Tempting the Artist (16 page)

“
But what?”

“
I think it’s great that
your family is as close as it is, but I can’t help but
wonder.”

“
Wonder what?” She sat back
in her seat feeling her defenses going up.

“
If you and your family are
so close, don’t you think it’s time you tell them who you are? You
claim they’re supportive and loving. Yet, you’re afraid of their
reaction of knowing that you’re a world famous artist.”

“
I’m not world famous,” she
mumbled staring out the side window watching the city pass in a
blur.

“
Yet. You might not be
famous yet. However with your talent, it’s only a matter of
time.”

My cheerleader.
God she loved this man
.

She smiled at him even though deep
down inside, she didn’t feel like smiling. She felt like a wimp,
unable to have a simple conversation with the people she loved
most. What was wrong with her? Lately, her reasons for not sharing
that part of her life didn’t seem warranted, especially after
seeing her grandparent’s reaction to one of her
paintings.

“
I don’t really want to be
world famous,” she said instead of responding to Luke’s original
question.

“
What?” Luke stole a quick
glance at her, his brows furrowed. “Are you kidding me? That’s like
an author saying they don’t want to hit the New York Time’s
Bestsellers list. Those words would never come out of their
mouth.”

“
Let me rephrase that. I
wouldn’t mind being famous, but I don’t want people all up in my
business. In our business. I want privacy. Jada has told me many
stories about how fans come up to Zack for autographs or interrupt
their dinners to get a photo with him. I don’t want that for
myself.”

“
No offense, but I assure
you your fan base will be nothing like Zack’s. He was in the public
eye for years playing professional football. Big difference from
being a talented artist. I’m not sure there’re many people who
would recognize you walking down the street even if you are their
favorite artist.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his
lips. “But all of that is beside the point. You need to tell your
family. It would be a shame for them to hear that you’re Sasha
Knight from someone other than you.”

Yeah, that would be
awful.

*

No matter how Luke
dissected this
secret
of Christina’s, he couldn’t figure out what her real problem
was in telling her family about Sasha Knight. It didn’t make sense.
There was a moment in her grandfather’s office that Luke had been
tempted to point out that Christina was the brilliant artist behind
the piece, but he couldn’t betray her trust like that. Even if it
would’ve been for her own good.

He pulled onto the expressway and
headed downtown. If he learned anything from spending time this
afternoon with her family, it’s that they loved and enjoyed each
other’s company. Being around them made him realize what he had
missed growing up. A family. People who loved you despite your
choices, good or bad. And most important, people to confide in and
be there when you needed them the most. Christina had all of this
and as far as he was concerned, she took it for granted.

“
I need to stop by the
office to pick up a file. Are you in a hurry to get home?” Luke
split his attention between Christina and the road. Normally they
lounged around on Sunday evenings, but he didn’t want to assume she
didn’t have something else to do.

“
No. No rush.” She went
back to staring out of the passenger side window.

“
Listen,” he grabbed hold
of her hand again, “when you’re ready to tell your family about
Sasha Knight, you’ll know. Don’t let me push you into doing
something you’re not ready to do.”

She nodded and squeezed his
hand.

A while later they pulled into the
parking structure connected to the rear of the law office. Luke
rarely went into the office on a Sunday, but he needed to get a
head start on a case he recently acquired and had failed to put the
needed file in his briefcase.

“
I can stay in the car and
wait for you,” Christina said when Luke parked.

“
I don’t expect to be long,
but I’d feel better if you went in with me.” His fingers sifted
through her thick hair, pushing a few strands out of her face. Her
normal bubbly attitude was missing and he hated seeing her so down
on herself.

“
Alright. It would be nice
to see where you spend so much of your time.”

They stepped into the glass-enclosed
elevator that quickly took them to the twelfth floor where Atwater,
Rouse & Stevenson occupied the whole level.

“
Wow, this place is
gorgeous,” Christina said when Luke unlocked the double glass doors
of the suite and signaled her in. The paintings, hanging against
wallpapered walls in the receptionist area, immediately caught her
attention.

“
Are you familiar with the
painting on the right?” Luke asked, knowing she knew her
art.

“
Hmm, this is one of Damien
Hirst pieces. I like his style despite some critics once saying his
work was amateurish and lacked finesse.” She moved around the room
and stopped in front of a charcoal drawing of the Scales of Justice
before moving onto another painting near the receptionist’s desk.
“Wow, something by Georges Braque. Impressive.”

Luke waited patiently while she
perused the last piece of art that would lead them to the main
hallway. She commented on the artist’s brushwork and choice of
colors as if Luke understood what she was talking about. When she
was done, he draped his arm over her shoulder and escorted her down
the hall.

“
I’m glad you’re getting a
chance to see where I work. I should have invited you here long
before now. So what do you think so far?”

“
It’s a beautiful space,
but I am a little surprised that the fronts of some of the offices
are glass walls. That doesn’t seem very private.”

“
Those offices belong to
the junior partners and though you can see through them, they’re
sound proof.”

“
Ahh, I see.” They walked
to the end of the hall. “It seems that some of you work on Sundays
too,” she said when they past one of Luke’s associates, Attorney
Arthur, who had his door open and was on the telephone. He offered
a wave and they waved back.

“
When I first moved to
Cincinnati, I put in a few hours on Sundays. But now my baby keeps
me busy doing other things.” Christina grinned up at him and he
placed a kiss against her temple before releasing her and unlocking
his office door. He liked that he didn’t have glass walls, too much
of a distraction seeing people walk pass.

“
Your office is as neat as
your condo and bigger than my first apartment,” Christina said when
she walked in. She stood in the middle of the room. “I like that
despite it being large it’s cozy and inviting in here. Not as
intimidating as I would have imagined.”

The wall-to-wall bookshelves and the
woodwork in the office did give the space a warm, welcoming
feel.

Christina strolled around the office
taking in the small sitting area that was comprised of a sofa
against the wall with two upholstered chairs facing it and a table
in the center. She stopped in front of a wall that held Luke’s law
degree, certificates, and three plagues. At first, Luke was slow to
display some of his accomplishments, not sure of how long he’d stay
at the firm. Once he and Christina reunited, he had taken the time
to hang up some of the items.

“
Okay, now I’m impressed.
You have your own bathroom.” She disappeared inside, gushing about
the size.

Luke stood in the doorway. The
bathroom was definitely an added benefit. If the partners ever
decided to move him out of the corner office, as originally
planned, the bathroom would be what he would miss most.

“
Maybe we can play around
in here one day,” Christina said in a conspiratorial
whisper.

“
Oh yeah. Just say when,
baby.” He loved the way her mind worked.

Christina shrieked when he suddenly
lifted her into his arms, something he’d often done since he liked
carrying her around. Instead of placing her on the bathroom
counter, he took her back into his office.

“
Maybe we should test out
my desk before we tackle the bathroom,” he said against her scented
neck, turning him on more with the way she wiggled against him. He
made a move to venture to the other side of her neck when he
noticed some files on his desk.

“
Uh, hello?” Christina
frowned when he left her side. “I know that’s not more important
than what I
thought
we were about to do.”

“
I didn’t leave these out,”
Luke said absently. He always cleared his desk and locked his
drawers, as well as the office door, before leaving for the
day.

Christina jumped off the desk and
stood next to him. “Is that bad? Maybe your assistant laid them out
for you.”

“
She left the office before
I did Friday.” He opened the top file and sifted through the first
few documents, immediately recognizing notes with Gary’s
scribble.

Luke checked his desk drawers. Locked.
He took a cursory glance around his office. His gaze scrutinized
the bookshelves to the right of him and the curio cabinet across
from the desk that held awards, a few binders, and a coffee
machine.

Nothing looked out of
place, but he didn’t like people in his office,
his locked office
, when he wasn’t
there.

“
I see you found the cases
I left you,” Gary Rouse said. They hadn’t closed the office door
completely, but that didn’t give him the right to push the door all
the way open. His sleazy gaze roamed the length of Christina
settling a little too long on her breasts before making its way
back up to her face. “I didn’t expect you to start working on those
cases this weekend,” he said to Luke but kept his eyes on
Christina. “Tomorrow is soon enough.”

Luke dropped the files. His hands
fisted tightly at his side and fury raged through his veins as Gary
approached the desk. Christina must have sensed the tension
radiating off of him. Her hand went to the center of his back,
making small circles, which did nothing to tame the anger thumping
inside of him.

“
So, who is this beautiful
woman?” Gary extended his hand, but before Christina could reach
for it, Luke placed a hand on her arm, stopping her.

“
My office was locked for a
reason, Gary. You could have easily held on to these files until
Monday.”

Gary pulled his hand back and folded
his arms across his chest. “I could have, but I’ll be in and out
tomorrow and I wanted you to get started on them first thing in the
morning.”

“
Um, maybe I should wait
out there,” Christina jerked her thumb toward the door and started
to move away.

“
Nah, baby, you stay right
here. He’s the one leaving.”

“
Also,” Gary continued as
if Luke hadn’t said anything, “I’ll need Robin’s assistance
tomorrow. So hopefully you don’t have plans with her. I mean for
her.” He returned his attention to Christina, his roving eyes doing
another sweep of her body. “Have you met his assistant? Tall,
redhead, green eyes? Like you, she’s a looker.”

“
Gary, so help me,” Luke
said through gritted teeth, his breathing coming in short spurts.
“You need to leave.” The thin hold he had on the anger knotted
inside him was quickly unraveling.

“
Oh and since I’ll be a
partner soon,
you need
to get used to taking on cases you might not like. I heard
about how you told Mr. Hardy that you wouldn’t be taking his case.
I’m not sure who you think you are, but if I give you a case, I
expect…”

Something inside of Luke snapped and
he lurched over the desk at Gary, knocking the telephone and files
to the floor. “Your ass is—”

“
Lucas no!” Christina
screamed and grabbed him, her hands fisting in his shirt as she
struggled to hold him back. “Please, baby. Let’s just go. We need
to get to that … that thing we have to do.”

“
Get the hell out of my
office!” Luke roared, struggling against Christina’s hold on him.
He wanted to get his hands on Gary but didn’t want to hurt
Christina, who had her arms securely wrapped around him.

Gary slowly backed away, a wicked
smirk on his face. “I’ll go, but this conversation
isn’t—”

“
Get out!”

Christina didn’t release Luke until
Gary was out of sight. She hurried across the room and locked the
door.

“
What is wrong with you?”
She ground out as she approached Luke, her eyes shooting daggers.
“I
know
you
weren’t about to hit that man and risk everything you’ve worked so
hard for!”

Breathing hard, Luke leaned on his
desk. With his body shaking, teeth clenched, and fury rioting
inside of him, he could barely grab a hold of the control that had
taken a backseat to his temper. He couldn’t remember the last time
someone had rattled him the way Gary seemed to enjoy
doing.