other pieces of art.
The large overstuffed couch rested on a beautiful, albeit worn,
Persian rug. It looked comfortable, maybe even more so then the bed, and he
considered the possibility of trading with her. He walked over and flopped down
to test it out, sighing at its comfort. He would definitely have to renegotiate
the sleeping arrangements.
Pushing himself off the comfortable furniture, he walked into the
bedroom, trying to figure out where he should store his bags so they wouldn’t
be in the way. He figured he might have to negotiate some storage space as well
as the use of the couch. Bending down, he rooted around in his bags looking for
the e-reader that held the novel he wanted to start reading; he might as well
waste time as he waited for Karlyn.
Suddenly, a door opened and a little steam escaped. A naked and
wet Karlyn stepped through the fog, toweling her hair. He stopped in his tracks
as he perused her body, realizing immediately that maybe this wouldn’t be so
bad after all. Her body was curvy, a real woman’s body, and her breasts were
large and swayed seductively as she moved, obviously natural. Her hips were a
tad wide, but that would allow her to ride him easily. Feeling a stirring in
his loins, he tried to stand and carefully exit before she stopped toweling her
hair to avoid embarrassing her.
As he raised himself up, she pulled the towel from her head and
looked him straight in the eyes for the first time. His gut clenched and he
felt as though he was rooted to the floor as he saw her, truly saw her for the
first time, and was lost in her pale blue eyes. They were the most beautiful
eyes he had ever seen. Fierce need swirled through him, a need to claim her in
a base way, to make her his own. Seeing his own need reflected back at him, as
well as a touch of sadness, it touched his very soul. Trapped in that moment, he
just stared in shock at her for several moments.
Karlyn quickly covered herself with the towel in her hand, as if
she finally realized her immodesty. “Damn it, man, couldn’t you have called out
that you were back?”
“I’m sorry , I was
afraid I would get yelled at again
for bothering your work, so I let myself back in quietly.” He snapped a little
too quickly, taking offense to her sharp tone. She stiffened at his sarcasm,
“Can you please stop staring at me and give me enough privacy so I can get
dressed?”
Thankful for the e-reader in his hands, he lowered it to hide his
burgeoning erection. Still ensnared in her eyes, he finally relented and just
smiled at her as he squinted his eyes, walking backwards from the room. “I wish
I could stop looking.”
Chapter Seven
Why did he become an angry
little beast every time he was around her? It wasn’t her fault that his sister
was sick. It wasn’t her fault that they needed this money desperately. It
wasn’t her fault Ophelia had had him blacklisted. The actor in him had
evidently died off in the four years he was out of the practice of pleasuring a
woman. He needed to find that part of him and woo her like he was being paid to
do. But every time he got near her, it seemed anger prevailed.
He needed to find the middle ground, he could not get emotionally
involved, one way or the other. This anger that kept surfacing, was he using
her as a scapegoat? But she was not Ophelia and did not deserve the wrath he
had saved for that woman. And Karlyn’s underwhelming response to winning him
made his ire lessen. She had made it apparent that she didn’t want him there.
But the year was just beginning. He knew she would eventually show
her hand and he would see what she was really up to. No one spent the kind of
money on a lottery ticket only to throw the prize out the door. It didn’t make
any sense. For now, he would work on being nicer to the woman, if that was
possible, until he saw the side of her he thought existed somewhere under that
paint coated exterior.
****
“Sam showed me some of your art