Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 104820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
He wanted to tell Tessa all this, but at the same time, if he told her exactly how impressed he was, she might not believe him.
She was looking at him expectantly, her nerves probably at an all-time high. So he simply said, “It’s wonderful, Tessa. Just wonderful.” He could hear in his own voice the deep, genuine awe he truly felt as he set the painting in the portfolio.
A look of relief washed over her, and then she came to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply.
He pressed his body into hers. Now that they were standing up, rather than sitting on a bench, he could feel just how perfect a fit she was for him. He pulled her in even tighter, kissing her deeply. Arch was utterly lost in her.
When Tessa finally drew back for air, her eyes were cloudy with desire. His must look the same. It took all of his willpower not to unbutton her shirt then and there.
But no. He needed to be a gentleman. And just as he had wanted her to take the lead on their kisses, if they were going to sleep together, she would have to take the lead there too. Simply because he couldn’t bear the thought of taking something from her if she wasn’t ready to give it freely to him.
He stepped back and looked at the painting again. It really was incredible. “Your talent is amazing. You should be exhibiting in the finest galleries.” He paused. “I’d be proud to hang your work on my walls.”
He wanted to offer to buy it, but would she be offended? Would it make him seem patronizing?
She looked surprised by his reaction, but thrilled at the same time. “If you really do like it—”
“I really, really do love it.”
She smiled again. “Well, then, in that case, you can have it.”
“Seriously? You’re giving it to me?”
Her grin grew even wider as she echoed, “Seriously. I’m giving it to you.”
Just in case she changed her mind, he picked up the painting and walked with it back downstairs and into the living room, carefully navigating the stairs in his boot with help from her hand on his arm to make sure he didn’t trip.
“Wait, are you hanging it right this minute?”
“You bet I am.”
He unhooked a painting from its position over the fireplace. It was by a successful up-and-coming artist, but he didn’t like the work nearly as much as he liked Tessa’s. He set the framed painting down and then balanced Tessa’s on the mantel, its thick, toothy paper giving it enough stiffness to lean upright.
He stood back, admiring her work. And when he looked over at her, she was the one who looked awestruck this time, her eyes sparkling and her smile wider than he’d ever seen it.
It gave him such joy to see her so happy. “I’m going to get that framed tomorrow. It looks great right there.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She shook her head and gave him a look that made it clear she thought he’d lost his mind. “You can’t put it in the same room as a Picasso!”
“Of course I can,” he replied, still grinning. “You’re being Picasso, right?”
She shook her head in disbelief and then let her hair down from its tie so that it fell like a curtain over her shoulders.
“I was already a sure thing tonight,” she said, her voice so low he had to strain to hear. “You don’t have to do that.”
“We both were,” he replied. Then he added two things he really wanted her to know. “But hanging this painting here doesn’t have a damned thing to do with making love with you. It’s here because it’s where it belongs.” He drew her in against him. “And you and I are together tonight because it’s where we belong.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Tessa stood beside Arch’s bed. It felt like a year since she’d fled this room after he’d called her down under false pretenses and lifted the covers to welcome her in.
Now everything was different.
Her mind reverberated with the echoes of their passionate kiss in the living room. It was as if every lustful feeling she’d been holding back had come rushing out of her all at once.
She couldn’t get enough of his skin, his smell, the taste of his mouth. What’s more, she felt his body responding in the same way.
Their passion was in perfect sync. It was intoxicating.
And now here they were in his bedroom, both of them flushed with desire. She was nervous and excited in equal measure. She held his gaze as he crossed the room to come to her. Every thought he was having about her was written across his face.
And she knew each and every thought involved her being naked… and filled with pleasure.
All her nerve endings fired as he gently swept her hair away from her face and kissed her tenderly on the lips.