Page 34 of Dearest Protector

Ariel saw the world in a very honest, vulnerable way that was expressed in every piece she created.

She didn’t think about the things she created. They came directly from her heart and soul, which explained why she had so many fans.

She’d decided to start by loading a small collection of work to her website, even though I’d offered to foot the price of all the prints if she wanted to begin with more. It was an offer that was quickly and adamantly refused.

Now, she was worried that the small collection she was putting on her site would never sell at the prices I’d talked her into asking for her work.

Hell, I honestly thought she could get double those prices, but I knew she’d never go for that right now.

She genuinely had no idea how amazing that artwork was, or how fast her followers were going to scramble to get one of those limited prints that she’d just received yesterday from a specialty printer.

“Yes, I think they’ll sell,” I told her firmly from my seat in a recliner. “I think you’d better get ready to order and load up some more. I’m glad I snagged a few of my favorites.”

Not only had Ariel given me original pieces that she was never going to sell to anyone else, but she’d also gotten them framed and had put them on my walls.

I’d jumped at the chance to get one in particular, a piece she calledThe Lonely Ballerina. I couldn’t look at the print now without sensing the emotion that had gone into the creation. The original digital image had featured only the back of a blonde dancer during a stage performance. I knew the performer in the original photo hadn’t been Ariel, but I knew it was a self-portrait all the same. The costumed ballerina was electrifying and riveting, bathed in a very small circle of light, but her surroundings were stark and desolate.

I’d scooped it up immediately because of the vulnerability it had taken to create the image, and the emotion it would manifest in any viewer.

I’d needed to own it because of the personal emotion and creativeness that Ariel had put into it, and because I wanted to be the only one who saw the conflicting emotions that Ariel had experienced while she was working on the piece.

It was a heartbreakingly beautiful image that no one should own but…me.

Thankfully, it was now hanging in my home office.

I’d been even more grateful to own it when Ariel had told me that it wasn’t a work that she would have ever sold to anyone else because it was so personal.

Maybe she only saw me as a friend, but at least she’d trusted me enough to share the image withme.

She was seemingly sharing everything with me now. She’d even informed me that she’d started counseling to work on sorting out some issues from her past. She’d also confided that she wasn’t quite over the accident and the trauma it had caused, which was another reason she’d started working with a therapist.

It was humbling that she could allow me to see her vulnerabilities now, but it also made me feel guilty as hell that I was hiding a number of my own secrets fromher.

It was rather ironic that her vulnerability made me even more protective of Ariel when I was actually the guy she should be watching out for because I wasn’t being completely honest with her.

She was so fucking brave. She was confronting her fears head-on.

Meanwhile, I was still the coward who couldn’t bring myself to tell her everything because I thought it was too soon.

I wished I’d been the one to suggest counseling in the first place, but it had been Katie who had encouraged her.

She shot me a dubious look. “You have to say that I’m going to sell like wildfire because you’re my friend. And you know I’ll always give you any print that you want.”

Christ!There it was…that giving, innocent quality of hers that made me want her more than I’d ever wanted anything or anyone in my entire life. One of the things that had my dick hard every time I was with her and most of the time when I wasn’t, too.

She’d become a hell of a lot more than just a friend to me. Maybe I’d never realized how much I needed Ariel until I’d seen her again, but my obsession with her grew stronger every single moment of every day.

I had to wonder just how long I could manage to keep my distance since it was getting more and more difficult as time passed.

The fact that I wanted more from her than just a fuck was the only thing keeping me sane at the moment.

Ariel wasmine, and yeah, I wanted every man in the world to know it, but if I fucked this up, I’d be a sorry bastard for the rest of my life.

I shook my head. “I’m saying it because it’s the truth. Stop worrying. Your social media followers are in a frenzy right now to finally be able to buy some of your work.”

She snorted. “If I sell all of those prints, I’d be rich. I’d have enough money to takeyouout for dinner.”

She wouldn’t be rich. Not really. But it would definitely be a nice chunk of change to put into her bank account, which would make her feel more secure.

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