Page 27 of Decked in Red & Greene
Usually, I need half a pot of coffee, no one to speak to me for at least an hour, and dry shampoo at a minimum.
But Phoenix just smiles at me, his gaze roaming over my naked body, his fingers drawing little circles on my thighs. It’s a damn near perfect morning.
The kind I could definitely get used to.
I push down the little voice that tells me I’m getting ahead of myself and that even though Phoenix has been different, I still need to be careful.
“I propose a shower and then stuffed French toast with bacon and maple syrup and coffee—lots of coffee.”
I giggle when he sits up and wraps his arms around me, tickling my sides so I squirm against his hardening cock.
“I thought we agreed I was eating you?”
“Later, or in the shower, but seriously, I need actual food. Maybe a banana—” His eyebrows bounce and I shove his shoulder as I laugh. “You’re ridiculous. Does anyone know you’re actually like this?”
“Like what?”
“Fun and playful and not just grumpy all the time.”
“I’m pretty sure being grumpy is part of my charm.”
I open my mouth to speak, but instead follow his gaze to the three framed pictures on the wall. He studies them, his fingers absentmindedly trailing up and down my spine.
“You did those?”
“I did,” I say, unable to stop the blush that creeps up my neck. Cora posted about me painting the flowers on the truck, and I’ve never hidden my love of drawing, painting, and creating art in general.
But something about Phoenix being naked in my room, my personal space, hits differently. The walls are a soft mauve color, the comforter a textured cream fabric, and all the wood accents a light, natural stain. It’s simple and feminine, but that’s not what’s captured his attention.
“They’re incredible.” He says the words but doesn’t take his eyes off the wall.
“The ocean I painted when Cora and I first moved here. It’s so different from back home but still a place that makes my heart happy.” I’d painstakingly mixed colors until I had the perfect shade of blue for the water and the sky. Being in Tennessee my whole life, I’d painted plenty of fields with skies that stretched beyond the canvas.
The other two drawings I’d done earlier in my life, one in high school and one in college. The one from college had been a drawing of a picture I’d found of the sunflower field my Grandad had grown for my Nan before she passed. No one had the heart to maintain it when we lost her, and it’d given me a sort of comfort to sketch the field, to preserve a memory I still cherished.
“That one,” I say, pointing to the barn, “is our family’s farm. My brother, Montana, runs it under the watchful and mischievous eye of my grandfather. My parents are in Florida, and you already know Vienna and I both moved to South Carolina.”
“Mischief, huh? No idea where you get it from.”
“I didn’t cause a lot of trouble growing up, and honestly, my brother’s fiancée holds that title. She’s so unassuming, but I know she still helps Grandad get the tractor stuck a couple times a month just to see Montana’s eyelid twitch.”
“I’m sorry, are you not the same woman who would intentionally draw attention to me walking Chip so that I’d have to fend off tourists who were looking for a little vacation hookup?”
“Sounds like you should be thanking me,” I say, threading my fingers through his hair as I push my boobs close to his face.
“I’m not. It was brutal,” he murmurs as he nuzzles into my chest, “but I feel much better now.”
“Since you’re in such a good mood,” I hedge, making him grumble against me, “I agreed to go to speed dating with your sister this week.”
“Cancel.”
“I can’t cancel. She’s nervous and didn’t want to go by herselfandwe’d made these plans before you pulled your head out of your ass.”
“Are you saying I did this to myself?” he asks, a feigned cocky smile playing on his lips.
“I guess I am.”
Pausing, he licks his lips and doesn’t quite meet my gaze. “Are you… I mean… do you want to…”
