Page 21 of The Art of Falling in Love with Your Enemy
I must have fallen back asleep for a few minutes, because I’m woken up by a sudden rapping on my front door and by the two dogs who start barking their heads off. Ahhh, my little alarm systems.
I peek through the peephole and almost pass out when I see who it is on the other side.
Keeping the chain lock on the door, I slowly inch my front door open. “Yes?”
Zac cocks his head to one side, rolling his eyes. “You’re really not going to open the door the whole way?”
“You could be a burglar. Or here to arrest me again for something else I didn’t do.” Snapping my fingers, I press my face closer to the opening. “Actually, I stayed up late last night and dug through my old files. I found the canceled check for when I paid my fine, so I think the good people at the Sweetkiss Creek PD may owe me an apology.”
“Oh, really?” Zac asks, cracking a smile. “I should come in and verify that for you, and”—he bends over and picks up a giant cardboard box filled with shopping bags—“we could see if I managed to get all the things we need to paint today.”
My eyes zero in on one of the bags. It has the giant golden crown with two paint brushes crossed behind it, like a family crest, also known in these parts as the logo for King’s Paints.
I close the door, slide the chain off, then open the door wide, stepping back as I do so Zac can enter. Taking a giant breath, he nods his head and starts to put his foot down only to scream and jump back.
“Zac!” My hand flies to my heart as he doubles over. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but it hurts.” He stays bent over for a moment, then slowly rights himself, his face wincing as if he’s in pain. “We did that wrong. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to invite the vampire in first, right, as the homeowner?”
When I look at him, his smile bubbles with giddiness and his eyes are filled with laughter. It’s like I don’t even get a chance to be irritated, because that was funny. Shaking my head, I reach out and grab him by the sleeve and pull him inside.
“Oh, come on. It’s rude for me to not ask you to come in now, isn’t it?”
As if he knows his bestie is outside, Thor comes racing over to the door as soon as Zac walks in, jumping on his hind legs for attention. Thankfully, Herc stays by my side, watching the whole scene ruefully.
One thing I’d never realized, even though we’ve been around each other several times now, was how tall and built Zac is. Standing beside what I consider to be my large chair, he makes it look like it belongs in a doll house. Not that I’m small myself, but you know. For a tall girl, it’s nice to be able to stand beside a man who is a lot taller than myself.
Zac places the box on my dining room table, pulling out its contents. I recognize all the items I was going to get from King’s; it’s like he read my mind.
“I feel that look you’re giving me,” Zac murmurs, a cockeyed smile playing on his lips. “After you left yesterday, I felt bad, so I called Mr. King at home and asked if he’d open the store for you today. He couldn’t, but he did know what you wanted, so he boxed it all up for me to bring over.”
My jaw unhinges. Not going to lie. This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. The fact that it’s Zac doing it? I might get my head wrapped around that.
“Wow, he’s good.” Picking up a pack of drop cloths and a paint tray, I hold them in the air as I chuckle. “These are the exact ones I would have picked out.”
“He knows his clientele,” Zac muses as he grabs a pack of drop cloths and looks around the room. “So, where do we start?”
I’m sure my face is crinkled with confusion when I look at him. “We?”
“Yep, we.” He rips open the bag, pulling out its contents and shaking them. “I figured I’m kind of the reason you weren’t able to do this how you wanted to, so how about I come over and help?”
“Okay, well, we’re painting this room today.” I eyeball him as he starts putting the paint cloths on the floor, second guessing his kindness for wanting something. “Seriously, you don’t have to do this. I can do it myself. I’m used to it.”
“I’m sure you are used to doing a lot of things by yourself.” Zac’s green eyes sparkle with amusement. “But, today you don’t have to do one of them alone. Okay?”
This goes against all the things I’ve told myself I would do now that Steve and I are split up. I want to rail against this pushiness, him being here and insisting on helping, yet I’m also tired and part of me feels like if anyone should be here doing this today, it’s him.
“I don’t see anyone else here offering to help,” he continues.
“Only because my helper bailed me out of jail after hours, and she thinks I don’t have the supplies I need.” I drag my eyes up to meet his again. “I’m sure if I called her and told her I had the supplies now, she’d come.”
“Well, she’s not here. I am. And if you put on a fresh pot of coffee and get changed outta what must be your pajamas, we can get started.” Zac inches closer to me, his smile infectious as he pokes at my middle with his pointer finger. “Come on, what do you say? Let me help you. Okay? So easy to do.”
I look down at my polka dot pajama set and grin.
“Give me five minutes.”
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