Page 17 of A Lady's Heart
She offered a beautiful smile before turning to her phone to check messages and sipping her coffee quietly.
The trip to the art studio took barely ten minutes, and Justin found himself at the throwing wheel next to hers as he struggled to turn his clay into something less lump-like.
Mandy listened intently to the instructor, hands slipping over the rugged clay block, effortlessly smoothing the solid piece into a tall thick rod, her wet fingers working the clay up and down and up—
Shit. He was hard again.
Justin wiggled uncomfortably, the move knocking his hands too hard into his spinning lump of nothing, setting one edge out of kilter. The messy tower toppled to one side, deflated.
If his friend Tyler were here now, he’d be making comments about limp dicks.
Mandy glanced his direction, not even paying attention to the vase rapidly forming under her hands. Talented hands. Hands he really wanted all over him…
He bit back a groan as his clay folded in on itself again.
“You need a lighter touch,” she teased.
Do not say it. Do not say it.
His mouth wasn’t as smart as his brain. “I’m used to stroking a little rougher,” he growled, his throat tight with lust.
Her eyes widened briefly before she snapped her head back to her pottery wheel, but she was still smiling.
By the time they put their projects on the side table to be left for firing, he’d gotten control of his body, willingly following Mandy to the sinks to wash their fingers clean.
“That was fun.” Her satisfied sigh ended with amusement. “Although, I’m not quite sure what you’re going to do with an ashtray. You don’t smoke.”
“I’ll give it to Tyler and Caroline as a wedding gift. He’ll have to keep it in some prominent place in their house.”
She laughed. “You should paint pink daisies on it before it gets fired.”
“Pink daisies?”
“With tiny blue forget-me-nots, or a giant sunflower in the bottom.”
They grinned at each other like conspirators. The mood between them fun and lighthearted. Then she changed the moment by clicking her tongue.
“Stand still. You’ve got clay on you.”
She took a wad of napkins and wet one corner. Slipping next to him and catching hold of his shirt front, she tugged until he leaned over, his head on level with hers. Then she proceeded to carefully swab the mud from his cheek and temple.
“You were getting into your work,” she teased.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing right.” He caught her fingers loosely in his, bringing her knuckles close enough he could press a kiss to them. “Thank you.”
Mandy blinked rapidly before clearing her throat and all but running from the room. Justin grinned hard as he followed her.
They sat in comfortable silence on the journey back into Whitehorse until he pulled her Jeep to a stop into the parking space where she was staying.
Comfortable, but the silence had given him plenty of time to run through ideas for what came next.
Justin was out his door and around to her side of the jeep before she could protest. Helping her down and keeping hold of her hand.
“I don’t want to overstay my welcome, but would you like to sit for a while?”
Mandy’s heart rate increased, then increased again. They’d spent nearly the entire day together, which meant if she was going to take the space and time she’d promised herself, the next moveshouldbe saying good night.
He spoke again before she could tell him that. “You have a lot of things on your list, and I thought it might be fun if we mix them up a little. Unless you’re determined to start at number one and work your way straight through.”
