Second Chances (19 page)

“Just pretend I’m not here. Let the creative spirit move you. Remember, I believe in you. You could paint a smiley face and it would still be a work of art.”

Kristin rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the empty canvas. She pulled on the restless energy she’d had earlier, and her brush moved tentatively across the expanse of white.

In her creative zone, nothing existed. Her brush danced against the canvas, along with the symphony of paint. The memories of last night flooded her mind, and she let the brush tell the story of her heart.

She took large, sweeping strokes over the canvas, leaving bright trails of paint in its wake. Reds, yellows, oranges, all colors of fire. The fire that David had ignited inside her body and her soul. The power of it coursed through her like an electric current, a direct connection to the colorful images that unfolded before her.

David’s right hand moved sensually down her arm and touched the end of the brush. Kristin jerked in surprise. She had been so intently focused on her painting that she hadn’t heard him move the stool directly behind her. David leaned forward, his chest a firm wall against her back.

“Show me.” His raspy voice against her ear sent shivers down her spine.

Kristin placed the brush within his grasp and wrapped her hand around his. She guided the brush through the paint. David’s breath was hot against her neck, and she shuddered.

How was he able to eliminate her defenses like this? Kristin had never dreamed of sharing something like this with anyone before.

His left arm moved around her side, and his hand rested on her thigh. His touch sparked her nerve endings with electricity, and her breathing accelerated. David let his lips brush her neck, and Kristin nearly dropped the brush that they were holding.

“I can’t concentrate when you do that.”

“Do what?” His lips vibrated against her ear as a wave of goose bumps prickled her skin. Kristin shuddered again and closed her eyes.

David nibbled along her neck while his left hand moved higher up her thigh. She gasped and leaned back against his hard chest. This time the brush did fall to the floor.

“Oh, you mean that.”

His hands found the belt to her robe and loosened it, freeing her tingling skin to his touch. David gently cradled her breasts, and rolled the taut points of her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. Kristin moaned and dropped her head back against him as delicious waves of pleasure poured through her.

A growl escaped his throat as he spun her around on the stool to face him. His sweltering gaze locked onto her, bathing her body with heat. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her feverishly, his tongue sliding past her lips. Something clicked inside of her as every wall she had ever erected around her heart disappeared, providing direct access to everything she had spent so many years hiding.

For the first time in her life, Kristin truly let go of it all and held nothing back. He didn’t reject her, didn’t tell her she was nothing.

She laced her hands through David’s dark hair and kissed him back just as hard, tasting him like a fine wine. Her legs wrapped around his lean thighs, squeezing his sculpted body closer.

He pulled her half naked body firmly against him. He stood, lifting her easily, and took the few steps to sit her on the table against the wall. She pulled her lips away from his incredible kiss and shrugged the rest of the way out of her robe, desperate to rid herself of anything that would be a barrier to his touch.

His hand lighted on her cheek as his thumb roved over her lips. She flicked at his thumb wickedly with her tongue and then sucked it into her mouth.

His breathing hitched sharply as his gaze devoured her like a hunter who had caught his prey.

Kristin’s hands fumbled at the waistband of his jeans, frantic to touch him. With the zipper out of the way, her fingers explored freely and she found him. Under the gentle strokes of her hand, he pulsed with need. He let out a small groan and claimed her lips again as her hand continued to massage him. His throbbing need echoed her own, and she broke their kiss, gasping for air.

“David…” His name was a plea on her lips.

Her body arched as he entered her, grasping her thighs for leverage. She cried out as he buried himself inside her, and she curled her legs around him to get deeper penetration. Her complete relinquishment of the barriers she had spent so many years behind had somehow super-charged the sensations in her body. David’s fire blazed through her core, and it only took a few thrusts before her body quaked with release. Her thighs flexed as the spasms rocked her.

It was only an instant later that David tensed with his own climax. He grasped her shoulders and pulled her to his chest, groaning with pleasure into her hair.

Kristin’s arms tightened around him as her heart kept time with his. Holding onto David fiercely intensified the small quakes that sizzled through her body randomly while she kept her legs wrapped tightly around him. She laid her head on David’s chest and inhaled slowly, trying to catch her breath.

What exactly had she just experienced? Kristin’s time with David had been intense, for sure, but this time was different. By sharing her art, David had breached the last of her defenses. The raw need for him that coursed through her as a result made small waves of fear ripple down her spine as he held onto her.

Her head bobbed against his chest, but her body still trembled. The depth of what she’d just experienced with him left her too stunned to speak.

David took a step away from her, his body leaving hers suddenly empty. He scooped her up into his arms, and carried her through the apartment to her bedroom, where he deposited her gently onto the rumpled bed. David shed his jeans and sprawled out next to her, his elbow propped up on the pillow to support his head. His other hand caressed her cheek while he gazed at her tenderly.

“You’re awfully silent. Are you sure everything’s all right?”

Kristin nodded again and reached out to stroke his lean bicep. A sculptor couldn’t have carved out a better body on a man. Did he even realize that he possessed her entirely after what just happened in her studio?

“I’ve never been able to share all of myself with anyone like that. My art, my heart, my soul—each one now belongs to you.” The small ripples of fear from the power David now had over her kept her voice very soft. Her heart was completely at David’s mercy. That thought was wonderful—freeing even. How could something so new, so beautiful, be terrifying too?

David’s lips brushed hers gingerly, lingering only for a moment. “I told you that you don’t have to be afraid, love. I have no intention of hurting you or leaving you. I only want to stay with you and love you.”

Kristin searched his brown eyes with her own. “Is that really what you want?”

David kissed her again, this time his lips lingered a bit longer, the pressure slightly firmer. “Does that answer your question?”

That was probably an understatement
. But at least David had decided to make a stand and take back control of his life, so she wasn’t stuck in limbo.

“And that means…?”

David ran his hand through his hair. “That means I will still have to talk to Bernard to make sure I’m on solid ground. Then, of course, talk to Sophie. I really don’t think she will do anything. It’s over, but I want to make sure she doesn’t try to play dirty.”

“I see.” Kristin couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice. Public breakups were entirely too messy. And somehow she knew Sophie would make it a mud battle.

David noticed her change in tone and grasped her shoulder gently. “But all of that can wait. Right now, all I want to do is be here with you.”

Kristin nuzzled closer to him. She inhaled his musky scent deeply and kissed his neck. “Then it’s a good thing the gallery is closed on Sunday.”

“Quite right.” David’s lips brushed Kristin’s forehead as he tilted her chin to peer into her eyes. “By the way, what exactly were we painting in your studio together?”

Kristin flashed him a devilish smile. “Passion.”

David laughed. “We have the rest of today so let’s not waste it.” He leaned into her and nothing else mattered except his dark, sensuous eyes. Even the knowledge he had to see Psycho Sophie again disappeared when he bit her neck.

Chapter Nine

Kristin thumbed through the pages of the morning paper as she entered the gallery’s main door. She searched for the Culture section. Celia was supposed to have placed an advertisement in
The Guardian
for Haven, using what little was left in savings to try and drum up some business. The ad would run for a month, starting today. But after several times of looking, the ad was nowhere to be found.

“Celia, didn’t you take that advertising copy I gave you to the paper last week?” She stopped in the middle of the gallery grasping onto the newspaper hard.

This can’t be happening
. She trudged through her office door and plopped her bag on the desk with a thud. Her body fell in a heap into her oversized desk chair.
Great
. As if she didn’t already have a ton of things on her mind.

Kristin stretched her arms and winced briefly, her body reeling with a small stab of soreness. The tenderness from the time she’d spent with David over the weekend made her smile. No rest for the wicked, they always say. And they had both been very wicked.

Kristin’s cheeks heated as she flipped through the rolodex on her desk. Enough with the dilly-dallying. There was work to be done. She found the number she sought and plucked the telephone receiver from its home.

“
Guardian
advertising and sales, how may I be of assistance?” The young woman’s voice was way too chipper for first thing on a Monday morning.

“Yes, my name is Kristin Shepherd. I placed an ad for my art gallery, Haven, last week, and was told that it would start today. But, I don’t see it in the Culture section of the paper.”

“One moment, please.” The peck of fingers on a keyboard echoed through the phone. “There you are, Haven Art Gallery. That ad was cancelled two days ago.”

Kristin jerked in surprise. “No it wasn’t. What do you mean? By whom?”

More clicks of the keyboard. “Well, it says by you.”

What the hell?
“I can assure you, that it was not cancelled by me. Can we un-cancel it to start tomorrow?” The blood in Kristin’s veins pumped swiftly.

“Well, um, it says here that a refund was given in cash. We can redo the ad, but will need payment. Otherwise, there’s nothing I can do.”

Kristin’s heart sank. That money was the last of what she’d saved from James’ life insurance, and this woman was telling her it was gone, with nothing to show for it?
No freaking way
.

“Whoever came in and cancelled that ad, did so without my knowledge, and took money that belonged to me. If you had asked to see identification, you would have known that.” Kristin’s voice rose in anger as her breath became ragged with irritation.

“One moment please.” Hold music assaulted Kristin’s ears.

How many more things could go wrong?
Wait
. Maybe she didn’t want to know the answer to that. Haven had been a success since she opened it. Maybe not a raging one, but a success nonetheless. Now problems attacked her at every turn. Ever since—

Kristin froze on that last thought. Ever since she’d met David and had been introduced to Sophie Miller, that’s when her dealings started to go bad.

It couldn’t be just a coincidence. Sophie had to be involved somehow. The woman had been way too sarcastic at the theater when she’d asked how business was. Even though David didn’t believe it, Kristin was certain Sophie had more than a passing involvement in the problems at the gallery. All Kristin had to do was prove it.

The hold music ceased as the woman returned to her phone. “I apologize, madam. But the manager says that since the refund was given in cash, there’s really nothing we can do right now. You’re welcome to file a complaint at the main office to prompt an investigation.”

Her swiftly pumping blood thudded in her ears with alarm. “But that doesn’t help me, now! I need that ad to help my business! What am I supposed to do?

“I’m sorry. As I suggested, please file a complaint. It’s out of my hands now.” Silence followed in the wake of the woman’s sudden disconnection of the call.

Her hand shook as she replaced the receiver in its cradle. What was she going to do? Though she actually had no proof Sophie had anything to do with this or any of the other issues plaguing Haven, Kristin was certain the actress was involved. Maybe it was time for further investigation, and time she stood up to someone.