I did as she asked, getting close enough to the stool to swivel off it and sit down. Cole wheeled it to the side with a shitty smirk, but Delly cut off whatever dumb joke waspercolating in his brain by thrusting a windbreaker toward me.
Even with my colorblindness, I could tell it wasveryneon.
Maybe most people would’ve balked at wearing it, but I just… I did not care. After weeks of being mostly useless, Iwantedto help.
So, I shrugged it on and even let Delly fuss with my hair.
The minute she stepped away, I held out my hand to Ireland, frowning at the crinkling sound the windbreaker made.
Her eyes raked over me, and I held my breath as she finally fixed her gaze on my hand for a long, suspended moment.
And then she took it.
Angels sang, rights were wronged, and life made sense again as I slotted her against my body.
Delly rushed forward to position us, directing Ireland to perch on my lap. I met my sister’s eyes as she got us into position, and she gave me a pleased, knowing smile.
“Okay,” Cole said, crouching down with his camera. “Let’s crank through these bad boys. You about done, Apple Jack?”
Delly glared at him but then adjusted a few more things and stepped back. “Done.”
Ireland and I looked at each other, and she laughed silently at the cheesy couples’ pose she’d put us in, my hand on Ireland’s hip, her thumb hooked in the waistband of her shorts.
“Okay,” Cole directed, pointing to his left. “Both of you look toward Mr. Beck’s door.No—no smiling. Not yet. Look aloof. Mysterious, even.”
It was an effort, but I managed it. Inhaling deeply, Iwrinkled my nose at that same chemically alcohol smell I noticed earlier in the salon but had been too distracted to think much about.
Cole clicked away, and I sniffed again, trying to place it.
“What does your hair smell like?”
She glanced back at me, her lips twitching. “A gallon of hair spray.”
“I can barely smell your lavender.”
“I guess we’ll need to fix that later,” she whispered.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Evil woman.”
She shrugged, and for the second time today, I gasped into an unexpected kiss.
It was over in a flash, but during that time, the room fell silent. Ireland ignored it, glancing at my lips with a satisfied smile before turning back to her position.
Which was maybe good because when I looked away from her, I found everyone’s eyes on us.
Pops had his arm around Delly, who was sitting between him and Beck on the couch. They were all smiling at me.
At us.
Beck’s attention fell away from us first, and he went back to painting away at the canvas in his lap.
Cole grinned as he scrolled through the images on the camera’s display. “Yeah… I think we’re good. Some real keepers in here.”
Ireland put her hand over mine that was still on her hip. “Want to get one with Pops and Delly before we move onto the rest of the floor?”
And if I weren’t already pathetic for her, that would’ve done it.
Slipping off my lap, she relayed the idea to Delly and Cole, who switched gears quickly. Ireland took thewindbreaker off me with a little wink, and I just smiled back stupidly.
