Page 61 of Unlikely to Stay
“You do.And it’s so freakin’ adorable I can hardly stand it.You should wear your hair up more often, just so I can stare at it.”
“What a weirdo,” she said softly.
“I’m glad you finally stopped avoiding me at all costs.Otherwise, how would I know about it?”he asked, ignoring her insult.“Have a question for you, though.”
“What’s that?”
“How did you manage tonotget paint on youanywhere?You’re practically spotless.I don’t get it.”
“I painted a lot as a kid,” she said, hyperaware of his finger running around the rim of her ear.Gah!Surely he didn’t know what he was doing to her.She was going to melt into a puddle on the floor.
“I did, too.Yet I still managed to get paint all over me.”
“What can I say?Maybe I’m just a better painter than you,” she managed to mutter through the heat rushing through her body.
“Well, I think I need to even the field a little.”
“What does that mean?”
“This,” he said.To her surprise, Brant pulled out one of the small angle paintbrushes they were using to paint the corners of the walls from behind his back and swiped a streak of yellow down her cheek.She was so caught up in the hypnotizing thing he was doing to her ear with his fingers she hadn’t even noticed he was holding it.
“Hey!”she yelled.“Not funny!”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said with a devilish grin.“I think I missed a spot.”
He swiped the paintbrush down her left arm before dotting the tip of her nose.
CC narrowed her eyes at him.“Two can play at this game, Snaps.You don’t want to challenge me.I fight dirty.”
Brant dropped the brush and it clattered to the floor, sending a spray of paint on both their ankles.“Okay, okay.I’ll stop.Something tells me you’re fierce in a fight.”
“You have no idea.”
Brant grinned and crossed his arms across his chest, his eyes surveying their work.“I think we work pretty well together.What do you say, Freckles?”
“I think we do, too, Snaps.”
“So…same time tomorrow?”
She shook her head.“You better go to the clinic tomorrow or the old people in town will have your head.”
“Five o’clock then?”
“Five o’clock.Have fun dealing with Kelda and Burt.I heard they both have appointments.”
Brant rolled his eyes.“After they finish at the clinic, I’m sending them your way.Telling them you’re having a buy one haircut, get one free special.”
“You wouldn’t!”she exclaimed.
Brant’s chocolate eyes twinkled.“I’ll guess you’ll find out tomorrow, huh, Freckles?”At his words, Brant walked out the door.
With a contented sigh, CC cleaned up as best she could before locking the doors and walking the few blocks to her apartment above Sadie’s.When she had first moved in, the café’s noises had kept her up at night.Now, though, she had gotten used to them and couldn’t imagine sleeping in silence.
She had just shucked her clothes on her bedroom floor and stepped into her steaming bubble bath when she heard her mother’s voice coming from her kitchen.
“Hell-O!Anyone home?Missy Poo, I know you’re here.You can’t avoid me forever.”
CC rolled her eyes.The last thing she wanted to do was talk to her mother.She made a mental note to herself to change out the locks on her apartment door.First her friends, now her mom.She was tired of all the intrusions.A girl was entitled to at leastsomemodicum of privacy.