Owned: A Mafia Menage Romance(100)

“You mean my paintings are… cold?”

“No, no, not cold… I’m sorry that came out that way. But I can see you’re an extremely technical and precise painter, which I commend you on. Too many self-declared ‘artists’ these days can barely hold a brush.”

“I agree,” I said defensively. Just what is it you want from me, lady? I thought.

“But painting is still a method of communication, you see. And if you’re unwilling to really expose yourself, to share yourself, then you’re leaving something out, don’t you think?”

“I think I know what you’re saying,” I answered mechanically, irritated that she was forcing me to agree with her.

“Leave some blood on the canvas!” she declared, raising a fist as though in triumph.

“Right, OK,” I replied.

She stepped forward and took both my hands, giving them a squeeze. I wanted desperately to be away from her, to go somewhere and lick my wounds, but she was staring up into my face with her bright, keen eyes.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to finally meet you,” she said earnestly. “We will see each other again soon, yes? Raul will get your payment and show you out.”

I swallowed the hard pebble that had lodged itself in my throat. “Thank you very much for seeing me,” I said with as much sincerity as I could.

She patted my hands. “It was my pleasure, Margot. Truly it was. Have a beautiful day!”

As she turned away in a swirl of blue and green, I half-expected her to vanish like a genie. Instead I listened to her kitten heels clack across the marble tiles as she withdrew into the house, leaving me to find my way back to the foyer. I walked back the way I had come, shell-shocked and numb.

I looked for Raul by the front door and stopped, unsure what to do. Should I wait for him? It felt like I was missing a set of instructions on how to proceed. I knew I should retrieve the other paintings, but part of me wanted to burn them where they sat.

“Are you busy this afternoon?” came a voice.

I turned around. Jackson walked into the foyer with a cocky grin that seemed to dismantle as soon as he saw my face. “Hey… are you OK? What happened in there?”

In a flash he had crossed the foyer to me and somehow folded me in his arms before I crumpled. I felt myself fall against him as though falling in a dream.

“Hey, it’s OK, it’s OK,” he murmured into my hair, holding me tightly as I simply shook. A thousand voices in my mind gave me long lists of what I had done wrong simultaneously and I wanted to shrink, to fall into a pit, to turn into ashes and be blown away by a hot wind. Everything was ruined. Really ruined this time, and there was nothing else I could do about it.

“Shhhh,” he breathed, holding me up as solidly as anything I had ever felt. I commanded myself to breathe and get a grip for chrissakes.

For a long time I stood there with my ear pressed against his chest, counting his heartbeat and every breath to settle the irrational storm that had turned my thoughts to white noise. Slowly I came back to myself, gradually becoming aware that his arms were a very, very nice place to be. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had held me like that, if ever. Maybe never.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, pulling away. “It’s been such a week,” I added lamely.

“Don’t be sorry,” he said, letting me go but not really. “I was sort of enjoying that.”

Me too, I admitted to myself. Gosh, he’s just rock hard all over, isn’t he?

His sky blue eyes searched mine. I could feel him gathering information.

“Let’s go somewhere,” he said.

My heart pulsed with gratitude, happy that he wasn’t going to ask me to recount the entire meeting with Edna. I didn’t think I could, anyway. Not without totally losing it.

Well, you’re pretty much free as a bird, I reminded myself. In a few days, he can pick you up under the Santa Monica Pier.

“I have to get the paintings back to the gallery,” I objected.

He shrugged. “Raul can have someone do that.”

“But my car is in the driveway…”

“Your car will be fine. I’ll get it home for you. Did I overhear you live close?”

I nodded.

“Great. That’s settled.”

“I should change..”

“No, you’re beautiful.”

“Traffic will be horrible…”

“How do you feel about rope ladders?”

I stopped. “What? To climb?”

He nodded seriously. “There’s no place to land the chopper but I can have it here in twenty minutes. We’ll just have to take a more vertical path to get inside it.”