There was a class vote, and Dominick won. Although, Harmony wasn't shocked in the least. The appreciativeawwsfrom everyone when he said he drew a pig made it obvious he'd be the crowdfavorite.
Dominick practically bounced back to his seat. "My lady." He bowed and handed the voucher to Harmony, which she greedily snatched from his hand and shoved in herpurse.
"Wow," he breathed looking down at her plate. "You totally would have won if we got to see what we weredoing."
A biting response sat on her lips, but when she looked up at Dominick, Harmony realized she'd impressed him. It wasn't even a good painting of an octopus, but the compliment was stillappreciated.
"Thanks," she ended up saying, though it still came out as agrumble.
He mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like the word "confidence," then grabbed his brush and drew a pink line straight threw heroctopus.
"What was that for?" Her voice was shrill from the shock of it, rather than actually beingupset.
"For being a sore loser and taking my voucheranyway."
She narrowed her eyes. "You gave ittome."
Harmony was confused by his words until she saw the smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He was flirting, and she found herself wanting toflirtback.
"Oh, it's on!" She dipped her brush in the black paint and coveredthepig.
His mouth fell open as his hand flew to his chest. "YoukilledBabe!"
Harmony lowered her voice and narrowed her eyes. "Shedeservedit."
Dominick laughed and dipped his finger into the red paint in front of him. He put in on the octopus. "Then I'll be the evilfisherman."
A giggle burst forth. "That's horrible. I bet you don't cut the plastic rings on soda cans,doyou?"
"Wait." His face was serious. "You're supposed todothat?"
"Of course you are." She struggled to keep her voice light. He was joking, right? Not that she was a crazy activist, but she thought it was something everyone did. With Dominick, it was so hard to tell. He'd gone from awkward and shy to fun and confident in the course of a paintingclass.
When she saw the humor in his eyes, Harmony knew he was teasing heragain.
Maybe it was the wine that made Dominick fun. Harmony thought she should top off their glasses to make sure the night continued onthisway.
Unfortunately, the plastic cup was on the edge of the tabletop, so when Harmony started filling it, it became unbalanced and fell—right onto Dominick'spants.
She expected another easy smile—the kind she'd been growing accustomed to over the last thirty minutes. Harmony hoped he would see she was having a good time and it was just an accident. Instead, what she got was a look ofhorror.
His voice was stricken when he spoke. "Oh,no!"
Harmony grabbed for the paper towels on the table. She started dabbing at his pants, not sure if she was making things better orworse.
Dominick cursed under his breath, and she thought she heard him mutter, "Conrad is gonna kill me," but she couldn't be sure. Who was Conrad and why would he care if she spilled wine on Dominick'spants?
"I'm so sorry," she said, still pressing paper towels on his legs, careful to keep her hands a respectable distance from anything else. "It was anaccident."
Dominick pushed her hands away. "I know. Listen, I gotta go." He looked into her eyes. "Stay. Keep painting. Please don't drinkanymore."
"What?" she shrieked, drawing the attention of some of the other people intheroom.
"I only mean you had a drink at dinner and then wine here. Now, you're spilling stuff on me, and I don't want you to be drunk when youdrivehome."
"What?" He thought she wasdrunk? "I'm not drunk, Dominick. The cupslipped."
His eyes were still wide, as he patted his pant leg with the paper towel that had been in Harmony's hand moments before. "I know it was an accident, and really, I'm not mad. But I gotta go. It was…" He stopped and looked directly into Harmony's eyes. "It was nice meeting you. Have a good…" Dominick sighed. "Goodnight."
