Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Having Colton’s sex-filled masculine scent in the close quarters of his car drove Paisley wild.
Maybe she shouldn’t have left her ride behind, even though they planned on going back.
Other vehicles were in the lot when they returned to Belle’s, and it was all she could do to keep her hands to herself instead of dragging him to the kitchen for the first aid kit.
The sooner she got fixed up, the sooner they could get back to…
looking at the record of the missing alcohol in the maintenance building.
“Where have you guys been?” Ona asked. “You look like you’ve been rolling around in a dust factory.”
“Looking for the records in the old storage building,” Colton said as Paisley continued to the galley kitchen. “I’ll fix the door sometime this week. That thing is a fire hazard.”
If she were a first aid kit, where would she be? She opened the cabinet next to the refrigerator, seeing only paper plates and paper towels. Another cabinet showed off glasses and plastic cups.
“Here.” Colton strode to the first cabinet and removed the first aid kit.
“Lots of workplace accidents here?” she asked.
“I just restocked the kit.” He popped it open and held out his hand.
Paisley held out hers. “Tweezers, please.”
Colton curled his fingers, then extended his hand again. “Let me help. It’s your left hand. You’re left handed. You might lose a limb if you attempt such a delicate procedure yourself.”
“Yeah, well, how do I know how skilled you are at this?” She hugged her hand to her chest, thrilled he knew that detail about her dexterity. “Better to lose a hand than develop some sort of gangrene and lose my whole arm.”
“You got a sample of my hand skills just a little bit ago.”
There was that wicked grin again. The intense heat between them could burn off her clothes. “We didn’t use tweezers.”
“I have extensive first aid training. And don’t worry. They taught us through pictures so I didn’t have to learn to read.”
She snorted at that. His sense of humor always took her by surprise. “My logic still stands. But my opinion has changed. I now believe you read books.”
Colton held out the tweezers. Paisley ignored them and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing the ever loving daylights out of him.
“What about your splinter?” he asked.
“What splinter?” she murmured.
This time his laugh was deep and grumbly, coming from his chest and vibrating his body, sending darts of desire to her sensitive places. “Let’s remove that piece of wood so we can get back to the building.”
“Piece of wood, huh?” Paisley let her eyes lower to below Colton’s belt and licked her lips. His sharp intake of breath sent a rush of wanting through her.
He swiped the tweezers with sanitizer, then motioned for her to sit. With her palm up and fingers extended on the table, he caught the tip of the embedded wood, then extracted it.
“It looks a little red.” He rummaged through the first aid kit and produced a tube of antibacterial cream. He dabbed some on, placed a bandage on top, and finished it with a kiss.
“Good as new.” He held her hand and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Tell me you’re still as wet for me as I am hard for you.”
Her breath caught in her throat at his bold words. She could only nod in response.
“Then let’s get back to that maintenance building.”
“Not before I take a blanket out of my car.”
* * *
“Did you finish your project?” Paisley asked Trotter that night. They were finally on the boss level. Battling the Schlimazel himself for all the glory and bragging rights.
Should she tell him about Colton and their explosive chemistry? Trotter consistently offered staunch support whenever she discussed her love life. Her love afternoon? Her love encounter. Usually she had no problem with sharing, but this intimacy was…different.
After taking care of her splinter, Paisley and Colton sped back to the building. By that time, Brandi and Eulalee were going through the rest of the boxes. Colton had dropped her hand faster than a bomb expert untangled wires on an explosive device.
They found the last of the missing records, but with two additional people, they didn’t get an opportunity to talk about next steps. She didn’t know if it was a one-time thing. Even with the mutual attraction, starting a relationship went beyond just a chemical reaction.
“No, we got delayed. Oh, catch that yarmulke.”
She moved her controller to the side and caught the falling head covering, wincing when the plastic brushed against the splinter site from hell. The irritation kept increasing. “That’s a bummer. I know how much you wanted it done.”
“It was still a good day.”
She raised her eyebrows at his tone. “Do tell.”
She started at a burst of Klezmer music, and a menorah with nine burning candles waddled onto the screen, an exclamation point over its head.
“Side quest!” Paisley said.
“Let’s do it.”
Eight of the candles scattered, leaving Paisley and Trotter only with the shamash. They spent the next half hour with the helper candle as their guide, gathering clues, solving puzzles, and combating various non-playing characters to recover the missing lights.
Paisley grit her teeth and stretched her hand. The controller hit her wound every time she moved to the left, but she couldn’t abandon Trotter to save Chanukkah by himself.
“You ever get into a situation that you want to be in but don’t know how to stay in?” Trotter asked. “Do we have to battle that box of matches?”
A bit of a change from talking about work, but Paisley was down for it, especially with the similarities to her afternoon. Thinking about it now made her all squirmy.
She used some chocolate gelt to knock the box off the top of the kitchen cabinets. “And what situation is that?”
“I don’t think she’s the flowers and candy type.” Trotter put the candle prize in his satchel.
“‘She’? This is for a woman?” Paisley teased.
“It’s not for my dog.”
“You have a dog?”
“Not the point, River.” Trotter’s voice came out drier than a saltine cracker.
“It’s just that…I thought your idea of a good time was making sure she knew it wasn’t long term.
” Trotter serviced as a valuable sounding board for Paisley whenever she needed it.
It tickled her to return the favor. A little jealous, too, but she wanted to explore things with Colton. If he’d let her.
She should ask Brandi how to approach this. Brandi would know.
Trotter huffed out a laugh. “I thought it was. Meeting for coffee’s not really a date, though.”
“What a way to justify clinging to your old ideals. What changed?” Experiencing the parallels with Colton—including coffee—she might as well dive into the secrets of the male mind.
“I dunno. She’s unique. Gorgeous. Makes me smile even when I don’t want to,” he said. “Maybe I should bring her a book.”
“Ah, she reads. I approve.”
“So you think I should bring her a book?”
Wow, he sounded nervous. This must be an unfamiliar experience for someone usually so calm and unruffled. “Like the Kama Sutra?” Paisley asked.
Trotter let out a low laugh. “We can lead up to that. I’ll start with a mystery novel. Since, you know, she’s a mystery.”
“Oh. No. Velveeta much? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say something that cheesy.
You must be serious.” She shook out her hand.
The pressure made it throb. “Look, I’ve got to stop playing, but I can still hang.
I got a splinter in my hand today, and it’s right at the spot where I hold the controller. ”
Silence greeted her statement, and she tapped her headphones to see if she’d lost the connection. “Trotter? You there?”
He cleared his throat and spoke one word to her.
“Paisley?”