“Beautiful,” a voice said from besideher.
Aida jumped at the sudden intrusion into herthoughts, but she covered her reaction with a smile when shespotted the handsome man standing beside her. She hadn’t realizedshe’d stopped in front of a painting of a park. Somehow, while onlyusing shades of blue, Owen managed to bring the park to vibrantlife.
“Yes, it’s a very intriguing and lovelypiece,” she agreed.
The man’s brown eyes flicked toward thepainting before focusing on her again. “The painting is nicetoo.”
She was embarrassed to admit it took herlonger than it should have to realize he’d been callingherbeautiful. It was time to get her mind out of the gutter; she wasturning into an idiot. She smiled at him as she pondered how tohandle this. Usually, she was a flirt, but it felt wrong to flirtwith him after everything that happened between her and Julian.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“Do you know much about the painting?” heasked.
Feeling like they were climbing onto morestable ground, Aida smiled as she walked closer to the painting.“The artist created it while he was in college and experimentingwith different techniques. He created other paintings doing thesame thing, but this was the only one he felt was good enough todisplay.”
“Interesting,” the man murmured as he claspedhis hands behind his back.
When he tilted his head to the side toexamine the painting more closely, his perfectly styled, dark brownhair didn’t move. The sports coat he wore fit his lean frameperfectly and his designer jeans hugged his tapered hips. Hisclothing was understated, but he exuded the confidence that camewith 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’sworks?”
“If you’re going to show them to me.”
Aida forced herself to smile; this was herjob, and she usually loved talking with people, but she wouldn’tlike it if Julian was talking with some woman who was openlyflirting with him. However, she didn’t have much choice. She wouldhave to make it clear she wasn’t interested without annoyinghim.
“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 claspedit. “I’m Aida. Please, come with me.”
As she led him around the gallery, sheanswered any questions he had as they strolled from one painting tothe next. He didn’t try to flirt with her again, and as theywalked, she found she enjoyed his questions and comments. Many ofthem were probing and insightful.
They were halfway down the last hallway whena waiter approached her with a problem. “I’ll be right there,” Aidatold him.
The waiter nodded and hurried away. “I haveto take care of this,” she said to Gerald.
When she started to turn away, he rested hishand 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 torealize this as his smile remained in place and his eyestwinkled.
“Would you like to grab dinner with me afterthis?” he asked.
Taking a deep breath, she made herself relax.He wasn’t going to toss her over his shoulder and kidnap her. Hewas just looking for a date, which was something she’d experienceda hundred times before.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “But I’mseeing someone.”
“Ah.” He released her arm and smiledruefully. “He’s a lucky man.”
“He is,” she agreed, and Gerald chuckled.
She slipped away from him and rushed to helpthe caterers. An hour later, she spotted Gerald speaking withNicolette and Owen before losing sight of him. It was almost eighto’clock when the door opened again and Julian stepped inside.
Aida couldn’t help grinning like a fool; shefelt like a kid all over again as her heart fluttered in her chest,and she had to restrain herself from running into his arms. Helooked better than chocolate cake in jeans and a black shirt thatemphasized the startling blue of his eyes.
