Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(112)

Finally, she pulled back just a little and rested her chin on his chest and looked up at him.

“We’re a pretty pathetic pair, aren’t we?” she asked, teasingly.

He shook his head. “No,” he said, completely serious. “We’re amazing. Look what we came through.”

Her chest tightened with his declaration. “You yes, but … don’t give me that much credit. You don’t know me all that well.” And when he found out …

He leaned his head down. His forehead rested on hers. “Something tells me that you don’t give yourself nearly as much credit as you deserve.”

Their eyes met and held and she was positive he was going to kiss her, or would have if her phone didn’t ding with a text.

Suddenly the moment felt awkward. She pulled away and snatched her phone from her back pocket.

The text was from Holiday. Its message was short.

Can you be back here by four? Need car. Holiday.

Fredericka wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. Cary was behind this. He’d already started initiating her punishment.

“Problem?” Brandon asked.

“Uh, no, not really,” she said, deciding not to pull Brandon into this. “I just have to be back in…” she looked at the time, “in two hours.” She pushed back her concern. “Why don’t we start scraping off the paint on the porch? I’ll come back tomorrow afternoon and we can start painting then.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” he said.

“Hey, I offered, remember?”

He smiled. “Okay. I’ll get the tools. You go figure out what all you think should be painted. Oh, and I’ll order us a pizza. I mean, if you like pizza? I’m starved.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

When he walked out, she looked back at her phone. Holiday’s text still showed on the screen. A feeling hit that she’d better come up with a plan, or Cary would try to ruin everything: her work at the gallery and whatever type of relationship was blossoming between her and Brandon. Hell, he could get her kicked out of Shadow Falls.

Yup, she’d better come up with a plan. And fast.

*

By the time pizza arrived they’d finished prepping the bottom half of the porch to paint. Brandon and she ate sitting on the concrete steps, and they chatted about the ideas for the gallery, about art, about the weather. It almost seemed as if they’d both had enough of hard discussions and agreed to keep it light.

Light was good.

Light was comfortable.

When they’d finished off the large meat-lovers’ pizza and each drank two glasses of sweet iced tea, Brandon went and pulled two ladders from the garage for them to start getting the top half of the porch ready to paint.

Fredericka noticed that for the most part, he no longer hid his scars from her. But something told her he was still very aware of them. And it made her extra careful not to focus on them. Even though her eyes kept wanting to go to his forehead where the bandana seemed to slip down on his brow.

The last thing she wanted was for him to think she found him unpleasant to look at. Because it was quite the opposite.

He only wore a T-shirt and jeans. And she’d enjoyed working at his side, watching him work. Watching him move. Watching his muscles shift like liquid beneath his skin. And a few times she felt him watching her and all she could think about was the kiss the text had interrupted.

Part of her worried the reason it hadn’t happened was because like her, Brandon was concerned about them having a relationship while she sort of worked for him.

He set up the ladders on opposite sides of the porch. “Be careful, these ladders are old and wobbly.”

“I’m sure they’re fine.” She grabbed her wire brush and started climbing. Brandon did the same. They worked side by side, comfortable. Not talking. But it wasn’t an awkward kind of silence. The sound of their wire brushes raking across the wood was pleasant. Every now and then they’d crawl down and reposition their ladders. After a while, she set her brush down on the top of the ladder and reached in her back pocket for her phone to check the time.

Brandon glanced at her.

“I should be heading out in a few minutes,” she said.

“Already? Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“Yeah,” she said. And she meant it. She’d had fun. “I’m gonna get that last little spot,” she said and slipped her phone back into her pocket and climbed one more step.

She was almost to the top when she felt the ladder start to lean. A squeal left her lips as the ladder went one way and she went the other.

Somehow, and she didn’t have a clue how, Brandon managed to get down his ladder and position himself beneath her. She free-fell for about five feet and then he caught her.

“Gotcha,” he said, his blue gaze staring down at her with concern.

Breath held, she became aware of being in his arms. Held close and solid, not even a wobble in his stance. Considering she wasn’t one of those hundred-pound petite gals, it was amazing he could even hold her up. Brandon was strong. Stronger than your average human. And his hearing was keener. His temperature warmer.

He had to be …

She blinked and that’s when she realized he’d lost his bandana. Instantly unfocusing her eyes, she stared at his forehead to get the answer to the question she’d longed to know since she first laid eyes on him.