having an orgasm. “Can you do me a favor?” His irritated tone snaps me back to the present, even though my mind is still in the gutter. I would literally do anything in the entire world that he asked of me right now, and I meananything.

“What’s up?” I croak out, practically giving myself away.

He doesn’t seem to notice though, as he motions for me to squat down. “Can you put your thumbs where mine are so I can staple these pieces? They’re slipping every time I try to do it.”

I don’t think I’ve ever fallen to my knees so fast. My inner horndog is fighting to come out and play.

Shaking my head, I try and get my shit together, putting my thumbs in the place he instructed. The garland is warm from where his fingers were and I soak it in, wishing I could actually touch him right now.

This isnothelping steer my mind the way it needs to go.

“Okay, don’t move,” he tells me, bringing the gun to fit between my two thumbs. He’s close, the closest he’s been since the diner incident, and it does nothing to calm the raging rush of hormones that have me in a chokehold.

I close my eyes, trying to not think about the way his warm skin feels as it brushes mine or the smell of his woodsy cologne that’s assaulting my nose. Jesus. He’s torturing me, and the bad part is, he’s not even doing it on purpose. Hell, I bet he has no idea what he’s doing to me right now.

“There,” he mutters, pulling back and giving me another smile. “That should work.”

I nod, unable to do much else, because my God, he’s beautiful. I used to spend so much time when we were younger watching him, trying to memorize every freckle across his nose. Everything about him always drew me in. Age nor time hasn’t changed that. If anything, the pull I feel toward him has only gotten stronger. Truly, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted him as badly as I do now.

“Paxton?”

The whispered tenor of my name causes me to shiver. That’s a tone I know all too well, the one he uses when he’s lost in pleasure.

Damn, I want to taste him. I want to press our lips together. If it wasn’t for the fact that it would destroy every bit of progress I’ve made so far, I’d do it. But wrecking his trust isn’t worth it, no matter how badly I want him.

His eyes ping back and forth between mine, and his smile drops at the same time his breathing kicks up. Yeah, he’s feeling this, too. Oh, it’d be so easy to lean forward. I’m not even sure if he’d stop me. When he moves ever so slightly toward me, I almost cross the line. How could I not when he speaks to me like that and looks at me like he wants me, too?

I’m close to saying fuck it and tasting those lips that I’ve tasted dozens of times before. Lips that I know fit against mine so perfectly.

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