Once in a Lifetime(20)

“Paint samples,” he repeated.

“Yes.”

“You were thinking about paint samples just now?”

No. She was thinking about the temptation of his hard body and how he might feel on top of her, holding her down while he did all sorts of delicious things with all that…hardness. Not that he needed to know that. “Yes,” she lied. “I was thinking about paint samples.”

His lips swept along her jawline to her ear. “I could make you forget about them.”

No doubt in her mind. “I don’t think so,” she said, having to lock her knees, what with her bones melted and all. Her palms were damp. Other places on her body were damp, too. Damn him. Realizing she was still fisting his shirt, she loosened her hands, stroking her fingers over the wrinkles she’d left.

He stepped back and let out a small smile. “I know better than to compete with paint samples.” He dropped his tool belt and headed to the door.

She stared after him. “Where are you going?”

“For air.”

“But…there’s work to do.”

“Yeah. You and your paint samples should get on it.”

And then he was gone.

Meow.

Gus was still hungry. Starving, if his vehemence said anything.

Aubrey was hungry, too. Just not for food.





Chapter 7



Ben was halfway down the street with absolutely no destination in mind when his phone vibrated.

“Don’t forget,” Jack said when Ben answered. “Craft Corner starts tomorrow. You need to be at the rec center between the elementary school and high school by three fifteen.”

Shit. He’d completely forgotten. His brain was currently on overload.

Kiss overload.

And yeah, it’d been a while since he’d kissed a woman, but he was pretty sure a kiss had never fogged up his head the way that Aubrey’s kiss just had.

It was her mouth, he decided. It was a pretty damn great mouth. “And if I’ve changed my mind?” Ben asked.

“I’ll change it back for you,” Jack said.

Ben laughed, because this was just bullshit posturing on his cousin’s part. Probably. Either way, he wasn’t all that worried, since he could fight mean and dirty as a snake when he had to.

But…he’d taught Jack everything he knew. “What the hell am I supposed to do with a bunch of kids at some stupid Craft Corner?” he asked.

“You’ve got a truck full of tools; you’ll figure it out,” Jack said, and then hung up.

Great. He was so not busy that he’d been reduced to playing arts and crafts with teenagers. He went home and barely slept—when he wasn’t fantasizing about Aubrey’s mouth.

He got up early and ran a few miles with Sam. “Do I look bored to you?” he asked Sam.

Sam’s lips twitched. “If you’re asking, you’re bored.”

Yeah. Shit. After he got home and showered, he formally applied for the job with the county, just to get Luke off his ass.

That afternoon, he pulled up to the rec center just as the school bus was dumping a load of kids off.

These weren’t high school kids; they were much younger. Elementary school kids. Some looked as though they could be in kindergarten.

Then he saw Pink and Kendra, and he got a very bad feeling. He whipped out his cell phone and called Jack.



He didn’t pick up. Fucker, he thought. Surely the older kids were already here, and that’s who he’d be working with. No one, especially Jack, would think to put him in charge of little kids. He walked to the back of his truck. He’d loaded up a crate full of tools, figuring they’d wing it.

Pink squealed at the sight of him and ran up close, dragging Kendra behind her. “Mister! Hi! Whatcha doing here?”

“Teaching Craft Corner.”

She squealed again, confirming all his suspicions before she let out a “Yay! That’s where we’re headed, too!”

They walked into the classroom assigned to Craft Corner, hanging on him like they owned the place because they knew the teacher. Ben set down his crate of saws and hammers and chisels and soldering tools, and one of the grade school teachers—apparently a few of them volunteered here after school—gave him a horrified look. “What is that?” she asked.

“Stuff for Craft Corner.” He paused. “For high school kids, right?”

The girls were jumping up and down at his side, clapping their hands in uncontained joy and excitement.

The teacher shook her head. “No. This is Craft Corner for ages five to seven.”

Jack, you bastard…

The teacher heaved a put-upon sigh, pulled out a set of keys, and went to a closet. She unlocked a cabinet and gestured to it.

“What’s that?” Ben asked.

“Spare materials.”

He stared at the shelves stocked with things like buckets of glitter glue and popsicle sticks. “What do I do with all this?”

“I don’t care, as long as you keep them busy for an hour and a half.”

And then she was gone.

Ben had once been in a remote area of Somalia with two other engineers when they’d been surrounded by a group of starving rebels. They’d rounded up Ben and his two co-workers, stolen everything they had, beaten the shit out of them for good measure, and left them for dead.