Page 67 of The Blue Rose
SERENA
Painting relaxes me. It has always been my escape, which is why as soon as we got back to my house, I changed and took Aster straight to the one place that always eases my nerves. Aster does the same, when I’m nervous or scared, he knows exactly how to bring me back down. He can block out the rest of the world, just like painting does.
He walks around the room while I tie the apron around my back. Picking up a paintbrush from the easel, he stares at the tip stained red.
“You know, I paint myself.”
I walk over and take a seat on the stool. “For your haunted house?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Among other things,” he hums, wrapping his arms around me and leaning his head on my shoulder.
“Oh, yeah?” I turn my head to meet his curious green eyes, “What else do you paint?”
Standing up, he grabs another stool to sit beside me. “Maybe one day I’ll show you.”
“You know, secrets don’t make friends,” I tease, grabbing a brush and dipping it in water to wet the tip, then black before beginning my strokes.
“They may not make friends,” he leans in, whispering against my ear. “But they make excellent lovers.”
He nips my ear, making my eyes shut, and shivers rack my body. I turn my head, my lips inches from his, glancing at his sinful smirk as I whisper, “Does that mean you’re keeping secrets from me, Aster?”
He licks his lips, looking at mine and whispers back, “Yes.”
I lean back, taken back by his sudden confession, my brows shooting to my hairline.He’s keeping secrets? What kind of secrets?I can’t be mad, I’m keeping a big secret of my own. Well… not anymore, I’m actually going to tell him.
I start painting, the secret bleeding onto the canvas. I’m not ready to show him the nightmare pieces yet, but if he reacts well to what I’m about to create, then I know I can share my secret. Secrets can eat you alive. Keeping them can tug at you until there is nothing left. Until you’re nothing but a shell of the person you once were. Keeping this secret, always wearing a mask to hide it, it’s stolen almost everything left within me. I have never shown a soul my true paintings, the ones that bring me a sense of peace. I should be terrified. I know there are artists out there who paint nightmares, but that is what their work is labeled as. My so-called nightmares are anything but something I fear.
“You’re not mad?” Aster asks, stirring me from my painting.
I shrug my shoulders. “Why would I be? We are all entitled to keep secrets.”
He tilts his head, studying me, and crosses his arms, “What are you painting?”
The corner of my lip lifts, and this time, it’s my turn to make him wonder. “It’s a secret.”
He tickles my side, and luckily I was dipping my brush back in the paint, making my grip tighten. “Oh?”
“Yeah,” I say, dabbing the black paint on his nose.
His eyes cross as he looks down at the tip of his nose. “You’re going to pay for that,” he growls, with a smirk playing on his lips.
“I’msoscared,” I say in a mocking tone.
“You will be,” he says, dipping his finger in my red paint.
“Don’t you dare!” I squeal, falling backwards out of my stool. He’s on top of me before I can get up. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Aster, please don’t get paint on my clothes, that’s why I wear an apron!”
He tears the apron off. “What apron? I guess the clothes need to come off.”
He swipes the red paint on my face, making sure every bit of it is off his finger. Heat courses through me at his wicked promise, and I start to feel his cock harden above me, desire pooling low in my belly.
He pulls my shirt over my head, a cool breeze hitting my breast making my nipples harden instantly.
I’m supposed to be sharing my secrets, not fucking him right now. “Aster, wait-”
I’m cut off, his mouth crashing against mine, his fingers pinching my nipples.The secret can wait, let's count this as foreplay, a fun distraction before I potentially change everything between us.
My back arches off the floor and a quiet moan escapes my lips, muffled by his mouth. He twists and pinches and nips, making me writhe beneath him, desperate to get some friction against my pussy.
