But those eyes.God, those blue eyes that see me. All of me.And his hands. His arms. The way his touch burns and soothes all at once.
And his toned ass.
One date.
I can do one date.
I exhale and set my brush down, finally stepping back to look at the painting in its entirety. The pine trees stand tall, their deep green stretching toward a sky brushed with streaks of soft gold and fading blue. Strong. Resilient. Rooted.
Just like Corbin.
Just like us.
I don’t know what the future holds, but for the first time in a long time, Ifinishedsomething. And maybe that’s a sign. Maybe it means I’m ready to try again.
I wipe my hands on an old rag, take one last look at the painting, and grab my glass of wine.
One date.
I can do this.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Corbin
A soft knock raps against my office door. I lean back in my chair, exhaling, before calling out, “Come in.”
The moment the door swings open and Jules steps inside, I’m on my feet.
“Hey,” she says, her voice light, but there’s something unreadable in her expression.
She’s holding something—a canvas, from the looks of it—but I can’t focus on that. Not yet. Not when her hazelnut eyes are warm and open, her easy smile curling just enough to make my chest tighten.
“I hope it’s okay that I stopped by,” she continues, pausing a few steps from my desk.
It’s always okay. She should know that by now.
“Of course,” I say as I force myself to breathe, to keep my hands from reaching for her like it’s instinct.
Jules shifts on her feet, glancing down at the canvas. “I finished the pine trees.”
She clears her throat, her fingers gripping the edges just a little too tightly. She’s nervous. I can see it in the way she sways slightly, the way her tongue darts out to wet her lips.
I step around my desk, watching as she slowly turns the painting toward me.
The breath I didn’t realize I was holding slips out.
It’s stunning. Deep, layered greens stretch into a sky streaked with soft gold, the watercolor strokes capturing something timeless—rooted, unshaken, like the trees themselves belong to something infinite.
Like her.
Like us.
“It’s amazing,” I say, the words barely scratching the surface of what I feel.
Jules bites her bottom lip, shifting again. “I want you to have it.”
My gaze snaps to hers. “Me?”
