Page 12 of Kiss Me, Darling

“I’ll pick up paint samples in the morning.” Hell, knowing me, I’d be at the home improvement store the minute it opened because I loved a good project as much as she did.

“Can I go with you to visit Grandma Kaine?”

Both of Lucy’s grandmothers were gone and she’d bonded with Grandma really quickly. “Absolutely.”

She nodded a few times, giving the room one more sweep. “Then I say yes. Let’s get some paint and get down to work.”

And even though she didn’t say it with words, I knew she really meant us.

4

One sexy smile away from melting

Lucy

Icouldn’t decide if I should tell Scott he had paint on his nose or not. He was so very enthusiastically rolling test paint onto the living room wall that I didn’t want to interrupt him. But it was adorable, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to think of Scott as adorable just yet.

“I don’t know. I think I really like this blue. It gives off ocean vibes.” He waved the roller around as he spoke, not noticing one bit that he was flinging light blue paint onto the drop cloth. He already had paint on his old blue jeans and bare feet.

“I like the blue, too. But what about the grey? It’s a nice solid neutral.” I had a shopping cart full of vases and picture frames that would pair nicely with either choice.

“I love the grey for the kitchen. I think I like the idea of this room being a little different. A little more welcoming.” He smudged paint on his cheek. “Oh, crap! I’m getting this shit everywhere!” He finally put down the roller and grabbed one of the cloths, cleaning his cheek but not his adorable nose.

Damn.

Between the painted nose, the worn jeans that hung from his hips just so, and his tight old t-shirt, I was one sexy smile away from melting. Not to mention his hair was longer and curlier than I’d ever seen it.

And I liked it.

A lot.

I needed a distraction. “Okay so blue in here, grey in the kitchen and hallways, and green in the game room?” It took me nearly twenty-four hours to find all the nooks and crannies of the house. It was new construction, but because of space concerns, it was uniquely designed to take advantage of the small beachside lot. Aside from the obvious kitchen and living room downstairs, there was a laundry room, master bedroom, and game room. Upstairs were three more bedrooms, another common space, and a library with almost no books.

“I like it.” Scott nodded. We agreed to only tackle the first floor and not bite off more than we could chew, but I was finding it hard to not plan it all at once. The library would be amazing in all bright white with accents of dark blue, and the common space could be the one warm room in the house. Maybe browns, tans, and leather.

I needed to stop.

“What’s our budget?”

Scott slipped out his phone. “All three of us pitched in. We currently have a working budget of ten grand, but I don’t know if we’ll spend that much. Ben volunteered to make anything we need besides couches and mattresses, and Olivia is happy to provide photography for the walls.”

I laughed a little. “Oh, I can spend ten grand easy.” I wanted to swap out the lighting in the game room and run the idea of making it a game room-slash-movie room past the guys. Add in some area rugs, additional lighting changes, the paint, and accessories, we were talking some serious change. And I hadn’t even floated the ideas for the upstairs or getting a hot tub. If they were willing to spend the money, I had plenty of ideas on how to use it.

“You’re not this free with our production budgets,” Scott laughed as he closed the paint cans and moved the trays outside to be washed.

“Our movies involve the employment of hundreds of people. I have to be more exacting. This is funny money. I never get to play with funny money.” God, teenage me would have a heart attack that I was speaking so cavalierly about money. We scraped and saved every penny we could growing up. New clothes were special. Family vacations that didn’t involve a tent were rare. There were weeks where we ate pasta every night because it was cheap and easy.

And here I was talking about blowing ten grand because it was fun.

Times had changed but my guilt had not. There were so many other uses for ten thousand dollars…

“Hey.” Scott appeared in front of me with a frown. “You okay?”

The adorable paint was gone. “Fine. Just lost my train of thought.”

“Looked more like you had a very specific train of thought. I would like to point out that you already donate a portion of your income to charities and established a foundation that our production company donates to. You can’t solve the world’s problems yourself.” He waved his hand at the walls around us. “We’re building a home here. A place where our entire family can come together. That’s money well spent.”

The unsaid implication being that I was part of that family and that I would spend time here, too. Knowing that was what I wanted in the end—after the anger, after the healing—was why I was so invested in this whim of a redecorating project at all. It was pretty much impossible to picture the rest of my life without Scott in it. If I learned anything from my parents, it was that people make mistakes, they grow and change, and that it's okay to be mad at them when they hurt you, but if you truly love someone, you find a way to heal together and forgive them. That’s true love.

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