The Artist's Amour (BWWM) ✓

Chapter 6: Teach Me How To Paint

"You're overloading your paint roller."

"Shut up."

"I'm serious."

"Shut up, Chris."

"It's creating streaks on the walls, Ari." Chris said, pointing to the light lines that were starting to form from the excess paint. I glanced over at his side and internally groaned. How could someone look so freakishly good yet still be so freakishly good at stuff?

Wasn't this supposed to be a whole 'only in your dreams' scenario? Where the guy has the looks AND the abilities? Usually it's one or the other in real life. I glanced back at Chris and took in his appearance. He was wearing a long faded painting short sleeve shirt that showed off his bulging muscles along with his loose fit jeans that hung a bit low along his waist. When he reached up to line the ceiling, the shirt would sometimes rise and you could see the defined v-lines there.

His arms and face were void of any paint, unlike me, who looked like I basically rolled around in primer for the past hour. My braid tips were now all covered in the white primer, along with my hands and most of my arms. My leggings were surprisingly clean, considering just how messy the rest of me was.

I snapped back to his face, taking in what he said earlier. "First off, don't call me Ari, literally, my name is AriA. You can't shorten a 4 letter name, it just sounds ridiculous. Second, I paint for a living. This wall looks fine." I lied, going back to try and pick up some of the excess paint that created the streaking with my roller as nonchalantly as I could without him thinking he won this argument. We had currently been painting for about 30 minutes now but completed absolutely nothing due to our bickering on how the primer should be applied, or how to clean the walls before painting.

This man was ridiculous.

Everything I said, he had to disagree with.

"First," he started, setting his paint brush down  against the tray on the floor to turn towards me, "Aria may be 4 letters, but it's 3 syllables. Ari is two. Second, your side of the wall looks like shit." He finished as he walked towards me, glancing back at my side of the wall before his lips slipping into an easy smile.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing." I stuttered, as I felt the warmth of his body behind me suddenly. His cologne was evidently strong now, intoxicating my surroundings and filling my nostrils with what smelt like Burberry. I could feel his minty breath against my exposed neck as his body drew closer. His hand slowly slid along my arm until it reached my hand that was holding the paint roller against the wall. My skin was on fire, seeing as how I had changed into one of my short sleeve painting shirts and my skin was exposed to his touch.

My breathing became labored as his hand rested on mine, while his other hand slid to my waist. He wasn't physically touching my neck but his lips were so close, it was like he was giving me ghost kisses. The hairs on my neck made me even more sensitive to his actions as they stood up on my skin.

"I'm teaching you how to paint, you idiot." He whispered, his voice coming out much huskier than he had probably intended to, and sent shivers down my spine. His hand began to move with mine, applying less pressure then I had been doing before as the paint spread more evenly against the wall.  The roller looked less loaded than when I did it. "You don't have to push so hard, just spread the paint out." He whispered, as his breath tickled my neck.

We were so past the painting techniques and we both knew it. But this persistent fucker trudged on. "See how much more even the paint is now?" He continued to whisper against me as his hands drew circles on the surface of my waist in a light pattern.

My neck involuntarily moved to the side, granting him more access. His grip tightened against my waist as he pulled me even further into him. His warmth engulfed me, as did his large frame compared to my petite one. I let out a barely audible moan as he continued to draw circles into my hip and  it was at that moment, my mind returned to our current situation.

My head snapped back, striking his nose that was directly behind it with serious force as he stumbled back against the empty space, almost tripping before quickly catching his unbalanced body. "Fuck, Ari." He groaned as he tilted him head up.

I turned around immediately, watching him as he clutched his nose with such a horrified look upon his face.

I couldn't have, I thought to myself as I stared at him. He slowly removed his hands to have me access the damage and soon enough, a trickle of dark liquid made its way past the nostril entrance and slid down his lip. His hands quickly went up to feel the liquid before pulling back to take a good look at his hands.

They were covered in blood.

I had totally just busted his nose.