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He led the way back to the lounge and she stared at his back wondering when and why he’d decided to get totally ripped.
A small tattoo on his right shoulder caught her eye.Thatwas new as well.
She squinted, trying to see it clearly.
Was that a…?
Yep.
It was a T. rex skeleton on a leash being led by a human skeleton.
He stopped moving and she wasn’t ready. She placed her hands on his hips to keep from smashing her face against his back. Her hands burned on his hot bare skin and she immediately removed them.
If he’d noticed, he didn’t say. He turned to the side and waved an arm towards the far wall.
“I want to paint that back wall matte black. But Johnny said I needed to check with you first.”
Nikki’s attention bounced from the wall he’d indicated to the bare floor and the rest of the room.
Music came from the speakers nearby and she stared at them for a moment, trying to figure out if what she was hearing and seeing was real.
“What?” she started, taking a step into what used to be an overcrowded and disorganized lounge. “How long have you been here? Are you listening to Slant 6?”
“I’ve been here a minute.” His feet shuffled on the hardwood, and she glanced down. That carpet he’d been throwing into the dumpster a minute ago? That had come from the lounge.
The room had been completely gutted. Not just in terms of the storage that had been in there, but everything was gone. The carpet, the built-ins, the lights.
Objectively, she knew this had been the plan. The space was in desperate need of renovation and she and Johnny had discussed for years what their “dream studio” would look like.
Those kinds of changes took time and, more importantly, money. Both of which had been difficult to come by.
Well, until Sunshine Capone had begun operating out of it like it was his second home.
And if this thing with Zara became a real thing and not a dream thing—
All of her thoughts screeched to a stop like a careless needle on a vinyl record.
André had his hands braced above the door and was leaning his upper body into the room like he was stretching out his arms and chest.
Her mouth filled with saliva and she reached up to make sure it was closed and that no drool was leaking out.
He didn’t look real. He looked like he’d walked out of an Avengers film and stopped by to be the handyman in a very Nikki-specific fantasy.
It was normal to still find your ex attractive, right? That wasn’t some sort of self-betrayal, was it?
No.
It was fine.
Of course she still found him attractive.
She was human. He was human. They were both humans.
Really? Is that what she was going with? That they were both humans? And that’s why she was imagining running her hands over his chest and shoulders and grabbing hold of those suspender straps—
Oh geez, she needed to stop. She was officially disappointed with herself.
“I like the wood better, myself. I guess I knew the floor had always been there but I never realized what great shape it was in,” Johnny said.
