Truth in Watercolors (Truth Series Book 2) Read Free Page B

his teeth.
    “Sure, thanks,” I replied sticking out my hand. “I’m Capri.”
    “I’m Shane. Nice to meet you, Capri.” He smiled and turned to the bartender who’d made his way back over to us. “I’ll take another Guinness, and the lady will have—” He turned to me.
    “A Cosmo, please,” I told the bartender even though he already knew my drink.
    “Thank you,” I told Shane. We spent the next twenty minutes or so getting to know each other. He was a junior at SDSU, majoring in Kinesiology. He had no tattoos, didn’t use one swear word, and never once did another female approach him. Perfect. After exchanging numbers, we said our good-byes and I went back to my friends.
    Kensie was nowhere in sight, which could only mean she was somewhere on the dance floor. Thankfully, August hadn’t followed and sat in her vacated seat talking with Lennon. His dancing was equivalent to a baby giraffe taking its first wobbly steps—so awkward it was sweet.
    “Where’s your lady friend?” I asked Wes, pulling my hair over one shoulder and slipping into my chair. I was surprised to see him still in his place at the table. I’d expected him to disappear with the tatted twat.
    “My customer?” He folded his arms across his chest. “She left.”
    I nodded and took a sip of the water I’d brought back from the bar with me.
    “I told her that I’d take her word for it.”
    “Her word for what?” I spun my straw through the softened edges of the ice.
    “That her tattoo had healed okay. I didn’t let her show me her goodies.” He shrugged one shoulder and looked off toward the dance floor.
    I nodded.
    “So, you gonna do this mural with me?” he asked, suddenly sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees. The new position had him invading a quadrant of my space. I sat back initially, but then his scent of sandalwood and beer beckoned me closer. The notes of the fragrance reached out and dragged their fingers under my chin, pulling me in closer to him.
    “No,” I said, less determined than I’d wanted to sound.
    With that, Wes sat back into his chair retreating from my space and pulling his scent with him. With the release of the invisible tie, I snapped back into my own chair.
    “I knew you’d turn it down.” Wes shrugged. “Just thought I’d ask one more time to make sure.”
    “What do you mean you knew I’d turn it down?” He irritated the hell out of me. “I don’t even paint. Of course, I’d turn it down.” I scoffed at him and pushed my water away.
    “So maybe you don’t paint anymore,” he said, “but you used to, and you loved it.”
    He was right. I did love to paint. There wasn’t any other thing in the world that filled me when I needed to be full or drained me when I needed to be emptied. My time with paper and a brush had become sacred and private. Bringing anyone into that part of me, especially Wes, was a bit unsettling and completely frightening.
    “You don’t want to, you don’t want to. I won’t push you. I’d hoped you’d be up for the challenge, but I kinda knew you’d rather sit back and look pretty.”
    Those were his parting words to me before he stood up and swiftly strode out the door. Jackass.

 
    O ne hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three, okay lies. This counting thing to fall asleep didn’t work for shit. Maybe I went wrong at the rhinos? I mean, a guy like me didn’t count sheep, but these rhinos hadn’t made me the least bit sleepy either.
    I sat up and swung my feet over the side of the bed. Resting my elbows on my knees, my head fell into my palms. It was not the damn rhinos. It was the little blonde that I practically begged to paint this mural with me.
    I’d known only two things for sure in this world. One was that life changed, and the other was that I didn’t beg. Ever. So, I’d recently added a third to that list. Capri was an anomaly. I didn’t know what was going on lately. I didn’t know if it was a change in me