Aida tried not to look at her watch as she strolled the gallery, but she swore the damn thing moved backward. She was ready for this night to be over so she could go home and nestle into Julian’s arms again.
Stay focused on your job.
Normally, that wasn’t a difficult thing to do as she loved what she did, but thoughts of Julian kept intruding. She had to get it together. Nicolette was already annoyed because she’d been right on time tonight.
Usually, she was at least ten minutes early, but she arrived just as Nicolette did. She gave her boss a breathless hello while Nicolette scowled at her before eyeing Julian, who stood behind her shoulder. He’d insisted on walking her to work.
When the door opened, Aida’s eyes flew to it, but her excitement vanished when an unfamiliar man entered. She’d told Julian to stay away tonight; he might have appeased Nicolette when he bought a painting yesterday, but she wouldn’t appreciate it if he came back tonight.
Still, like a dog waiting for its master to come home, she perked up every time the door opened. She berated herself for acting like an idiot as she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door before approaching the mirror.
She inspected her reflection and turned her head back and forth to make sure the marks on her neck were still covered. The turtleneck hid most of them, but the shadow of a fingerprint marked the skin near her ear.
Digging into her pocket, she pulled out the concealer she’d stashed there. Dabbing some onto her finger, she rubbed it over her skin until nothing of the bruise remained. She turned on the water and washed her hands before leaving.
She stopped by the champagne glasses in the center of the room. Unlike the first night, the caterers weren’t offering food, but the alcohol still flowed freely. Nicolette was a big believer in pumping potential buyers full of alcohol. She said it made things look prettier while loosening the purse strings.
Aida had worked here long enough to realize Nicolette had a point. She’d seen some pretty unattractive works become intriguing to people after a bottle of champagne. Turning away from the glasses, she spotted Nicolette and Owen standing by one of his few remaining paintings.
They were speaking with a woman Aida recognized from a small art magazine and blog. The woman was busting her ass to expand her business, and its reach was growing, as she’d gained a reputation for her knowledge and amazing eye. It wouldn’t be long before she was making or breaking the careers of future artists.
“Beautiful,” a voice said from beside her.
Aida jumped at the sudden intrusion into her thoughts, but she covered her reaction with a smile when she spotted the handsome man standing beside her. She hadn’t realized she’d stopped in front of a painting of a park. Somehow, while only using shades of blue, Owen managed to bring the park to vibrant life.
“Yes, it’s a very intriguing and lovely piece,” she agreed.
The man’s brown eyes flicked toward the painting before focusing on her again. “The painting is nice too.”
She was embarrassed to admit it took her longer than it should have to realize he’d been calling her beautiful. It was time to get her mind out of the gutter; she was turning into an idiot. She smiled at him as she pondered how to handle this. Usually, she was a flirt, but it felt wrong to flirt with him after everything that happened between her and Julian.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“Do you know much about the painting?” he asked.
Feeling like they were climbing onto more stable ground, Aida smiled as she walked closer to the painting. “The artist created it while he was in college and experimenting with different techniques. He created other paintings doing the same thing, but this was the only one he felt was good enough to display.”
“Interesting,” the man murmured as he clasped his hands behind his back.
When he tilted his head to the side to examine the painting more closely, his perfectly styled, dark brown hair didn’t move. The sports coat he wore fit his lean frame perfectly and his designer jeans hugged his tapered hips. His clothing was understated, but he exuded the confidence that came with wealth.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” the man said, and she realized he was staring at her.
“It is an original,” she said.
“I agree.”
“Would you like to see more of the artist’s works?”
“If you’re going to show them to me.”
Aida forced herself to smile; this was her job, and she usually loved talking with people, but she wouldn’t like it if Julian was talking with some woman who was openly flirting with him. However, she didn’t have much choice. She would have to make it clear she wasn’t interested without annoying him.
“Of course I will,” she said.
He smiled as he extended his hand to her. “I’m Gerald.”
His hand was warm and firm when she clasped it. “I’m Aida. Please, come with me.”
As she led him around the gallery, she answered any questions he had as they strolled from one painting to the next. He didn’t try to flirt with her again, and as they walked, she found she enjoyed his questions and comments. Many of them were probing and insightful.
They were halfway down the last hallway when a waiter approached her with a problem. “I’ll be right there,” Aida told him.
The waiter nodded and hurried away. “I have to take care of this,” she said to Gerald.
When she started to turn away, he rested his hand on her arm to halt her. Aida’s first instinct was to deck him, but she somehow kept her hand from flying. He didn’t seem to realize this as his smile remained in place and his eyes twinkled.
“Would you like to grab dinner with me after this?” he asked.
Taking a deep breath, she made herself relax. He wasn’t going to toss her over his shoulder and kidnap her. He was just looking for a date, which was something she’d experienced a hundred times before.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “But I’m seeing someone.”
“Ah.” He released her arm and smiled ruefully. “He’s a lucky man.”
“He is,” she agreed, and Gerald chuckled.
She slipped away from him and rushed to help the caterers. An hour later, she spotted Gerald speaking with Nicolette and Owen before losing sight of him. It was almost eight o’clock when the door opened again and Julian stepped inside.
Aida couldn’t help grinning like a fool; she felt like a kid all over again as her heart fluttered in her chest, and she had to restrain herself from running into his arms. He looked better than chocolate cake in jeans and a black shirt that emphasized the startling blue of his eyes.
Her body reacted as if his hands were already on it, his beard scraping her skin as she tasted his salty flesh. She tried to clear her head of the erotic images filling it as she strode over to him. Resting her hand on his arm, she led him into a shadowed corner of the gallery.
“I know I shouldn’t be here, but I wanted to say hi,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re here.” She rose on her toes to give him a quick kiss. Nicolette was probably fuming, but her wrath was worth seeing him again. “Did you get your laundry done?”
“I did.” He hated every second of being away from her and worried about her the entire time, but he couldn’t hang out at her work. “I have this for you.”
When he held his hand out to her, Aida couldn’t make out the white thing he held until he lifted it before her. Aida’s mouth parted, and then her heart swelled with love when he revealed the origami swan he held.
Laughing, Aida took it from him and cradled it carefully in her hand. After one of the many times she fled her house after a nightmare, Julian brought her a swan just like this. At first, it was one of the nights where she couldn’t talk, but when he handed her the swan, something inside her broke.
The tears streaking her face were no longer ones of anguish, but joy. At the time, everything seemed so bleak to her, but somehow the swan became a beacon of hope in her damaged world.
It was the first time she told him some of what happened to her in the basement; the first time she revealed the true depth of her despair. Instead of running away, like she’d feared he would, he drew her into his arms and held her while they talked and watched the sunrise.
“Did you make this?” she asked.
“Just like last time,” he said.
It had been difficult to imagine the boy carefully folding the paper into a delicate swan; it was doubly difficult to imagine the man doing so. Her heart swelled with love as she held the swan against her chest.
“I still have the first one you made me,” she told him.
Julian brushed the hair back from her face as he cupped her cheek and bent to kiss her. He shouldn’t be here, this was her life and her job, but staying away was more difficult than he anticipated.
He’d known having sex with her would only amplify his need to complete the bond, but he hadn’t anticipated how much it would accelerate it and how much he would loathe being separated from her for any length of time. It was his fault. He’d stayed away from her for so long that he was pushing the boundaries of his restraint before having sex with her, and now it was only a matter of time before he lost control.
“I’ll let you get back to work,” he said. “What time will you be done?”
“Around ten.”
“I’ll come back to walk you home.”
“I’ll see you then.”
He kissed her and squeezed her hand before releasing her and walking away. A small hole opened in Aida’s heart as he opened the door and stepped outside. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he strode past the plate glass windows and toward Addy’s.
Aida slipped into the storage room and set the swan on her purse before returning to the gallery. She plastered on a smile when a woman approached to ask her about one of Owen’s paintings.
• • •
“There are only a couple of paintings left,” Owen said as he examined the walls with a smile and his hands clasped behind his back. He deserved the cat-that-ate-the-canary look on his face; he’d proven his talent with this showing.
“Gerald bought two of them,” Nicolette said.
Aida turned off the lights as she walked around the room. “I think the rest will sell tomorrow.”
When the door opened, she looked up as Julian entered. “I’ll be outside,” he told her before retreating.
“If you decide to give him up, I’m sure Gerald would be more than happy to take his place,” Nicolette said. “He was quite taken with you.”
Owen scowled at this.
“Who?” Aida asked; she was too focused on Julian to follow the conversation.
“The handsome man in a sports coat,” Nicolette said. “You spent a good deal of time showing him around.”
It took Aida a minute to recall who she was talking about, and then she said, “Oh, yes, I remember him.”
“He seemed like a pompous asshole to me,” Owen said.
“That pompous asshole bought two of your paintings,” Nicolette reminded him.
“I didn’t say he was an asshole with bad taste.”
Aida chuckled while Nicolette turned off the last light. Owen held the door and waited for them to exit as Nicolette set the alarm. When Nicolette was outside, Aida locked the door and put her keys in her purse.
“Good night,” she said to them before linking her arm through Julian’s and leaning against his side. She didn’t look back at them, but she could feel them watching as she and Julian strolled away.
“How was your night?” he asked.
“Good. I think we’ll sell the rest of the paintings tomorrow. It’s been a successful showing. How was your night?”
“It’s a lot better now,” he said as he kissed the top of her head.
“It really is.”
They didn’t speak while they walked the rest of the way to her apartment. Though her feet ached and she kept yawning, her pulse accelerated with every step they took toward her home. Once they were inside, she planned to leisurely peel the clothes from his body and run her tongue over every inch of him.
By the time they reached her apartment, she was so aroused she could barely breathe as her fingers slid beneath his shirt.