Grabbing my phone, I typed the term into the search engine and then passed it over. “It’s a very glitch art, techno, retro art style.”
Miller nodded as he scrolled through the images. “I’ll need to add more pink.”
One hundred percent on board with that idea, I passed every pink, magenta, and red that I owned over to his side of the table. “Have at it.”
Working on our individual projects, we painted in silence for the most part. He’d lean over every once in a while to show me his progress and ask for my opinion.
I was in heaven.
“Carson?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you have any glitter?”
“What?” I sat up and looked at all my paints.
“I wanted to add some glitter to his galaxy cloak,” he said, his voice going quiet as he finished his sentence.
“Oh, umm. Let me think.” I knew I had some glitter somewhere, but it wasn’t the right scale for what we were working with. And then it came to me. “I think I got something you can use.”
Getting up, I walked down the hallway and entered the playroom. Neatly organized atop the white vanity was a selection of glittery nail polishes. Opening a drawer, I grabbed a package of cheap, wedge-shaped makeup sponges and snagged a little basket and as many nail polish bottles as it could hold.
Returning to the living room with my haul, I dropped down next to Miller and showed him what I’d scrounged up. “If you paint the nail polish onto the sponges, it’ll soak up the clear coat, and then you can dab on the glitter without making a gloopy mess.”
Miller’s eyes grew wide at the various holographic, iridescent, and glittery polishes in the basket. “Thanks.”
Hugging the container to his chest, he lifted each bottle, studied it for a moment, and then placed it on the table. I watched for a minute as he sorted and organized the bottles to some master plan he had in his head.
Returning to the large hydra I was working on, I left him to it.
“We’re out of paperclips.”
I looked around the table, and sure enough, he was right. He was holding an unopened bottle of pink paint as he looked for a clean paperclip to stir up the little bits that stuck to the bottom of the containers. “There’s more on my desk in my office,” I said, pointing down the hall. “It’s the last door on the right,” I added, still mostly focused on my painting.
Miller scrambled up and disappeared down the hallway.
I was so focused on detailing the hydra’s scales that it took me a while to realize Miller had been gone a lot longer than necessary. I frowned as I looked down the hallway. My desk was a little messy, sure, but the paperclips shouldn’t have been that hard to find.
I gave him a few more minutes to return, but he was still a no-show.
Getting up, I walked toward my office and pushed open the door. I expected to see Miller, but instead, the room was empty. Confused, I stepped out and looked toward the bathroom, but the door was slightly ajar, telling me it was empty.
Where was he?
Looking at the plain door across from my office, I closed my eyes and groaned when I noticed it was open.
Well, shit.
Chapter Nine
Miller
Moving down the hallway, I eyed the last door on the left as I approached. It felt a little strange going into Carson’s office by myself, but he’d said it was okay, so I wasn’t going to worry too much over it.
I was already too busy worrying about everything else. His offer for one. It had been almost an entire week since he’d thrown out his little proposition, and I still wasn’t any closer to an actual answer. I was tempted, really fucking tempted, but at the same time, it scared me and made me want to run in the opposite direction.
I wanted to accept so much it was excruciating, but knowing he was straight, I knew my budding feelings for him would lead me to seek more than he was capable of giving. If I was going to take another dive into the dynamic, I wanted to do it with someone who could give me all that I needed, not just a tiny piece of themselves.
While Carson could give me a taste of the dominance I still craved, he couldn’t give me everything.
But he’s so sweet, I thought wistfully, and sexy and hot and those arms.
Groaning, I rolled my eyes at my own indecisiveness.