Protecting His Home Read online

Andrea gives me a small smile, “Yeah, knowing that someone could do that to her pisses me off too. He’s not here though, she was in college in Pennsylvania and as far as I know he’s still there. She hasn’t talked to him in years.”

  Andrea gives me a hard look, “I’m only telling you because she shouldn’t have to put up with some guy being a dick to her just because. To answer your question, no, she’s not always this cheery. She’s been trying to be positive and supportive for me so she’s put on her retail persona, but I can see how exhausting it is for her. She’s the kind of person that would rather spend a Friday night with a book curled up on the couch than getting blitzed at a club or flirting. She’s been cheery for me, not herself.”

  I scoff, “She’s not a flirt? She was flirting with Troy…and Walsh.” I know I sound defensive as hell, but I can’t seem to help myself.

  Andrea arches her eyebrow and fixes me with a cold stare. “Was she? Or was she just being nice? She’s not like that. She’s loyal and she’ll scrape, fight and kill for the people she loves.” She purses her lips slightly like she’s not sure if she wants to say what she’s thinking. “Just so you know, she was really excited about meeting you. She’s been following your social media for years and admires your art so much.” I feel my shoulders slump; I’m an ass. Andrea eyes me, “Get your shit together because she’s worth it.”

  I look up and meet her eyes. I nod. “Yeah, I got that feeling. Actually, I got a lot of feelings from just hearing her laugh when I was outback grabbing a smoke and you guys were out front.” Andrea’s eyebrows shoot up and I shake my head, “I just…look, it’s no excuse but my ex cheated on me with my best friend. It fucked me up and while I know I had no right, it pissed me off that she was flirting with the guys.” I sigh, “Well, it felt like flirting at the time. It hurt and I took it out on her because it shouldn’t have even hurt.”

  I finish up the line work and wipe Andrea’s skin. Andrea’s watching me closely and I can’t blame her. “She didn’t deserve my behavior, at all. I’ll make it right.”

  Andrea nods and smiles warmly. “Good, Beckett. That’s good. It won’t be easy now, though. She’ll make you work for every step because she refuses to be hurt again like she was before. I know she still hears every hurtful word that jackass ever said to her.”

  I swallow, that’s a heavy load she’s carrying around but like a lightning strike hits out of nowhere, she came into my life out of nowhere and it’s like my heart just accepted her as fact. I know that I can carry that load for her and make her forget him and everyone else that’s ever hurt her. I can already see her fitting right in at my shop.

  She looked so comfy on my couch out front, I could see her sitting there curled up with a book waiting for me to finish up an appointment. I could see her in my house, making it a home. I could see her hanging out with the crew on a Friday night or anytime we get together. I could see her spending lazy weekends in bed, going to concerts, wandering museums. She already wormed her way into my art before I even met her.

  Let’s not even touch on the fact that she runs a cannabis dispensary. My favorite one, too. I don’t know how I missed her there, maybe because I go there at night. She has so much to keep up with, I bet she works mostly days and that’s when I’m at my own shop. Her shirts are pretty funny too.

  I bet she smokes. How could she not since she works at a dispensary? That shocked the hell out of me; I figured her shirt was just quirky. When did I become such a judgmental ass? Bri didn’t like that I smoked, it sure as hell wasn’t something we did together. Not having that as an issue would be awesome. I bet she’s hilarious and extra adorable when she’s stoned.

  Then there’s the fact that my dick stood up and took notice just from hearing her laugh. Once I saw her, it became a steel rod and twitched every time she looked at me. I want to touch every part of her sexy as fuck body and grip her hips hard when I fuck her from behind. I bet she makes the best fucking noises and looks like a goddess when she comes. I will do whatever I need to do so I can see her shatter apart in my arms.

  I smile at Andrea, “I know, but I will make it right.” I glance at my sketch pad and wonder if I should show her my sketch. Fuck it. Having Andrea as an ally will only be a good thing as I try and win my girl. My girl, that’s exactly what she is. I know it without a doubt now.

  I grab my sketch pad and skim through it, finding my pin up drawing from this morning. I hand it over to Andrea, “I drew this first thing this morning.”

  Andrea’s eyebrows knit together, and she glances up at me. “This morning? But this is Amelia.”

  I shrug, “I drew this before my first appointment today, I hadn’t seen or met Amelia before I drew it, I swear.”

  Andrea smiles wide and she runs a finger over one of the sunflowers on the dress. “Wow. Her favorite flowers are sunflowers, too.” I can’t help it; I laugh because this is crazy. “That’s insane that you drew her this morning.”

  “I know. I think that’s part of the reason I was acting the way I was because it kind of freaked me out. Then to see her with Troy,” I shrug.

  Andrea smirks, “You should change the sunflower tattoo to a ball of yarn and a crochet hook.”

  I know I must have a shocked as fuck look on my face, but Andrea just laughs. “I’m not going to reveal all her secrets. Where’s the fun in that?” She shrugs, “It was just a suggestion, for accuracy’s sake.”

  I chuckle and take my sketch book back and place it on the counter. “I’ll take it under advisement. Let’s take a quick break before we start on filling it in.”

  Andrea nods and gets up off the chair. She heads back to the bathroom and I realize that Amelia’s been gone for a little while now. She’s probably avoiding me, not that I blame her.

  Troy looks up from dressing his client, “You gonna stop being an ass now and get your girl?”

  I scoff at him and Olivia starts giggling. I mock glare at her, “You got something to say?”

  Olivia holds up her hands and shakes her head, “Nope.”

  I glance down the hallway and don’t see Amelia, so I look back at Troy and nod, “Why’d she call you Superman, anyway?”

  Troy laughs and shakes his head. “She was calling me on my shit. I asked her if she had any tattoos. She deflected and asked me what I thought.” I feel my eyebrows shoot up; does she have any tattoos? “She called me Superman because I started undressing her with my eyes, but she brushed me off and told me to get back to her when I figured it out since I wasn’t going to really be able to see through her clothes.”

  I can’t help it, I laugh. She’s adorable.

  Walsh sticks his head around the back from the reception area, “You gonna hire Andrea to manage the shop?”

  I shrug, “Not sure yet, I guess I’ll do an interview while I’m working on her.”

  Walsh smiles, “Cool. If Amelia thinks she’ll do well, I trust that. She seems cool and she manages Green Space, so she knows her shit.”

  Troy chimes in, “She does?”

  Olivia pipes up from the cut, “Ohhhh, they’re the best. I just got a really amazing handmade beanie there the other day since winter will be here soon.”

  I shake my head, amused. Well, I guess the majority of the crew is good with bringing Andrea on. I don’t know if Dex has met either Amelia or Andrea and Zeke is off today.

  As if I conjured him up, Dex saunters out of the back room and into his space. He nods to my sketchbook, “Is she…”

  I cut him off, he must have seen her when she went to the bathroom, “Apparently.”

  He furrows his brow, “Had you met her before?”

  “Nope.” He looks shocked. Yeah man, get in line. I shrug. “Did she go out back?”

  He nods, “Yeah, I think so. I heard her come out of the bathroom before your client came back, but she didn’t walk past the back room.”

  I stand up and I can feel everyone watching my every move. Yeah, watch fuckers. I hear Dex whisper, “So, who is she and what’s her
name?”

  I can’t help but grin, people think that chicks are the only ones interested in the drama. I can tell you, that’s complete bullshit. The dudes in my crew are bigger gossips than any girl I’ve ever known. Well, except maybe Bri, but we all know how that turned out.

  Andrea comes out of the bathroom just as I’m passing by. She looks worried, “Amelia wasn’t in the bathroom, obviously.”

  “It’s cool, Dex said he thinks she went out back. I’ll go and check on her. Head back to my station and get to know the crew a little bit better. We’ll talk more about the job while I work on your piece.”

  She smiles up at me and nods. I keep heading out the back door of the shop without looking back. I don’t need to see their looks. I already know, I’ve been a complete ass today and I need to make it right.

  I find Amelia sitting out on one of the patio chairs we keep out back. She’s just blowing out a plume from her vape pen and it smells fucking amazing. I bet she gets first pick of everything that comes into her shop. I wish I hadn’t wasted my daytime cigarette earlier; I’d love to have a reason to sit down and talk to her for a few minutes.

  She glances up at me and tucks her pen back in her bag. “Sorry.”

  I shrug and take a seat next to her, “It’s cool.”

  She gives me a cold look; I see all the walls she’s erected around herself. I don’t blame her, that’s all on me. She looks away and shifts her body away from me as well. Well that stings a little. “Done with the outline?”

  “Yeah, taking a little break. I gotta head back in in a minute.” I clear my throat. “Amelia, look, I’m sorry for snapping at you and being an ass.”

  She doesn’t look at me, just shrugs, “It’s fine. No harm, no foul.”

  I shake my head, “No, it’s not fine. I shouldn’t have treated you that way. I’m sorry that I did.”

  She stands up and crosses in front of me, I push away the temptation to reach for her. “Really, Beckett, it’s fine. I’m fine. Everything is…fine.”

  I swear, if I never hear the word fine again, I’ll be a happy man. I stand and reach out for her wrist. The moment I touch her skin it feels like I’ve been zapped by that damn lightning again. She stops and looks up at me like she just felt the same thing.

  She looks down at my grip on her wrist and I feel her try and pull free. I tighten my hold and she looks up at me and I can see the twinge of fear. No, that’s unacceptable.

  “Baby, I’ll never hurt you.” My voice sounds low and husky, even to me. Damn what this woman does to me. I see confusion whirl in her eyes. I take the opportunity to step closer and tuck some of her curls behind her ear and smile at her. “I promise.”

  I release her wrist and glide my hand up her arm to her bicep. Even through her cardigan I can feel the warmth from her skin, or maybe that’s just her. The moment my hand touches her shoulder I see it happen, she shuts down completely and erects her walls even higher.

  She takes a step back and shakes her head. “You already did, Beckett.” She shrugs, “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m going to check on Andrea.”

  She’s back inside before I even know what’s going on. I realize I feel lonelier now in this moment than I did this morning before I knew that Amelia existed in the world. I head inside and stop by the bathroom to get myself under control before I head back to my station.

  I notice that Amelia is in Dex’s space looking at the art on the walls of his station. She’s smiling, but it’s guarded, I realize that she’s holding herself back because of me. I wish I could kick my own ass right now.

  I catch the disapproving looks from Troy and Olivia. I give them a wry smile and head back to my station. Andrea’s on my table chatting with Walsh. She sees me and gives me a little smile full of pity; she warned me that it wouldn’t be easy to undo the damage I caused. She was right.

  I make sure I have everything I need to finish up Andrea’s tattoo and then settle in and tell her to lay back down. Walsh vacates the other seat as Amelia comes back to my station. Amelia gives Walsh a little smile and sits.

  She looks at her friend and gives her a genuine smile, “You ready to finish this thing? It looks amazing already.”

  I can’t help the grin; it really does something to me that she likes my work so much. I’d love to leave my mark on Amelia’s skin. She never answered the question about whether she has tattoos. Not much of her skin is exposed and I don’t see any. Even almost completely covered up, she’s still sexy as fuck.

  I catch myself trying to undress her with my eyes. When I look back up into her eyes, she’s staring at me with a neutral expression on her face. I lick my lips and she tracks the movement. She doesn’t give anything else away, but that’s okay. She wants me, she just doesn’t want to want me. I can work with that. I smirk at her and her eyes widen slightly. Yeah, I can work with this.

  I turn my attention toward Andrea and ask her if she’s ready. She gives a nod and I get to work. I notice Amelia pull something out of her bag. It’s a ball of yarn and a hook? Andrea mentioned a crochet hook earlier. Who the hell is this girl?

  She catches me staring and she smirks. I busy myself with Andrea’s tattoo and talking to her more about the shop and her strengths and weaknesses. It doesn’t take me long to realize that she’ll be the perfect person to come on as a shop manager.

  I keep an eye on Amelia, but she doesn’t interject anything other than periodically checking on Andrea by squeezing her arm. I notice that when I’m about halfway through with the color work that Amelia has most of a black beanie completed. Damn, she works fast.

  Olivia meanders over and looks over my shoulder at Andrea’s tattoo. That’s when she notices what Amelia is doing.

  “Oh! Did you make the beanie I bought at Green Space?”

  Amelia looks up and gives her a genuine smile and it makes my stomach flip. I want her to smile at me like that. “I did. You bought one?”

  Olivia smiles and nods, “Yeah, it’s amazing. So soft and it fits me perfectly.”

  Amelia’s face lights up. “I’m so glad you like it.”

  “Like it? I love it! I can’t wait for it to get even colder and I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to that before.” I glance up at Amelia and her eyes are sparkling. Damn it, she’s beautiful. Olivia comes around the table and watches Amelia making her hat. “Do you do custom orders?”

  Amelia places the hat in her lap and gives all of her attention to Olivia. “Of course.” She pulls out her phone and opens Instagram and points it toward Olivia. “I just finished this custom pillow and sent it out to my customer last week.” She shrugs, “I’ve done custom beanies and a few baby blankets too.”

  Olivia gushes, “Oh that pillow is amazing! That’s so cool that you made that.”

  Amelia blushes, “Yeah, I made the graph myself. The biggest challenge is choosing the right font.”

  I can see Olivia nod toward me, “We need custom pillows for our couch out front. It would be really cool for a set, like one says Banks and the other says Ink..” Amelia smiles, but doesn’t comment. Olivia takes Amelia’s phone and pulls the pillow up again and shows it to me, “Banks you should check out this pillow.”

  I take a moment and really study it and I have to say I’m impressed. I smile at Amelia, “That’s awesome. It’s hard to believe you take yarn and make it into that.” Amelia shrugs and doesn’t meet my eyes. “Custom pillows for the couch would be really cool, that’s a great idea Olivia.”

  Olivia smiles and hands Amelia back her phone. “It would, maybe we can give the shop a Christmas present.” She focuses back on Amelia, “Have you done like a set for a mom and baby before?”

  Amelia lights up again and scrolls until she finds a specific picture and shows Olivia, “Of course! A customer sent me this picture last year and it’s still one of my favorites.”

  I only catch a glimpse of it, but that’s okay I’ll be on Amelia’s social media later checking out her work. I’ve never known someone my age who c
rochets. Seems like a throwback art, but then again, there’s been a big push for people to start making their own things again.

  Olivia is practically bouncing on her toes, “That’s so cute! My older sister just had my niece and they would be so cute in matching beanies. I’d love to order a set from you.”

  They talk for a few minutes about styles and colors and before I know it Amelia’s sent an invoice to Olivia with a promise to have the beanies completed and in her hands within a week of when the invoice is paid. I can tell just by listening to Amelia that she’s really passionate about this. It’s music to my ears. Her cheer isn’t forced like it was before; it’s genuine and it’s beautiful.

  She’s what I’ve been missing in my life and the truth of that almost takes my breath away. I glance over at Dex and he’s smiling like an idiot. I roll my eyes at him, but that just makes him chuckle.

  Olivia asks, “How long have you been crocheting?”

  Amelia looks uncomfortable for a second, but quickly covers it. “A few years, I needed a hobby that kept my hands busy and help slow down my mind before I moved out here. When my family told me that I’ve gifted them enough scarves and hats to last them a lifetime, especially considering they live in Florida, I realized that maybe I could turn it into something else and still have some sort of purpose with my projects that didn’t involve my apartment looking like an 80 year old lives there. All the yarn already gives it that geriatric vibe, I don’t need afghans on every surface or, God forbid, doilies. It is the only post-apocalyptic skill I have. When the zombies come, at least I’ll be able to make a sweater.”

  She laughs and it’s self-deprecating, but it makes me chuckle. She looks at me and narrows her eyes slightly. I just smile at her and she looks away quickly.

  “That’s so cool, how did you learn?”

  Amelia smiles, “How does anyone learn anything now? YouTube.”

  Olivia laughs, “I’ll pay that invoice right now, so I don’t forget. I can’t wait to give them to my sister. They’re going to have Christmas pictures taken and that would be so cute in them.”