Page 42 of My Heart To Heal

I take a breath. No, it would be amazing. I’ve honestly thought of not much else but sharing a life with Nick since Christmas, almost a week ago. We had amazing sex twice that night, but that didn’t even come close to being the highlight of the evening. No, that was leaning up against his body while we laughed and offered our own commentary to the reality TV show I can’t wait to watch with him again. It was the vulnerability he showed when he talked about his relationship with his dad. It was laughing with him, just talking to him, and listening, and the connectionI felt like we made. The sex was mind-blowing, but the spark between us was what left me vibrating for days afterward.

‘I just can’t let someone in, Bree.’

‘He’s not your ex, Miss.’

I chew my lip while she gets back to painting. Nick couldn’t be further from Bax, but that’s the problem. Bax was easy to let go of in the end because I didn’t love him, and Jonah didn’t, which is awful to say, but he never had a real relationship with his dad. Jonah already seems to care more for Nick than he ever did his dad. Both of us could easily fall in love with him, and I can’t protect us from that.

‘I’m not like you, Bree. You want to meet somebody. I’m happy with this arrangement.’

‘So just sex, right, no complications?’ she calls the question out over the music while she paints the wall with her back to me, and I finally start to paint the opposite wall.

‘Yes. He wants the same thing. We’re friends now, and that’s progress from where we were. The sex is a benefit of that friendship.’

‘And it was good?’

‘Breanne, it was fucking life-altering.’

She laughs. The thing about Bree is she’ll tell you if she thinks you’re a fool, but she’ll enthusiastically support your choices anyway.

Bree has to work in the morning, so she left me to it. As Jonah is staying at Cara’s place for the night, I’m burning the midnight oil and getting shit done while I can. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and then, once we’re into January, I need to get this place open and earn some money.

The walls are painted, the furniture has been delivered, and once I get the space decorated, I can give everything its place and get this salon ready to go.

I turn my music up a little and sing as I work, hanging up the artwork I picked out and laying out the three stations. I have another girl coming to work with me, washing hair and helping me around the salon, and then I’m hoping to advertise a station for rent to another stylist until I can afford to actually take someone on myself. So, I have more stations than I need for just me, but I want this to be a success, so I’m planning ahead. I also have a beautiful reception and coffee area at the front of the salon that I’m in love with.

I’m up the ladder putting up a shelf when my newfriendscares the shit out of me.

‘Nope,’ Nick says loudly over the music, and I remember the last time he interrupted my late-night DIY session. Nerves unfurl in the pit of my stomach. I don’t want to fight with him anymore.

‘Jesus,Nick. Will you stop scaring me when I’m up a ladder?’

He smiles and reaches out for my phone on the counter, turning down the volume.

‘Why are you up a ladder, at one in the morning, on your own?’

‘Because I have a lot of shit to do.’ I climb down the ladder, and he inspects my handiwork.

‘What if you fell?’

‘I’m not going to fall.’

‘What if you did?’

‘Then I guess I’d die alone.’

‘Missy.’

‘I’m fine, Nick.’

‘You need help. What do you want me to do?’

‘Nothing. I’m fine.’

‘Miss, don’t be stubborn.’

‘I’m not being stubborn. I just don’t need help.’

He smirks and walks over to me, and instinctively I back toward the opposite wall as he advances slowly. My body instantly reacts to him, knowing what he can do to it. He reaches out and pulls me toward him, then moves around me into the space behind me and points over my shoulder at the shelf I just hung.

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