Nic pulled up behind the gallery, putting her venerable mini-van into park. She was feeling rushed. She’d had to stop painting in order to deliver these paintings on the schedule she’d promised. Now all she wanted was to get back to work.
She was on time, but that wasn’t because of her organizational skills. In fact, it was pretty much dumb luck.
The drive from Old Town Alexandria into Washington, DC had been pleasant. She’d cruised up the George Washington Parkway and crossed the Potomac on the Fourteenth Street Bridge. Traffic had been light on this bright clear summer day. The middle of June, the summer heat was not yet oppressive and, better yet, the humidity was still bearable.
Nic hopped out, rang the bell beside the blank metal door and opened the van’s sliding door. It caught and she had to tug it open. She shook her head... she knew... someday it was gonna stay stuck.
Coming directly from her studio, she was in paint clothes — a large white man’s shirt fell to mid-thigh. The sleeves were rolled up and simple black shorts peeked from beneath the shirt hem. Her newest pair of canvas slides had been decorated with acrylic paint. This pair featured an Op Art pattern in an homage to the Sixties. She dressed for practicality and comfort.
Stevie had mentioned meeting someone who had bought some of her work last week, but Nic wasn’t about to lose most of a paint day to get dressed up.
If the guy bought paintings, he could meet the painter... with paint. She glanced down at the paint stained shirt tails, and shrugged to herself. She checked her hands. They had paint on them, too, but at least it was dry paint!
Her back to the door, she was reaching in for her paintings when she heard it open. Without turning, she spoke to Stevie, “I have five new pieces here today, but two others needed some final touches. I’ll bring them over next week. Can you give me a hand?”
She felt warmth behind her and movement beside her as a strong, masculine arm reached past her ear. The canvas she had been struggling with was carefully pulled out as she scooted out of the way. She opened her mouth to object — she didn’t let strangers handle her art, but sparkling blue eyes stopped the protest. She noted dimples, a square jaw—cleanly shaved, and a straight aristocratic nose. The eyes smiled at her and her gaze slid back to the dimples. Dimples. She had a weakness for dimples.
As she looked, the beautiful firm lips formed a sentence.
“Hi. I’m Daniel Sterling. Nice to meet you.” When she failed to respond, the smile widened and the deep voice asked, “Where do you want me to put this?”
With an effort, Nic pulled herself out of her trance and back into the real world. Some stranger was standing there holding one of her new paintings. She opened her mouth in protest, but caught sight of Stevie. Her good friend was behind the stranger, dancing maniacally and gesturing urgently — giving enthusiastic thumbs up signs.
Nic closed her mouth and looked back to the stranger, watching those luscious lips grin outright. She could even hear the laughter in his voice as he repeated the question.
“Where do you want me to put this?”
Nic scowled, gave herself a mental shake and said, “Stevie can show you where to put it.” She turned back to the van.
A short time later, she, GG - Gorgeous Guy—and Stevie were standing in the storage room of the gallery, her newest painting propped against the wall.
While GG was looking them over carefully, Stevie, always one of her biggest supporters, was oohing and aahing.
What WAS his name? He’d introduced himself... maybe? Maybe not.
She’d been lost somewhere between his blue eyes and sexy mouth, with a detour at the dimples. She liked dimples. REALLY liked them.
Stevie, mindful of her role as gallery representative, was ready to jump in if GG had any questions.
Finally, after an eternity, GG looked over at her and smiled. Had she mentioned she LOVED dimples?
“I’ll take all of them.”
“But...” Nic tried to make a coherent sentence. Her eyes locked with his and her ears buzzed.
It was Stevie. “Daniel.” Stevie raised her voice slightly, to get GG’s attention. “I’ll be happy to write this up. Let’s go into the office.”
GG, or was it Daniel?—winked at her, as Stevie led the way out of the store room. Nic hurried after them.
*****
Daniel followed Stevie to the office. He hoped he hadn’t overplayed his hand with his little artist. Had he been too quick? He’d planned to be cool about everything. Plan A had been, Step 1 - Meet Nic, Step 2 - Charm Nic, Step 3 - Take her out for coffee, then, Step 4 - Ask her on a real date...
There hadn’t been a Plan B, let alone a plan to buy five paintings the first time he saw them. There was enough wall space in his condo for these and his purchases from last week, but if he continued like this, he was going to run out of room... fast.
He’d felt an immediate connection to this woman when he saw her across the Metro platform, but he’d never expected to have such a visceral reaction to her work. Last week, her paintings had grabbed him by the throat. Today, his reaction had reinforced that connection. And his response to her physical presence... well, it was off the charts.
“Let me write up the invoice for these. Do you want us to deliver them?” Stevie’s voice drew him back to the present. He needed to get back to Plan A, if he hadn’t overplayed his hand with his impulsive purchase.
“Hi, Nic.” He offered his hand and she took it. “I just recently discovered your work. A childhood friend of mine took dancing lessons, and I always found it fascinating, but your work is giving me an entirely new perspective.” He delivered his most charming smile.
“Hi, Daniel, pleased to meet you.” At that moment, a phone rang.
“Excuse me.” Nic broke contact with him and reached into a pocket on the messenger bag she was wearing. Looking at the screen, she quirked an eyebrow at Stevie and answered it. Oddly, she held it to her ear, but didn’t say anything. Daniel tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
There was silence. No buzz from the caller on the other end. After a short time, Nic ended the call, checked something and pulled a small notebook. She made a note and put the phone and notebook back in her bag.
Stevie asked, “More of those hang up calls?”
Daniel caught Nic slanting her eyes in his direction, signaling something to Stevie as she replied, “Yeah. Still not sure what’s going on.”
Daniel knew better than to ask, but he vowed that he’d find out what was bothering her as soon as possible. He didn’t understand the connection he felt to Nic, but he knew it was there... and it was real. With that promise, he began to implement Plan A.
“I need to get back to the office shortly, but I’d like to buy you a cup of coffee before then... if you have time, of course. I saw a place right down the street.”
Watching Nic’s expressive face, Daniel could see the instant she decided to agree. She was never going to be a successful poker player.
After finishing up the paper work for his purchases and calling the concierge at his condo, Daniel happily escorted Nic into a nearby coffee shop.