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Carmine chuckled under his breath and strolled over to her She stiffened when she sensed hi have you been here?"

"A little while," he responded, placing his hands on her hips He pulled her body back against his and leaned down, nuzzling into her neck "How did you knoas me?"

"I smelled you," she replied casually

His brow furrowed "Are you saying I stink?"

She laughed and nudged Carmine playfully as she turned around "Of course not You sood, you know that"

"Yeah, I do" He sht?"

She rolled her eyes "Don’t get cocky"

"Hainst her "I always liked being cocky with you"

She blushed and turned back to her painting

"So a tree, huh?" he asked "It’s nice"

"It’s wrong," she said, tilting her head to the side again as she studied it "Don’t you think so?"

"Uh, it looks like a tree towith it?"

"I don’t know," she said "It’sIt doesn’t feel like the same tree, does it?"

"What tree?" he asked "The white tree of Gondor? The fucking who ? The one Eve stole the apple from?"

"The tree in Durante," Haven said inize it, so obviously it’s not right"

"It’s a tree, tesoro It has wood and leaves and acorns and shit I’d say it’s perfect"

"It doesn’t have acorns," she said "It’s a sycamore tree Does it really look like an oak tree? They’re nothing alike"

He sighed Hoas he supposed to know? "Haven, baby, you could tell ree because I can’t tell the difference"

She let out an exaggerated huff as she looked at hi fro out a Christmas tree that time?"

"What can I say? I’m finicky I don’t deny it But not all of us have yourand the picture of it is burned in your brain forever, but the only greenery I can identify is the kind I can s up her paintbrush She dipped the tip into the container of green paint and quickly drew the outline of a marijuana leaf on the corner of the canvas

He laughed "Yes, that kind, but you probably shouldn’t have done that You fucked up your painting"

She shook her head with frustration, sticking her paintbrush in a container of murky water "It doesn’t aped at her "What did you just say?"

"I said that it was already--"

"Christ, tesoro, you can’t say that shit!" He cut her off before she could repeat herself "Do you knohat it does to , and her eyes darted directly to his crotch Yeah, she knew exactly what it did to Carroan

"I’d apologize, but I can’t honestly say I’m sorry," she adize then," he muttered "You should always mean what you say and say what youmean," she added

His brow furrowed "That’s not a part of the saying"

"It fits"

"No, it doesn’t It’s bullshit So mean"

She looked at Carmine incredulously "There’s never a ti mean"

"Yes, there is"

Her eyes narrowed "When?"

"Plenty of times"

"Nae, not even one that ca mean to you first"

"Then you just walk away," she said "Trongs don’t ht"

"Well, what if you can’t walk away? What if they won’t let you?"

"And you think saying so to help you if that’s the case?"

She had Car on you, like in your teeth Shouldn’t I tell you?"

"Yes, but that’s notperh, like your nose? What if you have a crooked, fucked-up nose?"

Her hand ie of her nose as she eyed Car it sounded like he was telling her that He recalled how self-conscious she had been years before and felt like an asshole Way to go, DeMarco Insult her next time

"Not you, tesoro," he said "I didn’t reat, even I’, you know, hypothetically"

"Well, hypothetically, ould it be necessary to tellyou, so why hurt ain "Well, what if your painting sucked? Like this tree--what if it was honestly the worst tree ever painted?"

"It probably is"

"But what if it was for a grade, and I had to tell you so you wouldn’t fail?"