Page 60 of Fresh Canvas
Without thinking, I angled my face closer to hers, drawn by her beauty among the messy wake of emotion. Although her skin was mottled, she was still the most beautiful thing.
Her twin silver pools blinked back up at me for a long moment. Almost as if I were imagining it, Amantha seemed to angle her face up to mine, dare I say, doing the same?
Too soon, Amantha’s shy smile disappeared. Gently pulling away, she took two measured steps back. The liquid sunshine left with her.
“Um, I’ve got to go. I didn’t realize the time, and I need to get home.” She ducked her head and tucked an escaped lock from her ponytail behind her ear. Without sparing me so much as a glance, she snatched her snack wrappers off the floor and dumped them into the trash can.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said to the door. And then, she was gone.
I listened, cemented to the spot where my world had shifted, as her footsteps died in the silent museum.
My heart plummeted.
Great going, Val.
I wanted to kick myself. That wasn’t crossing a line from co-workers to more. No, that was like jumping from a plane without so much as a parachute. But at that moment, hugging her felt so natural.
Something was happening inside me. Something, I feared, that was much too late to stop. Talking with Amantha, laughing with her, even fighting with her had made me feel more alive than I had in years. Amantha hadn’t forced me from my island of loneliness.
No, this entire time, Amantha had been building a sandbank. A path to her that would be easy to cross. That Iwantedto cross. Our connection was palpable. Electric. There was no way she didn’t feel that, was there?
Regardless of what I thought she felt, Amantha’s actionsspoke louder. And judging from her reaction to that hug, she definitely didn’t reciprocate my feelings.
I sighed, crossed to my computer, and took a screenshot of Lake Attersee’s accession form. After safely attaching the file to my personal cloud, I trudged around and picked up the rest of our impromptu picnic. As I grabbed my chip bag, a flash of silver glinted beside it.
Amantha’s keys.
Crap.
I snatched them up before locking my office door. My cardio training paid dividends as I sprinted through the museum after her. The sprinkling rain had given way to a summer downpour.
Amantha stood on the corner, hair dripping, cotton t-shirt and shorts soaked through. Though the summer storm was warm, she seemed to be shivering as she waved wildly at the taxis brimming with people escaping the weather.
“Amantha!” I yelled over the rushing sound of traffic.
She squinted over her shoulder, shielding the rain with one hand. The other still tried to flag down a passing vehicle. “What?”
I bounded down the museum steps. Rain permeated my thin white shirt and saturated my hair. Approaching her, I bit back a groan. Itriedto ignore the sopping clothes clinging to her body’s perfect curvature. After all, Iwasa gentleman, but no saint.
I dangled her keys out and forced my eyes to hers. “You left these.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Amantha squeezed them into the damp pocket of her shorts.
I glanced up at the black sky, fat raindrops peppering my face. “Let me drive you home.”
“No. I’m okay, Val. Really, you don’t need to.”
As I got closer, I realized the rivulets on her cheeks weren’t just rain. The frustrating woman needed me right now, even if she wasn’t willing to admit it.
“You’re ridiculous. I left my car parked here this morning. It's just over there.”
“No, Val. It’s fine. You don’t need to?—”
“You’re impossible,” I growled, then caught her wrist and pulled her down the sidewalk. She didn’t resist, only trailed after me as she wiped her streaked mascara. It dawned that I had formed a habit of dragging Amantha around. But what else was a man to do when she was so stubborn?
My white Audi was the only car left in the parking lot.
“This is your car?” Amantha laughed, a sunny moment breaking through her tears. “I knew you were some trust fund kid.”
