Page 65 of Fetch Me A Mate
"Right now?"
"Right now. Can't make decisions about paint until you see how it looks in the actual light."
She accepted the brush, and he opened a small can of the sage green. Their fingers brushed as she dipped the bristles, sending heat up her arm.
"Here," Rowan said, guiding her to a section of wall between windows. "Just a small patch."
Diana applied the paint in careful strokes. The color looked different up here, richer and more complex in the angled morning light.
"Good choice," she said.
"Try the cream."
He opened the second can, standing close enough that she could smell pine smoke and clean soap. When she reached for more paint, a drop splattered onto her wrist.
"Occupational hazard," Rowan said, catching her wrist gently. His thumb wiped away the paint, rough skin against her pulse point. "Goes with the territory."
"What territory?"
"Working with someone who makes you forget to be careful."
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. "I'm always careful."
"Not always." His voice dropped lower. "Storm night in the parlor, you weren't careful."
"That was different."
"How?"
Diana looked up at him, paint brush forgotten in her hand. "Because I trusted you not to let me fall."
"And now?"
"Now I'm wondering if falling might not be so bad."
Rowan's eyes darkened, his grip on her wrist tightening slightly. "Diana."
"What?"
"If we're going to do this, we do it right. No running, no pushing each other away when things get complicated."
"Do what, exactly?"
"Build something together. Here, in this space. In this town." His free hand came up to cup her face. "With each other."
He was so direct with her suddenly, no walls, that she couldn’t stop herself from saying, "That sounds terrifying."
"Yeah. It does."
She set down the brush and turned fully toward him. "Also sounds like the best idea I've heard in years."
"Even knowing it won't be easy? That my past might follow us here?"
"Especially knowing that." Diana stepped closer, her hands finding his chest. She looked around the attic space, seeing not what was but what could be. "I'm tired of being safe. I want to be brave."
"You are brave. You came to Hollow Oak with nothing but a letter and a stubborn streak. You took on an entire town's skepticism and won them over through pure determination."
"That wasn't bravery. That was desperation."
