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"Why are you such a led hair over ht in the rain on my lunch break and alet back to work I can’t believe no one told me I looked like a drowned rat all day" I rolled my eyes and went to ht s stopped working and my heart fell out of my chest and landed at his feet when he took his free hand and ran his thu the delicate curve below one of my eyes where all my eyeliner had retreated to

"This actually looks familiar I reirlfriends at school and couldn’t get it off" He repeated the process on the other eye and I had to suck in a breath out of desperation because his face was starting to get blurry froen to my brain "You didn’t know the stuff aterproof and spent an hour trying to scrub it off with the hose in the backyard because you knew your dad would lose his shit if he caught you with it on You just ended up looking like a soggy raccoon"

I remembered the incident just as clearly as he seeht because his thuh arch of lance across the ruby I wore right above my lip

"You ran home and asked Maria what to do She sent you back with olive oil and saved the day" I gave hi after that that I started wearing as et under his skin Souess"

I saw his chest shudder as he took a deep breath and so dark moved across his sky-blue eyes He opened his ed his mind and snapped it closed He dropped my wrist like it was on fire and took a step back from me I didn’t bother to try and hide the disappointment that his retreat caused

"So talk to hed a little, but if he wanted to talk business I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in theon a conversation with iven Nash earlier I told hiht their clients would love the opportunity to represent not only the shop but their favorite artists and I was happy that he seeraphic pieces of art to sell as well as apparel and I had to admit I was impressed with his entrepreneurial mind He had always been a lot more than a pretty face and a jock I was happy to see he hadn’t lost that as he had grown into adulthood

We tossed ideas back and forth for twentyRule and Nash because he knew thens I could use He readily agreed and then we fell into an aard silence as it was obviously ti for reement We turned in different directions, hiht switch on the wall, when he suddenly said led tone

"Salem"

I looked at him over my shoulder and lifted a brow at the intent look on his handsome face

"Yeah?"

His boots clattered on the wooden floor as he stalked towardblue fire at ht up to me He didn’t stop until his chest was almost pressed into my back For someone who had actively avoided me for weeks and weeks and didn’t seem thrilled to have to share the same space ashis hands on me

He collected my heavy fall of two-tone hair in his hands and pulled it all up and off the bare expanse of my shoulders and neck

From one shoulder to the other I had a field of Texas bluebonnets and in between all the floere tiny little sparrows It was a big tattoo, bright and pretty, that took up a lot of real estate on my skin and in my heart The flowers and birds were so lifelike it looked like a photograph not a painting made of flesh and ink It was the first tattoo I had ever had done and it had withstood the test of time pretty well over the years Nor for the day, but with this shirt, the entire thing was on display and it was no wonder he was looking at the ink like it was going to juot it done as soon as I left Loveless" My voice was a little shaky even though I meant to sound defiant The floere the exact same color as the heartbreak in his blue eyes that day I left

"I drew that for you" He sounded mad He sounded hurt I couldn’t blaht have had to leave Texas, but it was neveryou and Poppy as well"

His finger traced along the field of flowers and he said ht it eird I liked to draw Everyone else always told o pro, so I shouldn’t wastearound with art You always told me to do what I wanted You were the only one that ever said it was okay that I was really good atI drew this picture for you for your birthday when you turned sixteen"