Page 13 of Reeling for His Omega

“You’re here,” he said, greeting me out the back door. He had on painter’s coveralls and they were covered in splotches of paint in all kinds of colors. They must’ve been spots from his previous jobs. My walls were to be painted great colors but not the brightest in the rainbow.

“I’m here.” I walked over and every cell in my body wanted to reach out and hug him. My arms went wide but I pulled them back down.

We stood there for a moment and let the moment pass. A flash of emotion passed through his eyes. Regret? Did he want me to hug him? I wanted to.

Damn it. This was hard.

“Do you want to see the progress?” he asked.

I held the door open for him, and he passed through first, his hip brushing against mine. “I do. What do you want to show me first? The paint?”

Joaquin cleared his throat. “Oh, um, let’s save that for last. The seats were recovered. They brought a whole crew. It got done in five days. One theater per day. It was crazy business.”

We made our way to the first theater, and I was immediately taken aback.

I’d given the upholstery company a bit of leeway but told them I wanted the seats recovered to their former glory, and clearly they took that very seriously.

The seats were covered in burgundy velvet. I ran my hand over one and found the fabric soft and just a bit fuzzy.

“I should take a picture,” I said, laughing.

“Why? They’re not going anywhere. I watched the crew screw them in tight.”

“Because I doubt they will look like this for long. Popcorn. Nachos. Hot dogs. Drinks. Gum. Candy. All bound to leave their marks.”

Joaquin sighed beside me. “You’re right. Oh, man. The nacho cheese.” He shook his head, imagining the mess as I was. Still, without messes and concessions, there was no theater and not very much revenue either.

“Where should we go next?” I asked. Joaquin was in charge now, and it sent a shudder through me. I wondered if he liked to be in charge all the time.

Goddess, no. I had no business having sexy thoughts about this man. He was helping me. Period.

The fact didn’t make me stop wanting him to be more.

“Well, I’d like to show you the lobby but I have to warn you, I took some liberty with the colors and…you’ll have to see it.”

His smell went stale, flat. I didn’t know Joaquin well enough to know what it meant, but it made me nervous to see how he determined what painting liberty meant. I couldn’t afford to have too many things go wrong.

“Lead the way,” I managed to choke out and sent a prayer to the goddess.

When we arrived in the lobby, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Chapter Thirteen

Eryx

“Wow,” I said, devoid of anything else to say, really. On the wall where I thought movie posters and permits would go was a huge mural, laying out the history of movies and theaters from musicals to celebrities and all kinds of movie cultural references.

It was bright and colorful and reminded me of a theater I’d seen in a magazine.

It was everything I didn’t know I wanted. And not what I asked for. Not what I could afford either.

It was brilliant.

“What is this?” I asked, knowing what it was but again being short on words.

“It’s a mural,” Joaquin answered, staring at it from beside me.

“Yes. Yes, it is. It’s incredible. Did you uncover it? Was it underneath the paint?”