Page 53 of Painted Dreams


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“Uh-huh. What else?”

Smiling, she gave him a playful nudge, knowing exactly what he was getting at. “Well, there’s this guy I met.”

With a low chuckle, he leaned close and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

The kiss seared her skin, and when she turned and caught his gaze, the light in his eyes sent flutters to her chest.

“I like it.”

“Me, too.” Her voice quivered. Oh man, she needed to get a grip. She couldn’t go weak at the knees every time he looked at her. But what she saw in his eyes…what she felt inside… The heavy air threatened to engulf her. Her breath caught, and she took a sidestep toward the kitchen for a quick time out.

But Nick caught her arm. “Whoa. Hey. Are you crying?”

She put a hand over her mouth as her lips trembled. Her other hand flapped in front of her face, and she blinked rapidly.

In the next instant, she was crying and laughing at the same time. An emotional hot mess.

Nick pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, silently.

When she finally relaxed against him, he pressed his face into her hair. “I feel it too, babe.”

Kat clung tighter, his words reverberating through her system. But as his body warmed her, she released her fingers from his shirt and moved her hands across his back.

His muscles rippled, and an electric current buzzed along Kat’s nerves, shooting adrenaline straight to her veins. She could hardly breathe.

He let out a low groan and pushed a hand into her hair, gently bringing her head up.

She closed her eyes, and his lips claimed hers in a slow, lingering kiss.

“What are we going to do?” she whispered when they came up for air. How could they be together and both realize their dreams?

He rested his forehead against hers for a moment. Then he pulled back and brushed a thumb across her cheek, a slow smile spreading across his face. “How ’bout we take a break and let that dry?”

She choked on a laugh. His teasing tone signaled he understood her question was not about their project but their future.

“Yeah, I think I need something to drink.” She let go of him and took a couple of steps toward the refrigerator then opened a bottle of lemon sparkling water and filled two glasses with ice. The rote motions gave her a chance to catch her breath. She handed a glass to Nick.

“Thanks.” He braced against the table. “Here’s my question. What do youwantto do?”

Kat took a long drink of water then pressed her lips together. She didn’t have a realistic answer. At least not off the top of her head. Maybe they didn’t need any answers right now. With a toss of her hair, she forced a smile. “That’s easy. I want HomeBuilders to hire you and move you to New York.”

He gave a light chuckle and nodded. “Not sure that’s gonna be an option. But we’ll work something out.”

Would they? He didn’t offer any ideas. The distance between them stretched for hundreds of miles half-way across the country.

He held out his hand, and she nestled against him, her gaze straying to their painting. Even though it wasn’t quite finished, she already loved it. In her mind’s eye, she let her imagination run and pictured it above one of Nick’s fabulous modern mantels in a place of their own. A focal point in a place the two of them designed together. It’d be colorful and bright and…and she was getting way ahead of herself.

Still, it was a nice memento. No—a memento was a keepsake, a reminder of something from the past. Her thoughts warred inside. It could be a memento—or it could be a bond between them…

ChapterThirteen

—Is he gone?—

The five o’clock text from Mia on Sunday prompted unexpected tears to burn in Kat’s eyes. She muted the television and sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. She had to get over this reaction. She wasn’t a big crier. Yeah, he was gone. Nick had caught a two-p.m. flight out of LaGuardia—and she missed him the minute the cab door closed behind him. These goodbyes were hard on her heart.

Kat had decided against going to the studio, preferring to be in her own space with her thoughts for a while, but she’d expected to hear from her friend this afternoon. She took a moment to collect herself then picked up the phone.

—Yeah. Can you talk?—