Page 21 of Artfully Wild
Blue paint is smeared on our skin, marks from our hands streaked across our bodies. Blue almost completely covers her breasts and torso. Knowing the marks are from me make me hard again and by the look on her face, she’s thinking the same thing, neither of us embarrassed we got off dry humping like a pair of hormonal teenagers.
Glancing at the thin watch on her wrist, a mischievous Fran-like grin crosses her features. “We still have plenty of time before Charlotte gets back.”
“Mmmmm,” I answer. “Practically hours.”
Her eyes flood with lust and her nipples begin to harden again, maybe from the chill in the air or from the idea of repeating some version of what we just did.
CHAPTER TEN
SKYLAR
Voices chatter through the air and I try to think back to the last time the four of us were together like this. Our schedules have finally lined up and we all gathered at Charlotte’s place for a long overdue girls night.
I take another sip of my wine and savor the sweetness of what I know is my last taste for the night. I sit it down and get up with the intention of making hot cocoa. I’ve never really been an alcohol person but girls night is the one time I drink. Well, girls night and Tuesday night at Frank’s.
But even then, I tire of it and usually want to make the switch not too far into the night. What I really want is some of Fran’s seasonal hot cocoa, and if it wasn’t so late, I’d brave the cold to go get some. I didn’t notice Charlotte standing with me until I feel her breath at my neck.
“What are you doing?” I ask and she puts her finger right behind my ear.
“Why do you have paint behind your ear?” She asks like she already knows the answer. I rub behind the place that she just touched and pull my hand away. It comes back a faded blue.
I’m happily thrust into the memory back in the art studiolast night—aka, the spare room a few feet away—with Jacob, rolling on the floor, straddling him. Feeling his lips against mine.
“Oh, no reason.” I hesitate and continue to make myself busy in the kitchen a few feet away, which takes away the option to go hide in a separate room.
Charlotte's space above the studio is similar to the loft. It may be a bit roomier, but I am completely exposed and there’s still nowhere to hide—which is exactly what I want to do right now because the last thing I want to do is talk about what Jacob and I did, given I’m not exactly sure how to process it. The kitchen is practically in the same room as the living room.
Part of me wants to stay in my own little bubble and another small part of me wants to take a pin to it and let the air out little by little. I find myself wanting to talk to them about it to get some kind of perspective and their advice on the situation.
Charlotte leans her elbows on the counter next to the empty fruit bowl—which was empty the last time we were all here—and she raises her eyebrows as if to ask the question again.
“I was, uh, painting earlier,” I deflect as I grab a small pot from the bottom cabinet and fill it part way with milk. Once the stove is on and the milk is heating, my hands have nothing to do. When I look up, Avery and Sophie have joined Charlotte at the island and are a carbon copy of her pose. Six elbows propped on the countertops paired with six wide eyes blinking in my direction. Staring at me the way predators would stare down their prey before striking and swallowing them whole. All three ambushing me for answers.
“I was…painting with Jacob,” I say, wincing at the last word because their shrieks fill the silence that was there before.
“AND PAINT GOT ON YOUR NECK?”
“Where else did the paint get?”
“DID YOU FUCK?”
“Charlotte!” Avery reprimands.
“Don’t act like you prudes weren’t all wondering the same thing,” Charlotte yells back.
Avery just rolls her eyes, turning back to me shrugging her shoulders. “Well…did you?”
“No…”
“Buuuuut?” Sophie pushes. I can tell she already knows. Her and Jacob share more secrets than all of us combined, or at least sometimes it feels that way.
“We kissed.” I turn around so they don’t see my blush at the memory of his hands on my body. They don’t have to know all the details. I want them to be mine for now. Mine and Jacob’s. They can use their imaginations and make assumptions from there. I grab mugs from the cabinets and set them in front of the girls, making sure to give Charlotte the one with a cartoon fox in the middle withOh, for fox sakewritten around it in cursive font.
“We kissed,” I repeat. “And it was the best kiss I’ve ever had,” I admit, focusing on not spilling the milk.
“Okay, so you kissed. Are you two dating now?” Avery asks, trying to hide her glee and failing.
I start to answer and then close my mouth again. A fish looking for water to breathe, suffering in the oxygen. “I…I don’t know. We didn’t get around to hashing out the details,” I admit.
