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“I can’t tell if you like what I’ve done, or hate it. Did I overstep?” Jamison appeared wary. “You’re going to have to give me more to work with, Sweetness,” he admitted gruffly, “because I can’t get a read on you.”
I jumped him, sending him tumbling to the cushions, grateful when Thane caught the laptop as it tumbled sideways.
“Is she trying to kill him or kiss him?” Eli mused teasingly to Leo.
“Oh my gods!” I cried and kissed his neck. His face. Anything I could reach.
“I think she answered your question,” Leo stage-whispered.
Jamison laughed, a deep, hearty sound that made my heart leap.
“I’m glad you like it.”
I stared down into his handsome face, running my fingers across his bearded jaw. “Iloveit. Name and all. Who knows if anyone will ever want to buy my work, but it’s exciting to think about.”
“Paint it and they will come,” Jamison rumbled. His complete faith in my abilities astounded me, especially because he and the others had never seen my work.
“Wait here.” I scrambled off his lap and rushed through the house to the master bedroom where my belongings had been moved. I swiped my sketchbook off the dresser and raced back down the stairs. Tucking my hair behind my ear, suddenly nervous, I handed Jamison the book. “These are some rough sketches. I wasn’t allowed to paint much in my previous life, so I drew the ideas in my head, hoping one day I’d be able to put them down on canvas.”
I held my breath while I waited for his approval.
“Demi,” he breathed, flipping page after page, studying each one. “These are gorgeous. You’re so talented, Sweetness.”
The others gathered around, murmuring their agreements and choosing favorites, making me flush with pleasure.
Cutting my gaze to the easel, I itched to unwrap one of the new canvases and get started right then. The sun was gone; the sky grew darker by the minute, but I didn’t care. I could paint one of the many landscapes that lived in my mind, or find a reference photo online.
As though being drawn by a siren’s song, I took a step in that direction, an idea already forming of the first thing I wanted to paint to christen the studio and—more importantly—this new life of mine.
“May I?” I asked, biting my lip and staring down at the canvas waiting to be filled with life and color.
“The room is yours, Sweetness.” Jamison stood and passed me back my sketchbook before kissing the top of my head. “This is your haven. Your space. Paint away.”
And I did.
Splashes of color bloomed beneath my brush in much the same way I’d come to life the moment I met my mates. Each line, each stroke, created something beautiful from nothing.
twenty-eight
DEMI
I tried notto snort-laugh as I watched Hades, Knox, Jamison, Eli, and Thane arguing over where to hang the large canvas. It had taken me two days to finish the elaborate painting—a picturesque landscape of our home against the autumn-colored rolling hills of Vermont. It was cozy and peaceful, and the moment my men had seen it, they wanted to hang the canvas on the wall along with the corresponding one I’d painted of our three little goats and our horse, Maple, grazing in the vast pastures. The paintings were perfect complements, but apparently, my mates had different ideas of where to display them.
“We should hang ‘em by the front door. There’s plenty of space on this wall if we take down all the other shit on it,” Hades cocked his head, hand on his chin, doing his best impression of the ‘thinking man’ pose.
“Yeah, but then people won’t see them until they’re leaving the house. We should hang them somewhere more prominent,” Eli argued.
“I vote they hang in the kitchen.” Thane stalked into his domain and pointed to the decorative brick wall. “If we put them here, they would get the attention they deserve.”
Hades crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “You’re just saying that because you spend all your time in the kitchen and you want to hog ‘em.”
“Iusedto spend all my time in the kitchen,” Thane stressed. “I can now attest that I spend an equal amount of time in our nest.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
This time, an unbidden, inelegant snort erupted from me before I could stop it, but I smothered it quickly with a hand over my mouth and an innocent look on my face.
I mean… the man wasn’t wrong.
In fact, we’d all been spending a lot of time together in my nest.
