Paulie x Reader Heartstrings

Long Day of Work

You gritted your teeth against the weight of the board on your shoulders, steadying it while two men straightened it and nailed it in. You shook yourself off, looking down at yourself in disgust. "Is it even humanly possible to sweat this much? Well, it is a million degrees out here."

Making your decision, you shrugged off your outer shirt and tossed it aside, now wearing a low-necked tank top. "Yay, I'm not dying anymore."

Some of the men were giving you bedroom looks, so you knocked them out. "Suck on that, asshats."

"(Y/N), please." You turned to look at Paulie, the blond freezing mid-stride at the sight of you. "No, no, no, (Y/N), you are not wearing near enough!" He pulled off his blue coat and threw it over your shoulders, attempting to get your arms in the sleeves.

You ducked underneath him and danced away. "Nope, too hot for that, nuh uh, not today."

Paulie chased after you. "You have too! It's indecent!"

"Come on, Paul', don't be that way."

One the men said, "Yeah, let her wear a little less, boss."

You dropped kicked him into the ocean, but ended up hitting your head on the concrete. "Instant karma I guess." You got up, but couldn't get moving fast enough to avoid Paulie as he put the coat on your shoulders again and closed it, wrapping his arms around you from behind to keep it on.

"(Y/N)." The tone of his voice made you stop struggling. "Just... Please wear it, okay? A pretty woman like you, showing as much as you are... I don't want you to get hurt. It would kill me (Y/N). So please."

You sighed. "Paulie..."

"Please." He pressed his face against the crook of your neck.

You sighed. Why was it getting so hard to say no to him? "Fine. But I'm not wearing both."

"What?"

Before he could react, you jumped out of his arms and pulled your tank top over your head. He blushed hard and dropped his coat to put his hands over his face.

You bent down and picked it up, pulling it on and zipping it up. "There. Eep!" You squeaked as someone grabbed your butt.

Paulie went from embarrassed to furious so fast, you weren't fully prepared when he launched himself at the man behind you, bowling him over and pinned him to the ground. "YOU. DO. NOT. TOUCH. HER." Each screamed word was accompanied by a punch to the man's face.

When blood started to splatter the concrete, you put a hand on Paulie's shoulder. "Hey, come on Paulie, don't kill him."

Breathing heavily, blood dripping from  his busted knuckles, Paulie staggered to his feet, glaring down at the near-unconscious shipwright. "You don't touch her."

You gently took hold of one of Paulie's hand, gently brushing your fingertips across the bleeding flesh. "Oh, Paulie... Come on." Gently leading him away from the startled crowd, you made him sit and got out a med kit. "Now stay still."

He hissed as you wiped away the blood. "Told you to wear the jacket earlier..." You barely caught the muttered words.

"Not my fault men are jerks. Beside, I always just thought you were scared of women's bodies."

"No." He put a hand under your chin and made you look him in the eyes. "I just know how ruthless my sex can get."

You laid a hand on his cheek and leaned forward until your foreheads touched. "You'll never be like that, Paulie. Never." Looking into his blue eyes, your breath mingling together, his hand in yours, for a moment everything seemed to stop.

Then the moment was over. Pulling back with a blush on your cheeks, you went back to cleaning Paulie's hands, wrapping them up with a clean white bandage. "There you go." Without thinking, you brought his hand up and kissed his injured knuckles.

He smiled. "Thanks. That feels better."

You brushed a stray strand of blond hair back into place. "You don't have to thank me, ya know."

He grinned so big you almost wondered if it hurt. Pulling a cigar from one of the loops on the coat you now wore, he put it between his teeth and rooted around in his pockets. You pulled a lighter from the coat pocket. "Looking for this?"

He grabbed the lighter and removed the cigar for long enough to take your hand and bring it to his lips. "Why, thank you, m'lady."

You rolled your eyes and took his cigar and lighter. Lighting it for him, you offered the cigar and he took it, still grinning. "Hey, (Y/N)?"

"Yeah?"

"I-... Never mind. Let's get back to work."

"Hey! You can't leave it at that!"

"I just did."

"Paulie!"