Page 29 of Minor Trouble
Get a grip.
Taking a deep breath, I walked into the room. Not knowing what it had looked like before, the fresh grey paint gave it an airy feel. The queen-sized bed was in one corner, a desk and chair against the opposite wall, the door to the built-in closet door covered in posters of bands and athletes I didn’t recognize. It really felt like a teenage boy’s bedroom. Slowly turning to admire every corner of the freshly decorated room, I nodded.
“Seth, this looks amazing.”
“Don’t look too closely at the paintwork, it’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.”
“You should be proud of yourself. I hope Noah loves it too.” I ended up facing him, staring directly into his deep blue eyes, the intensity of his gaze echoing mine.
“He does. And it’s all because of you.” He closed the distance between us, standing so close I caught the faint whiff of oil from his coveralls. “I don’t know how to thank you, Ainsley.”
My mind screamed “kiss me” just as he leaned forward and met my lips, tentatively at first, then increasing the pressure as he shifted his body to capture my waist with his hands. I melted into his chest, not caring I would ruin a perfectly good shirt as I pressed closer to him. I grasped at his shoulders, feeling their strength beneath my fingertips.
Before I could truly enjoy the feeling of his mouth against mine, Seth pulled back, moving away from me. He raked a hand through his dark hair, eyes focused on the floor.
“God, Ainsley, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Seth, it’s okay. I wanted you to.”
His head snapped up. “You did?”
I dragged my teeth over my bottom lip, drawing it into my mouth. “It’s pretty much all I’ve thought about since we chatted on Saturday night.”
A devastating grin overtook his features, his blue eyes bright. “You don’t know how pleased I am to hear you say that.”
A noise from the living room caught our attention.
“Noah? Is that you?” Seth called.
His son appeared in the doorway, glancing between the two of us. “Who else was it going to be?” His brow furrowed. “What’s she doing here?”
Seth opened his mouth, but I chipped in before he said something which might incriminate us. “Your dad was just showing me what you’d done to your room. I think it’s a vast improvement, don’t you?” I gave Seth a sly wink, and he mouthed “thank you” for saving him. “Now, I have to get going. I have a mountain of paperwork to get through before dinner.” I nudged my way past Noah, feeling Seth’s gaze on me as I walked out of the room.
Who was I kidding? There was no way I’d get anything done tonight. Not after Seth Hudson kissed me.
Thirteen
Seth
What the hell had I been thinking when I kissed Ainsley Coren?
Clearly, I hadn’t been.
Well, not with my head anyway. On more than one occasion that week, I’d jerked off in the shower remembering her soft, plump lips and the way she pressed her rack against me that one time.
It had been a long, long time since I’d done anything like that.
The stone-cold realization that the last woman who had gotten me this worked up had been Hannah.
Fuck.
After Monday night, I practically sleepwalked my way through the week. Almost on autopilot I worked in the garage during the day, then lay awake on the sofa for most of the night. I had reached for my phone more times than I could count, starting a message, realizing it sounded wrong, and deleting it again. At one point, I’d even asked Noah if he’d seen Ms. Coren that week. When he said no, I wondered if she was ghosting us, that she didn’t want to help any more. Then he told me classes were going well and he’d been getting better grades, proudly showing me he’d gotten a B on his latest science paper, and everything else got lost in the euphoria of him seeming to settle down and making new friends.
Which should have made his latest request make more sense.
“Will you come with me to the school fundraiser tomorrow?” Noah asked as we were finishing dinner on Friday night.
Never in my school days had I gone to one, more interested in hanging out with my friends or, latterly, getting high with them. But if it gave me another chance to make inroads into cementing my relationship with my son, I’d be there in a heartbeat.
