I handed it to her and she typed in her contact information. “Text me photos. I want at least one candid a day please. Preferably shirtless and maybe one of your brother, too. Looks like he finally filled out.”
“How is Marcus?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She grinned. “Amazing. Honestly, I’m a lucky girl.”
I envied her. I did. She had two children, a husband, and was living a life I had dreamed about for years. A life that seemed out of reach to me right now. Hopefully one day though.
“I’ll let you go,” she said, tossing her keys in the air. “Now remember those candid shots, and for the love of God, will you accept my social media requests already?”
I nodded and waited for her to get into her car before I returned to the house to find my bathroom had been gutted. Brax was on a stepladder, reaching above his head, unscrewing the dated light fixture. He was shirtless. I swallowed hard and tried not to let my gaze linger beneath the band of his shorts. A nearly impossible feat, especially because of the exaggerated V marking a path, a virtual arrow to that part of his anatomy.
His apparently famously well-endowed anatomy, and the boy knew how to use what God had given him.
“Looks good,” I said, pulling my gaze from his tight stomach and huge package.
“Ready to paint?”
“Sure.” My voice cracked, so I nodded.
“I heard you out there giggling with Kara,” Toby said. He was also shirtless, and I was a bit stunned to see my brother had a toned build.
“You have a tattoo?” I asked, shocked to see the panther on Toby’s right shoulder. “When did you get it?”
“My eighteenth birthday.” He brushed his hand over the tattoo.
I took a closer look. “Nice work. Does Mom know?”
“Yeah, you know Mom. You can’t hide anything from her.”
When I’d left for college, Mom had made sure to let me know she’d disown me if I came home with a tattoo. “I can’t believe she approved of it.”
“I didn’t say approved of it.” Toby untied his bandanna, brushed his long bangs back, and retied it. “There just wasn’t anything she could do since I was eighteen.”
Brax laughed, obviously knowing something I didn’t. “She did threaten to take you to a laser doctor to get it removed.”
Toby opened a gallon of paint. “She got over it though. Just like she gets over everything.”
“Thank goodness for that,” I said, my gaze once again sliding to Brax. He was shredded. Not an ounce of body fat on him. Did he even work out? In the days we’d been hanging out, he hadn’t gone to the gym. “It was nice seeing Kara again. It’s been a long time.”
Toby dipped the roller into the paint. “Yeah, and you could use a friend now that you’re back.”
“Thanks, asshole,” I said, hitting him in the shoulder.
He rubbed his arm. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, you’re afraid I’ll become a cat lady in my old lady house.”
“Something like that,” he said with a smug smile.
“That will never happen,” Brax said, his stare intense. “You’re too beautiful to be single for long.”
CHAPTER 5
Amanda
We had been at it for three days straight, and I loved the changes I had seen in my little house. It was amazing how tearing out the wall between the kitchen and living room had really opened it up, and although we had only just begun, I could imagine the end result pretty easily.
I had just finished painting the master bathroom and was rinsing out the paint tin when Brax walked into the backyard.
“You want to go for a ride?” he asked, resting his hands on his hips.
“A ride? As in a motorcycle ride?”
He grinned. “Yes, a motorcycle ride.”
Motorcycles had always made me a little nervous ever since I’d attempted to ride a friend’s mini-bike when I was eight. I went over the handlebars and face-planted into their garden. Then again, I definitely wasn’t going to turn Brax down. “Sure, I’d love to.”
“Good. I’ll head home and grab a shower, and I’ll be back here to pick you up in an hour. Be sure to wear something relatively warm up top. It gets a little cool.”
The second he got into his truck and pulled away, I raced into the house, put my hair up, and took a quick shower. I debated calling Kara. We had talked every day since she’d dropped by, and I realized how much I had missed having such a good friend in my life. It was like time had stopped and we had taken back up again just where we’d left off.
She would freak out when she learned of the motorcycle ride. I tried on a dozen pairs of shoes before finally deciding on slip-on sneakers when I heard the sound of a motorcycle making its way up my street. I took a final look in the mirror. I wore a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Remembering the warning about getting cold, I slid on a fleece jacket, zipped it up, and peeked out the window just as Brax pulled into the driveway.