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"That's a big assumption," I remarked. "I've never been known for my patience. Maybe I could take a little peek." I placed my hand on the seat of the stool as if I was about to stand up.
He waved his brush in my direction, flicking orange paint here and there. "No peeking. You stay there until we're both done."
"What are you going to do if I don't, spank me?" I teased.
He paused mid-stroke to look over at me, his expression heavy with desire. "Don't think I won't, good girl."
Holy shit. My panties were completely ruined. I'd always been a bit of a sucker for praise. Okay, I was a lot of a sucker.
"You know I want to look now," I said.
He swallowed hard. "I'll finish fast. Um, I mean the painting. I don't finish quickly when I… I take my time and…"
"Yeah," I said, "I got you. We should get these paintings completed." Preferably before I combusted.
"Right." He hunched forward and focused on his canvas for another few minutes. "There, my work of art is complete. If I say so myself, the resemblance is quite striking. Is yours done?"
"Just another couple of lines here and there." I thickened the line of his right cheek and left leg, and did a slight touch up of his nose. "Okay, that's as good as it's going to get," I said finally. "Are you ready to show me yours?"
"More than ready," he said under his breath. "My painting is also ready. On the count of three?"
I nodded and put down my brush before gripping the base of the easel.
"One. Two. Three."
We both turned our easels around and burst out laughing.
CHAPTER 6
GABRIEL
"You really think I should colour my hair blue and wear a bright yellow tie?" I looked at Lexie over my coffee cup.
She gave me a dazzling smile that almost made my heart stop dead in my chest.
"Definitely yes to the yellow tie." She tilted her head this way and that, looking at me intently. "Maybe blue hair is how I see you already. Apparently you think mine is bright orange with pink polkadots."
"My painting was a step up from a stick figure," I said. "A very small step. I needed to give it some pizazz. You have to admit, the resemblance was striking."
"In that there were two eyes, a nose and a mouth, sure," she agreed with a laugh. "My hands aren't that big." She held up one to demonstrate.
"Your hands also don't have four fingers. I took a bit of artistic license with that." Honestly, I was lucky they were remotely recognisable as hands at all.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you actually had fun," she said.
"Maybe I did." I couldn't help being cagey. I had enjoyed myself, but if I didn't answer right away, it gave me more time to spend with her.
"You had as much fun as I did," she said. "The yellow paint on your sleeve says so."
I glanced down at my sleeve. "That's orange."
"No, there." She leaned forward and pointed. "You have yellow there. And pink over there."
"If anyone sees me like this, my reputation will be toast," I said. "I can see the headline now."
"Me too. Overworked billionaire takes an hour off." She held up a hand in front of her like a banner. "Full story at 7 o'clock. Including a thorough breakdown of all his paint splatters, and an interview with an art expert to dissect the meaning behind his masterpiece."
"I wouldn't mind any of that." I sipped my coffee. "If that was the most important thing the news had to talk about, then nothing really bad happened in the world."
