What is this surprise?
Jaeger drives us to his house and my original suspicions resurface.I quickly reject them.Not that sex with Jaeger won’t play a part in the evening if I have a say, but Jaeger’s tapping the steering wheel as if he’s jumpy.Something else is going on.
We walk around to the workshop.He unlocks the door and steps aside for me to enter.The sun hasn’t set, but lies low in the sky, leaving the workshop shadowed without the overheads.He flips on the lights.
“Is this a replay of the other day?”I tease.
He looks at me, heat and desire flaming behind his gaze.“No, and you’d better not put ideas in my head or we won’t make it to dinner.”
He rests his wide hand on my lower back, scorching the flesh beneath, and guides me across the room to where he keeps his final works.
Only a few remain on the tiered shelves today, about half as many as last time.I’ll have to ask him how he sells his stuff.Good for research.
It’s strange how we both turned to art after the lives we’d mapped out didn’t work.I’d never considered art and design before I returned to Tahoe, but I’ve been thoughtlessly sketching since fourth grade on napkins, notebooks, and just about any scrap of paper that fell into my hands.Jaeger and I are so different on the surface.He’s quiet and I’m outgoing, but underneath, our passions are the same.On many levels.
Jaeger steps away and pulls out a tablet about four-by-four feet in size and covered with a painter’s drop cloth.He sets it on the wall display and removes the cover.For a moment, I think, wow, that black drape really highlights the wood nicely, and then my focus settles on the design.
What the…?“Jaeger?”
The carving in front of us is the abstract I drew of the lake.
“Gen happened to show Mason and me the design you made on a napkin during one of your breaks.I asked her if I could borrow it.I also saw the sketch you left on the couch when I came by to pick up Gen.Cali, you have crazy talent.”
A naughty glint flashes in his forest-green eyes.“I’ve shown you how special I thinkyouare.But this”—his eyes sober and he points to the piece in front of us—“is my way of showing you how special I think your art is.”
Replicated on wood, the sketch has dimension and depth, with the outermost lines advancing as though the center is pulling you in.
The amount of planning and work he must have put in to create this piece blows my mind.I’m speechless, which is rare for me.
He shoves his hands in the pockets of his dark slacks.“Well?What do you think?”
“It’s amazing.Your carving, that is.”
“Yourdrawingis amazing.”
This is more than Jaeger telling me he thinks I’m talented.He’s telling me he likes me, elevating the wooing campaign—the one I only recently realized exists—to new heights.
A few things come together for me and I finally understand.Gen… sneaky, sneaky, wonderful best friend.“Does this have anything to do with your clandestine date with my best friend?”
He smiles, exasperated, and shakes his head.“I wanted Gen to look at the early version.I hadn’t gotten your permission to use the sketch.I brought her by to check it out and tell me if she thought you’d be okay with it.”
And now I feel like an ass.“I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions about you two.I owe both of you an apology.”
He steps closer and links our fingers.“It’s fine, Cali.I just want you to feel like you can trust me.”
The truth is, I do trust him.Jaeger is sincere and caring in a way I’ve rarely seen from guys.Crap, or from most women.He’s a good person.
“There’s something else I wanted to mention.I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but I have a client who commissioned my work.She’s looking for something special.I’d like to show her your sketches.Gen let me borrow the few you’ve given her, but I can show this lady whichever ones you feel comfortable with.”
“Yeah, sure,” I say hesitantly.I can’t see anyone wanting to buy a carving of one of my sketches.But then, that’s the point.To create designs people will want in their homes and businesses.“Let me at least convert the ones you have on napkins and on the backs of bills onto actual artists’ paper before you show her, though.”
He laughs.“I don’t think she’ll care.She’s got a discerning eye.”He pulls me close until I bump into his hard chest.He wraps his arms around my back, his long limbs flanking my hips.“She knows something good when she sees it.”
In my heels, I’m taller and my mouth aligns with his jaw.I rise on my toes and kiss his lips.“Thank you for making me feel special.And for the carving.”
“Oh, that carving isn’t for you.”He grins.
My head tilts back in mock incredulity.“What do you mean, it’s not for me?”
