Page 29 of Chasing Blue

CHAPTER7

Scarlett.

Damn,he’s so bloody hot! Why does he have to be so hot? Why couldn’t he have aged terribly?

And then his kid appears over his shoulder, and damn again . . . so what, shoot me, my inappropriate brain went there, with both of them. That kid is gonna break some poor girls’ hearts, and I hope for their sake it’s not in the same brutal way his dad broke mine.

“Need a hand with that lot?” Finn asks as he approaches, a grin on his face that has him looking even more like his dad.

“Sure.” I hand him my mood board and a couple of fabric swatch books. He smiles and nods as he takes them. Calling out, “I’ll put them on the bar,” as he heads back inside.

Jack’s standing with his hands folded across his chest as he watches his son move back inside and my stomach churns a little at that thought.

His son.

I wonder for a split second how my—our—lives might have been different if it weren’t for Finn’s existence. Not that I want that to be a thing, Finn not existing, obviously. Life is what it is. I’m not a believer in things happening for a reason, things just are. But yeah, just for a second, I allow myself to wonder.

“How’s it going?” My eyes skirt back to Jack, who’s now looking at me as he asks.

“Yeah, I’m good. Busy week as usual. You?”

“I’m always busy,” he responds with a wink. “Do things get quieter for you in winter, or is that when everyone gets their decorating done?” He continues to question me as I lean into the back of my car and pull out the polished concrete samples.

I turn and hand them to him and open my mouth to answer when he grabs my chin and tilts my face to the side.

“What the fuck, Blue? What happened to your cheek?”

He’s pressed so close I can smell him. Some kind of aftershave and maybe fabric softener. Clean. Fresh. Man.

With one hand holding onto the samples, the other still gripping my chin, he stares down at me and waits for an answer.

My fingertips brush across the bruise on my cheek I’d attempted to cover with makeup.

“Yeah, it’s nothing. Just a little battle scar from a bar fight last night. I need to learn to duck quicker.”

He scratches at the stubble on his jaw. I watch intently, instantly deciding I need to charge up my Womanizer when I get home and use it when I take a shower tonight. At the same time, I wonder how that stubble might feel on the inside of my thigh . . . right at the very top, just before it reaches . . . Jack grins, his chest moving in silent laughter.

“What?” I ask, curious at his sudden amusement.

“You got in a bar fight?” he asks. His attempts at hiding his smile futile.

“Just a little one. It’s all good, some friends had my back. You should see the state of the other bloke.”

The smile instantly leaves his face, and he takes a small step towards me.

“What the fuck? A bloke did that to you?”

“It’s fine, I’m okay. Like I said, some friends of mine sorted it.”

He shakes his head. “A bloke, though? A bloke hit you?”

“It’s all good. It’s a long story and all sorted now.”

“Yeah, well, when you’ve got a minute, I’d like to hear that story. You sure you’re okay?”

My belly does a few backflips, my vagina lets me know it’s been a while, and I feel a little lightheaded at his concern.Damnthis man! I just need a root, that’s all it is. I’ve not had sex with an actual person in months. Fuck the vibes, I need to feel the weight of a man on top of me.

“I’m good, Jack, honestly. I saw stars at the time, but it could’ve been a lot worse if a mate hadn’t stepped in.”