Work of Art (37 page)

“I’d like that very much. Thank you Mr. Harper.”

“Call me Bill,” he said, and I nodded.

And then I just stood and watched Harper as she worked the room. I was mesmerized by her ability to charm an audience as she talked about her art. And they absolutely loved her.

“She’ll come around, you know,” a voice said from beside me, and I looked over to see Julian. I hadn’t even noticed he was there.

“I know she will,”
I said, looking back at Harper. She was so in her element.

“She does love you.”

I looked over at him again. “I hope she does. She’s perfect, and getting another chance with her means everything to me.”

“She’s not a rebound girl,” he warned, and I looked up at him. He had at least four inches on me and could probably kick my ass if he wanted.

I sighed. “I know. I’m not looking for a rebound.”

Sadly enough, I was fairly sure I’d called off my wedding with my rebound girl, and I hadn’t ever realized it. I’d jumped in headfirst with Trish, and I’d regret that for the rest of my life, because it hadn’t been fair to her. But I’d been hurting and lo
oking for validation, and she’d been there to support me and love me and make me feel worthy again.

She was the one who helped me get over Courtney, so I could put her in the past and be w
ith Harper. I knew it. Had I seen Harper a year earlier, things would have been so different, but now, I was pretty sure we were both in a place where we could be together and be happy.

“She’s a special girl,” Julian said then, and I started to get irritated.

I turned to face him. “I know how special she is. Trust me. I know. I’ve known her far longer than you have.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “So you’re willing to fight for her, support her, and love her unconditionally?”

“Yes, I am,” I said firmly.

“Good, then I hope you get her.”

He started to walk away from me then.

“You don’t have any pull with her, do you?”

Julian laughed. “I tried, boyfriend. Trust me, I tried, but Harper has a thick skin for a reason, and she needs to make decisions for herself in her own time. Just let her see that you’re willing to be patient. Let her come to you, and you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Julian,” I said sincerely, because it was the best advice I could have gotten in that moment.

And when Harper came over to me an hour later to ask if I wanted to get a drink, I told her I’d love to.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Harper

“You were pretty amazing tonight,” Ryan told me when the bartender set our drinks in front of us.

I was glad the night was over. Shows were always exhausting. I hated having to talk to everyone and be ‘on’ the whole time, but I was still pretty jazzed that I’d sold out the entire show. I wasn’t sure I’d come down from that high for a long time.

Ryan smiled at me.
I took a long sip of my beer and appraised him.

“I was amazing?”
I questioned, as I turned to my body to face him and he did the same, so our knees were practically touching. The sexual electricity between us was vibrating so fast that it was starting to make me lightheaded.

He smirked at me. “Yeah, you were. You were so natural, talking and laughing and charming everyone you met. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you.”

“I noticed,” I said, hiding my smile behind my beer. “Every time I looked up, you were watching me.”

“What can I say, I was mesmerized.”

I laughed out loud at that comment, glad I hadn’t taken a sip before he said it or else I would have spewed beer all over him.

“That’s cheesy.”

“It’s true,” he said, shrugging. “I met your dad tonight.”

I nodded.  I’d seen them talking for a few minutes, but I couldn’t tell from their expressions how it had gone. “I saw. Was he nice to you?”

“He was very friendly. He invited me over for dinner.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did he now? He thinks we’re going to get back together.”

I could tell he was fighting the urge to comment, to ask me if what his dad suspected was true. His lip was twitching, and his breathing got instantly shallower.

I rolled my eyes. “Just say it,” I told him.

“Say what?”

“Whatever it is you
want to ask me. I can tell you’re holding back.”

“I’m fine,” he said, taking a long sip of his beer.

“So, nothing is on your mind?”

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head.

“Fine. Whatever. So how are you? What’s new in your world?” I could go the casual route if he really wanted me to.

He grinned. “
Well, I officially decided to change careers. Today was actually my last day at work.”

I raised my eyebrows.
“Really?”

“Yeah,
I got a job as a history professor at a junior college outside the city. It doesn’t pay much, but I don’t really care. I’m so excited. I’ve been working on the syllabus all week and reading the books that are assigned for the class.”

He literally couldn’t stop smiling. It was slightly adorable.

“Wow, how did you swing that?” I asked.

School was likely starting the following week. It was kind of last minute to be hired on.

“One of my business school professors called in a favor,” he explained. “He teaches at Stanford now, and his wife is one of the vice presidents of the junior college. They just had a teacher tell them he wasn’t returning, so the job was mine if I wanted it. Since I double majored in history and business in college, I’m qualified.”

“Ryan, that is incredible.”
I was genuinely happy for him.

He shrugged. “It’s all part of my master plan to take back my life.”

I was intrigued. “What else is in this plan of yours?”

He smiled. “Well,
I’m going back to school in the spring to get my PhD in Finance and Accounting, so I can teach at a business school, and when my lease is up on my apartment in September, I’m downsizing. I don’t need all that room and vaulted ceilings and marble floors.”

“You have marble floors?”
I interrupted.

“Yeah, I do. They’re not all that great.”

“Must be nice.”

He shrugged. “There are simpler things in life, and I think I’m just ready to leave all the pretentious bullshit I hated about my life when I was growing up behind.”

I nodded. “That’s right. You always did complain about how ostentatious your parents’ house was.”

He rolled his eyes “It was the biggest house in our neighborhood. It was more than ostentatious.”

I smiled. “Yeah, but it was a beautiful house.”

“I liked your house better.”

“You did?” I questioned, taking a long pull on my beer as I made a face. “It was so modern.”

He flashed me a shy smile. “Yeah, but you lived there, so it was the most beautiful house I’d ever seen.”

“Ryan!” I chastised him as I felt my cheeks get hot.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said quickly, realizing how his statement sounded. 

He let out a deep sigh, and I knew he was agitated, but he needed to give me time. He couldn’t make such casual statements like that. We weren’t in that place, and as much as he was starting to wear me down, I wasn’t ready to go there.

“
It’s fine,” I told him as I drained the rest of my beer. I felt Ryan watching me, as if waiting for me to make the next move. I looked up and caught the bartender’s eye. “Can I have another?”

Next to me Ryan visibly relaxed. I think he thought I was ready to bolt, so he was relieved to see me order another beer instead of the check.

“I’ll have one too,” he said, and I glanced over to see him tearing off little pieces of his napkin.

I reached over and took his hand in mine. “I need time, okay?”

“Yeah, I know,” he sighed, and I knew he was regretting what he’d said. But he shouldn’t. It had been sweet – unexpected, but sweet.

I smiled at him, and he gave me a ghost of a smile back.

“Tell me more about your art,” he finally said. “What are you working on right now?”

I relaxed as the bartender set our beers in front of us. I could talk about my art all day long. That was an easy subject.

And for the next thirty minutes, Ryan and I stuck to easy subjects. He didn’t make any more borderline inappropriate comments, and for that I was grateful.

When I yawned for the third time,
Ryan signaled the bartender for the check.

“No, I was having fun,” I whined.

He chuckled. “You were about to fall asleep with your head on the bar. I think it’s time to call it a night.”

“Okay, fine,” I said begrudgingly, but I really was tired and it was late.

Ryan smiled as the bartender handed him the check.

“Would you maybe want to walk me home?” I asked him.

My apartment was only a few blocks away, but I didn’t want to walk alone or try to find a cab at that time of night.

“I’d love to,” Ryan said, as he
threw a hundred dollar bill down on the bar. Then he stood and waited for me to get up.

“Is that a hundred dollars?”

“Yeah,” he said, shrugging.

“Are you getting change?”

“No.”

“Ryan, we bought
four beers. That’s like twenty dollars. You can’t leave an eighty dollar tip.”

“
Why not? The guy’s a bartender. He probably doesn’t make a lot of money, so why not help him out?”

I smiled. His intentions were sweet, but h
e’d had money for way too long, that was obvious. He might want to get rid of his marble floors, but mentally, he’d always be a rich kid.

“
Didn’t you quit your high paying job today?”

“Yeah.”

I picked up the bill. “So save your money, you idiot.
You’re
probably going to need it,” I said playfully, thrusting it back at him before reaching into my clutch and pulling out a twenty and a five.

I threw them
on the bar as Ryan looked at me in what seemed like awe. “You’re smart and sexy. I fucking love that,” he said, and it was so honest that I knew he really felt that way about me. “What am I going to do with you?”

I shrugged. “Walk me home, hug me goodnight
, and be my friend.”

“Your friend?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Are you okay with that?”

I hoped he wouldn’t say no. I didn’t do well with ultimatums, and we were making good progress. I didn’t want him to derail that now.

“Harper, I’d love to be you friend,” he said, and he was so serious that I knew he wouldn’t stop until we were back together. He was doing what I asked because he really wanted more, but he was exercising patience, and I appreciated that.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ryan

Friends.
Harper was willing to be my friend, and that sucked from one perspective, but from another, I knew it was better than her freezing me out. And I knew it was better than what I’d had just twenty-four hours earlier. And if she was willing to be my friend, then I knew she could be willing to potentially be more than friends, because I knew she felt something, and she’d given in to this step in just three weeks.

And knowing that gave me enough of an incentive to push forward.

I rode the elevator up to her apartment, the confidence bubbling up in me as the floors passed by one by one. I pushed up the sleeves on my blue striped button-down and ran my hand back through my hair as the numbers changed over above my head.

13

14

I bounced impatiently
on my sneaker clad feet feeling like this was the slowest elevator I’d ever ridden.

15

16

Ding!

I took a deep breath and strode toward her front door, knowing I was ambushing her and hoping she’d be okay with it.

Then I took one more breath, swallowed and knocked on her door.

A cute blond answered and looked at me in question for a few seconds before recognition dawned on her face.

“You must be Ryan,” she said, almost as if she’d been expecting to see me.

I nodded.  “I am. It’s nice to meet you,” I said, sticking out my hand so she could shake it, wondering how she knew who I was.

Had Harper been talking about me with her friends? That thought made me
freakin’ giddy.

“I’m Kelly Lewis, Harper’s friend,” she said, stepping back to let me into the apartment.