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“Hmm… I’ve never considered that before,” Jaxon replied with a shrug.
“I also think he’s kind of grumpy,” Holly told them, wrinkling up her nose. “I mean, why else would he paint such volatile landscapes? It’s like he’s showing his personality through his paintings.”
To her surprise, Jaxon burst into a deep belly laugh. He was so loud that a few of the patrons turned around to look at them.
“Hush,” Holly reprimanded, checking around them subconsciously. “You’ll get us thrown out of here.”
“Don’t worry,” Jaxon replied with a wink, still chuckling. “I know the owner.”
That didn’t surprise her. Jaxon seemed to know everybody. He was clearly a sociable and popular person.
Another thought occurred to her. “Oooh! Do you know Snow, too? I figure he must surely live locally since he chooses to exhibit here.”
Jaxon quirked his eyebrow and glanced at Kris. “Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”
“Oh my God, you do, don’t you?” She glanced at Kris, who had an odd look on his face. “You, too?”
Neither of them really confirmed her supposition. “It’s a closely guarded secret. As everyone is aware, Snow is an intensely private person, so don’t pry.” Kris replied harshly, like she’d been trying to drag the information out of them.
“What the hell has crawled up your ass and died?” Holly hurled the accusation without a qualm. “You really are obnoxious, aren’t you? It was a simple comment. I wasn’t exactly pulling your nails out to torture the information from you.”
She spun on her heel. To hell with him. She wanted to enjoy this experience, and that wasn’t going to happen with Kris around. “If it’s okay with you, Jaxon, I’d like to go now. I’ll come back another time when I can embrace the ambiance without a real-life storm ruining it for me.”
“You didn’t seem to object so much this morning,” he called after her.
Did he really just go there? Yes, he fucking did.
Rat bastard.
Her fingers itched to smack his smug face, but that would just call attention to them both. Instead, she took the moral high ground and prayed Jaxon wouldn’t ask questions.
CHAPTER TEN
She got lucky with Jaxon, but only because he took a call on the handsfree in his SUV almost as soon as they climbed into the vehicle.
“I’m really sorry, Jaxon. I know it’s your day off, but Gemma went into the city today and her car broke down, so she’s not going to make it back in time for the dinner rush. I don’t think Dan can manage by himself.”
Jaxon sighed. “Don’t worry, Terrence, I’ll come in. I just need forty minutes to get home, get showered and changed, and I’ll be with you.”
“Sorry to have to cut and run on you,” he apologized as they pulled up at the house. “But duty calls.”
“You go and get yourself cleaned up, and I’ll bring the shopping in from the car.”
“Are you sure?” Jaxon asked, grabbing the heaviest bag, but clearly torn.
“Absolutely.” And the private time she had with Nick would give her the perfect opportunity to apologize for her behavior this afternoon.
Thirty minutes later, Jaxon was on his way back out of the door. “You won’t be on your own for long. Nick should be back within the hour. Can you explain where I am and tell him he’ll have to organize dinner unless he wants me to bring something back when I finish?”
“Don’t worry, I can manage to entertain myself. And I’ll be sure to give Nick the message.”
Then Jaxon was gone, and the cabin seemed unnaturally quiet without his personality filling it up. Met with the unexpected solitude, Holly decided to soak away her stress in the enormous roll-top bath while there was nobody home.
She must have fallen asleep because the water had cooled to tepid when a soft knock on the door brought her to attention with a splash of water and the feeling that she wasn’t quite with it.
“Holly, are you in there?” Nick’s voice called from the other side.
“Oh yes.” She cleared the sleep out of her throat. “I’ll be out now.”
