AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course,” I answer, a little speechless. I gulp, lifting my eyes from the paper to Mac’s smiling eyes. “Thank you, Mac. Really.”
“Art’s Cove is going to be great.” He gives me a little salute, then ducks into the café.
With trembling hands, I pull out my cell phone and dial the number on the scrap of paper. A deep, rich voice answers on the second ring.
“Fuller.”
“Hi, Cameron? My name is Georgia Neves. I’m—”
“The gallerist.”
The word sends a jolt through me. I’m not technically a gallerist—not yet. But I’ll fake it until I make it…or at least until I fail.
“Um, yes. I got your number from Mac Blair. Are you free to meet this week?”
“I’m free right now,” he answers. “I can give you a tour of my studio, show you what I’ve been working on.”
“Ohmygoodness.” My words tumble out in a rush, even though I try to sound calm. I clear my throat. “That would be amazing. Yes. Yes, I’d love that. I can be there in ten minutes.”
“See you soon.” His voice is deep, and there’s a hint of flirtation in the way he says that last sentence. When we hang up, I do a little jig.
“Good news?” Simone says as she exits Four Cups and walks toward me.
“That was Cameron Fuller. He wants to talk about displaying some of his work in my gallery,” I squeak, then throw my hands up in the air. “I’ll have art to hang! Hopefully!”
Simone beams. “It’s going to be amazing.”
The truly amazing thing is, I believe her.
Ten minutes later,I’m ringing the doorbell on a narrow brown door. I hear clomping footsteps and the turn of a latch, and then the door opens to reveal an unbelievably handsome man.
He’s wearing a paint-stained black tee and low-slung jeans. His hair is a mop of messy curls set above dark-brown eyes. I’d guess he’s in his late thirties, maybe a very good-looking early forties. Then he smiles at me and—wow. Women’s clothes must regularly vanish when he smiles like that. I pat my jeans to make sure they’re still covering my legs.
“Georgia?”
I nod.
“Come in.” He opens the door wider, and I have to squeeze past him to get in. He’s about a foot taller than I am, maybe an inch or two taller than Sebastian. He gestures up the stairs and follows me, and I try not to think about him staring at my ass all the way up.
We emerge into a big, light-filled space. The entire second story of the building is one big room, with bare wood floors, white walls, and huge windows along the front and back. The other two walls are covered in canvasses. In the center of the room, on the floor, is a huge canvas with a woman’s face on it. It’s painted in slashes of black, gray, navy blue, and gold, and looking at it makes me want to cry.
“Wow.” I remember to breathe.
“Welcome,” Cameron says behind me, closing the top door. He puts his hands on his hips and gives me that clothes-melting smile again. “What do you think?”
“I think you might be a genius.”
He laughs, eyes crinkling, and crosses to one of the walls to start flipping through finished paintings. “I’m glad someone finally decided to open a gallery in this town,” he tells me, pulling one painting out of the bunch. It’s a little girl spinning in the rain, her face serene as she tilts it to the sky. It makes me oddly sad to look at.
“I’m planning the gallery opening for Labor Day weekend,” I answer. “I’d be honored to feature your work.”
He puts the canvas down against a bare strip of wall and walks over to another stack of paintings. His steps are measured, confident, and totally at ease. When he moves, his muscles betray power and grace. He’s a very attractive man.
There’s something missing, though, like he holds himself apart from the world. When he plucks another painting from his collection to place next to the one of the little girl, his eyes are guarded. He glances at me like he’s gauging my reaction to him, to his work. He’s not really seeingme.
When Sebastian looks at me, it’s like he wants to know every part of me, like I’m some treasure that intrigues and excites him. When he speaks to me, all his attention is focused on only me. When he kisses me, all that intensity is concentrated on the task at hand. It’s overwhelming and addicting to be the center of someone’s world that way.
Cameron Fuller is handsome, but he isn’t raw in the way Sebastian is. I get the feeling he wouldn’t give himself completely to anyone or anything except his art.
