Bad Boy Rebound(22)

“The special treatment, huh?”

“Yep, better do some manscaping because I feel like going downtown,” she said, wiggling her brows. “I suppose I should be grateful he’s not hung like Mr. Hotpants there, but he’s plenty satisfying for me.”



For the next two hours, I got to hear the local gossip. I had painted the majority of the room, and although Kara did more talking than actual painting, I enjoyed having her around. Time seemed to fly by.

When Brax and Toby took off to get lunch, she turned to me. “So are you going to come clean about what really is happening between you two?”

“What do you mean?” Oh my God, was I that transparent?

“You two were practically eye fucking each other all morning. I’m a bit surprised your brother didn’t catch on. There were a few times when you were bending over to roll your paint in the pan where I thought Brax was going to put a nail through his thumb.”

Really? I hadn’t noticed he’d been checking me out. I’d been careful not to stare too hard at him. Sometimes I couldn’t help myself though and I’d chance a lingering glance. Eye fucking though? I didn’t think so.

“You have to spill the goods before I leave here. Seriously, I’m not leaving without a play-by-play.”

I hesitated. “Okay, maybe we had a moment when he took me for a ride on his Harley.”

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me he took you on a motorcycle ride?” She set the roller down into the pan. “Seriously, you can’t withhold those kind of details. I’d tell you anything, you know that, right?” It had been a long time since Kara and I had been the best of friends, where we could talk about anyone and anything. I wanted to trust her, but I was afraid to say too much to her about Brax. I knew how small towns worked, and especially hearing that Brax was a hard guy to tie down—the last thing I wanted was word getting out to anyone that we were seeing each other, dating…or whatever it was we would be doing.

Last night, I’d had another intense dream. Although it hadn’t been quite as sexy as the previous dream, the fact remained that I went to bed thinking of Brax and I woke up thinking about Brax.

Truth be told, Brax was in my every waking thought, and that concerned me.

I told Kara everything. She hung on to my every word and every few sentences she muttered, “You lucky bitch.”

The boys returned and we all worked in relative silence until Kara left. Toby chatted incessantly until he went to meet his girlfriend, which left me alone with Brax.

I played a few songs on my phone and smiled when I heard Brax singing along to it. To my horror, my dirty thoughts of him returned in full force. It didn’t help that he had stripped down to his shorts.

“I brought you something,” Brax said, nearly startling me out of my skin.

“You did? What is it?”

“When we were at the falls, you mentioned to the gentleman that you liked his camera. I have one that’s just been lying around.” He handed me a nice Canon. “It’s older and not as nice as his, but you’re welcome to it.”

The gesture was incredibly sweet. During my years with Ross, we had been so frugal that it had become a way of life. Even with both of us working, we had taken to putting money away versus blowing it. During all those years, I’d learned to be conservative and live within my means. To receive such a heartfelt gift meant everything to me.

“It has a new memory card in there, too,” he said, looking anxious. “So you’re good to go.”

“Thank you, Brax,” I said, taking the camera from him. “How generous of you.”

He shifted on his feet. “Maybe you could take some before and after photos of the house, so you can one day look back and show your grandkids what you did.”

The thought of kids and grandkids made me smile.

Hopefully one day. I immediately snapped a few pictures, getting familiar with the camera as I went. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed taking photos, of the creativity that coursed through me as I snapped one shot after another. I had a lot to learn. Those high school lessons had seemed like a lifetime ago.

I snapped a picture of every single room of the house, then went outside and took a few of the porch.

“Here, let me get a picture of you,” he said, nodding toward the front of the house.

I handed him the camera and walked to the porch, feeling awkward as I tried for a casual pose. I had this tendency to have a deer-in-the-headlights expression whenever I was being photographed. Forcing myself to relax, I smiled for the camera.

After he had taken a few shots, I grabbed the camera from him. “Now let me get some of you.