Page 39 of Fresh Canvas
“Grand? Maybe. Scheming? Definitely.” Rick chuckled. “Hate isn’t the opposite of love, indifference is.” He stepped his smaller frame up to mine as he rapped a sharp knuckle against my heart.
“Do what needs doing, Val. It’stime.”
My office door clicked behind me. Flipping on the lights, I took a deep breath in the pristine space. Calm, organized, and so unlike my cluttered mind. Rick didn’t know what he was talking about. There was nothing between me and Amantha, or me and anybody for that matter. And it was going to stay that way.
I opened the tall cabinet behind my desk to find a row of crisp, hanging button-ups. After selecting a white one, I laid it across my office chair, closed the privacy blinds, and began to unbutton my damp, sweaty one. The fresh starched shirt enveloped me like a hug.
I didn’t care if my preference for formal wear seemed stuffy or uptight. All the better, in my opinion. Like Tom Ford body armor. A public warning to stay away from me with an impressively high thread count.
Scrubbing a hand down my five o'clock shadow, I leaned back in my luxurious office chair. I tapped my phone’s screen.4:40PM.Too close to the end of day to start a new task, but too early to leave.
Great. Just great.
I drummed my fingers atop the desk, willing time to go faster while vaguely recalling a time where I had wished for the opposite. For days to feel like months. For months to stretch into years.
Anxiety began to claw its way into my stomach.
Like a steam engine I couldn’t stop, my thoughts picked up speed until they felt dangerously close to careening off the tracks.
Flashes of Amantha’s laugh and Rick’s wink raced through my mind.
“I haven’t seen anyone snap at you like that since…”
Stella.
Helpless to do anything but cling to my desk, my train of thoughts sucked me into the past.
“For the love, Val!”
Stella’s naturally curly hair had been thick with humidity, the blazing Caribbean sun glinting off the bright blonde strands. She had swept her sunglasses over the unruly mess, her sunburn-tinted nose wrinkling up at me.
“Seriously? Right now? Like, rightnow?” Her five-foot-two bikini-clad body stretched atop the burning sands, using only her beach towel as a barrier. I stepped in front of the sun, shading my new bride’s adorable scowl.
“C’mon Stel. It’s only a run.” I shrugged. “I’ll be back in thirty, max.”
“Another run?You already ran this morning! Wejustgot here.” Stella used one hand to thrust her sandy beach bag up at me while gesturing to the lapping waves. “This is a beach! This is ourhoneymoon! I know you hate relaxing, but we are going to do exactly that.Now. Together.”
The beach bag flopped over with a thud as she tried to yank me down to the vacant towel beside her with both hands.
“I am now your wife.” She strained to pull me. “Do youknow what that means?” Her blue eyes looked so fierce, I decided to play along.
Gritty sand pressed into my knees and palms as I locked her body in place on the towel beneath me. A devilish smile tugged my lips at the look of flushed distraction on her pink cheeks.
“And what does that mean, mywife?” The new title from my lips brushed the shell of Stella’s ear, and I was momentarily lost in a cloud of scented sunscreen and desire. The sensation of her small fingertips against my bare back tempted me to abandon the run altogether.
Her response came in shallow pants. “It means you have to do...what I say.”
“Is that right?” I nuzzled the soft skin on her neck.
“I-I think so. Love, honor, and obey, right?”
“Fine. I’ll try this wholerelaxingthing…” I vanished from her then, sprinting down the sandy beach. “When I get back.” I laughed over my shoulder.
I watched Stella prop up on her elbows, glaring after me though she couldn’t keep from laughing.
“Val Russo! You aresodead. Once you get back, I’m slipping a sedative into your drink. I’llmakeyou relax one way or another.”
Turning and jogging a few steps backward, I shot her my most charming smile with a shrug. “You knew this when you married me,” I called, “in sickness and in health! Forever!”
