Finally. All her pieces were ready for her show. She’d so much invested in this. Before she started panicking at justhowmuch, she dragged out a wooden pedestal and started on a new project.
But thoughts of him took hold once more, possessed her, like she was under some spell. Memories haunted her of being trapped by his warm body, his mouth…
The sudden silence jolted her back to her surroundings.
“Eve?”
At the sound of his voice, she squeezed her eyes tight because she’d been locked in thoughts best forgotten. Spine stiff, she glanced over her shoulder.
“Where’s your cell?” Reynner asked, his voice even, but his features appeared molded in stone as he moved away from the CD player he’d switched off.
“Table.”
He picked up her phone, and his fingers flew across the display as he entered something into it.
“How did you find me?”
“You said you had a place here. When you didn’t answer at your apartment, I was concerned. Next time, Eve, don’t leave without me. You have my number now. Use it.” He set the phone back on the table.
He’d been worried about her?
Only because you have to find the artifact for him.
She yanked a twisted piece of metal free from the sculpture and tossed it aside. “I had work to do. Besides, I'm not used to anyone keeping track of my whereabouts.”
“That was before. Now, I expect to know.”
At the undercurrent of steel in his tone, Eve opened her mouth to inform him just what she thought of that idea, and bumped into his unyielding gaze. She swallowed her irritation. “Well, I can't oblige you, I'm an artist, inspiration strikes at any time.”
“Dammit, Eve—”
“How did you get in?” she cut him off.
“I don’t need a key to do so,” he muttered. Picking up her soda, he drank some.
While sugar would probably sweeten his mood, Eve had to force her gaze away from his lips, aware of what that mouth of his could do.
“What are you working on?”
She studied her new project. The pieces of metal fused together depicted nothing but a clutter of snaking strips at the moment. “A sculpture.”
She rose from the bench she’d been seated on. With her foot, she pushed the loose metal aside.
“I can see that. What is it going to be? Bird, tree—”
“A man,” she said abruptly.
Silence. “Who?”
“A…friend.”
“I see…”
Her gaze flashed to him. But those dark eyes had settled on the nude sculpture of Brenna. “Do your subjects pose for you?”
Why was he pushing this? “Yes. What’s with the twenty questions, Reynner?”
He sauntered over. Stopping an inch from her, his cool gaze met hers. “He only comes when I am here.”
