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“What?” Darren suddenly looked serious. “Does that surprise you?”
“No. It’s just that you don’t seem like the faithful type, that’s all.”
“People change.” He took a deep intake of air. “Thank you for letting me talk to Liam. That man is seriously out-of-this-world delicious. He even knows who Alexander Westrup is.”
“Who?”
“A painter from Argentina.”
“Oh, okay… good for him.”
Darren and I hugged and he kissed me on my cheek. “Thank you again for letting me exhibit that painting of you and Adam. It’s a big scoop for me and it’ll put Cia’s name on people’s lips.”
“My pleasure,” I said and released him.
Adam came from behind and placed his arms around my waist, pulling me close to his strong torso and leaning his head on my shoulder.
A blissful feeling spread in my body just from being near him. I merged my fingers with his, sunk into his body, and looked up at the painting of us again.
“What was it Cia said that painting represented?” I asked.
“Fire and water,” Adam said.
“Right.” I thought about it. “But I don’t agree with that at all. I’m not some destructive force of fire. If anything, I’m more like a delicate flower bringing beauty into the world.”
Adam chuckled while I carried on with my analysis.
“But of course the water part makes sense, because no flower can survive without water.”
“So what you’re saying is that you need me or you’ll die?” Adam teased.
“Oh, aren’t you two sweet?” Darren tilted his head. “Since you’re practically doing a live version of the painting right now, how about I bring the painting closer to the window?”
I tilted my head up to look at Adam. His eyes were soft around the edges and he smiled at me. “It’s your painting, so you decide.”
“Okay then, why not?” I turned my head and gave Darren a nod. “Soon the whole world will know that Adam and I are together – we have nothing to hide.”
“In that case, would you mind if I called a journalist or two and advertised that we have the painting for a few more weeks?”
I smiled. “You do that.”
The appreciation on Darren’s face lit up the entire room. “I can’t wait to tell Cia, and you know what?”
“What?” Adam asked.
He lowered his voice. “Cia and Gabriel are talking about moving back to Seattle. I almost peed my pants with excitement when she told me.”
“That’s great,” I said although I didn’t know Cia well.
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone until it’s official, but you won’t tell the others, will you?”
“No, of course not,” we assured him.
“Good.” His head swung to the four people left in the gallery beside us. “Christian and Logan,” he called out. “I need some help over here.”
“What’s up?” Christian asked, and I couldn’t help laughing when Darren started bossing the two men around explaining that he wanted to move the heavy painting of me and Adam to the front of the gallery.
“I want everyone to stop and stare.”
