Chapter 15 #2
In the time it took her to hit two more stalls, Chad Holcombe’s booth was surrounded by half the female entrants.
To each her own. Last but not least, Greer stopped by Alex’s booth.
He had a high-powered light and magnifying glass set up on the table and had pulled his barrier curtains as far around him as possible.
His back was rounded as he used a tracing stylus to transfer a design to a piece of leather underneath.
He picked up his own swivel knife and made sure strokes down the leather, cutting away narrow sections, until the design took shape and came to life under his hand.
Greer leaned against one of the booth’s sides and squinted, trying to make out what the subject was. “Is that a fairy?”
Alex shoved his design under another piece of leather.
“You know the point is to convince people you’re the best artist, right? Not the most standoffish.”
He glanced up at her, and by the lack of focus in his eyes, it was clear he was in his own world. He shook his head, blinked twice. “Public’s not allowed in yet.”
Ah, so he had heard her. “They will be in a couple of days.”
“Which means I don’t have to be nice until then.”
“Don’t you think you should practice a little?”
“You think I need practice being nice?” One at a time, he carefully placed his tracing tools in a canvas roll, slid the leather he’d been working into his portfolio, and clicked off the lamp.
The change in light threw shadows across his face, making him look like a man convinced he didn’t belong in the sunshine.
The sudden need Greer had to pull him out and make him stand in the wide open almost overwhelmed her.
“Maybe you should. Because when you’re nice to people, they like you. And when they like you, they do nice things for you, like choose you as the competition winner.”
He rose from the folding chair where he’d been sitting and headed toward Greer in what others might mistake as a stroll. She recognized it for what it was. He was stalking her. “Do you want to do nice things for me?”
“I’ve already been accused once today of not running this competition fairly.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Do you want me to do nice things for you?” She honestly had no idea what this man wanted. Yes, he wanted her physically. That was a little hard to hide while wearing a towel. But as for the rest of him—those parts were still a mystery.
He reached out, but rather than touch her, he plucked the paper from her hand. He didn’t scan it either but spent several minutes with his eyes darting back and forth across the print. “You added a rule.”
She lowered her voice, “I didn’t think about…you know…that you’re living here.”
“The exact reason you shouldn’t put restrictions on when other people can be here and have access to their tools and booths.”
“I’m not restricting when they can use their tools, just the space. So I think it’s probably best if you use the outside door to your place from now on.”
“What will people say at night when they don’t see my car pull out?”
“You can…uh…park it up at Daddy’s cabin.”
“Why haven’t you moved into your dad’s house?”
“Because I like my apartment in town.” And she did, but that wasn’t the reason she’d stayed there. It was still so hard to walk in her dad’s place and not expect him to amble into the living room and spout one of his gruff Texas sayings.
Daddy, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I’m gonna make you proud with Wild Card.
She pointed to the paper in Alex’s hand. “Can you please sign that?”
“You trust me not to sneak out here in the middle of the night and work on my competition project?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Alex. I suppose if I don’t I could babysit you every night for seven hours.”
That brought his head up. “Does it make me a dick if I like the sound of that?”
“Don’t play with me. In case you haven’t read the research, sex isn’t supposed to work this way.”
“What way?”
“Women are hard-wired to say no. Men are programmed to say yes. And I’ll be damned if I’ve been able to get you to say yes to me yet. Not about the resident artist thing. And not about sex.”
“I said yes to the competition, didn’t I?”
“I backed you into a corner.”
The way his mouth quirked up on one side said he wouldn’t mind her backing him into a corner and doing all kinds of things with him. “I’ve thought about it, the resident artist thing.”
“And?”
“And I’m willing to try it.”
Her heart inflated. She started to throw her arms around him but remembered they were still surrounded by his competition. “Oh, Alex—”
“On one condition.”
“Okay.”
“If I buy in, then I get a cut of the overall revenue.”
“I wasn’t insinuating I expected you to pay to be part of—”
“I won’t be part of something I’m not financially invested in. That’s a good way to get elbowed out of decisions.”
“And profit?”
“That too.”
“I thought you said I would fail.”
“No, I said you were taking a risk that you had no idea if it would pay off.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I read the business paperwork you threw at me.”
“And?”
“And as talented an artist as you are, Greer, you might be an even better businesswoman.”
Well, that was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. Yes, Wild Card needed to pay for itself, pay for her rent. But it was all about the art. Once she got it up and running, she’d establish her own booth, split her time between her current studio and here.
Even as she thought it, excitement welled up in her. She could keep blowing glass in town and establish a new pursuit—maybe some folk art or metalworking—out here. The perfect way to keep herself from getting bored. “I’m an artist,” she told him.
“I’m not denying that you do some decent work.” Decent? Her face must’ve shown her reaction, because Alex hurried to say, “Okay, more than good. Much more. But have you ever considered that art may not be your passion?”
Greer glanced down at her watch. “It’s 10:58. If I don’t herd people out of here, they won’t pay a bit of attention to the hours I set.”
Alex leaned back, propped a hip against his worktable.
“That means you too,” she said. “Drive your car up to the cabin and I’ll be up that way in a bit to pick you up.”
“Does that mean you’re spending the night?”
“Do you want me to?”
He massaged the back of his neck the way a sumo wrestler might grip his opponent. “God help me, yes.”
Even though his tone was slightly grudging, his words kindled a slow heat in Greer’s belly. But rather than touch him now, she just gave him a small smile and hustled him out of the booth. As she trailed him down the aisle toward the barn door, she called out, “Time to shut it down, people.”
A few artists clicked off their machinery and lights with a sigh. Others groaned and remained hunched over their work.
“I mean it.” Greer raised her voice a little. “If you’re not out of here by 11:05, I’ll disqualify you from the competition.”
Chad slowly sauntered out of his space and said, “You can’t treat people that way.”
“What way?”
“Like you’re a drill sergeant, and they’re your recruits. They’re artists.”
“I’ve never bought into that whole artists-are-tender-souls thing.
” She motioned to a jewelry maker, and the woman stowed her loupe and left her booth.
“Believe me, they’ll be thanking me in the morning when they’re well rested and well fed.
” Her dad had always said she had the strength of personality to lead an army of angels straight into hell.
“You sure you don’t want to grab something to eat?” Chad asked.
The muscles in Greer’s face locked into their pleasant position. “Bet you can find a tablemate easily enough.”
“Your loss.”
Doubtful. But ten minutes later, Greer was gazing out over a tire-flattened expanse of pasture and all cars but hers were gone.
Tomorrow, she’d mark off the public parking.
She wouldn’t charge for it either. Gouging people before they ever stepped inside the village wouldn’t encourage them to spend money.
She also needed to talk with Sawyer about providing some type of food services on a more permanent basis.
And oh, if she was calling this place a village, wouldn’t it be amazing to bring in a few more buildings, make it look the part? If she could get her hands on a Sunday haus, she could put it right over there.
She pulled her phone from her back pocket, tapped in a few notes to herself. Then she scowled down at it. God, she was becoming as anal as her plan-loving brother.
Alex’s words came back to her. As talented an artist as you are, you might be an even better businesswoman. No, she was just trying to diversify her hometown, ensure it was never again endangered the way it was before Delaney took over as the new Prophecy bootmaker.
She filled her lungs with April air and stared up at the full moon in the cloudless night sky. Too pretty to waste. Too pretty to spend by herself. She whipped out her phone and texted Alex.
On foot. Meet me in the woods halfway between the cabin and the barn once you’ve parked your car.
She made her way across the expanse of pasture, the grass crunching pleasantly under her boots, and into the stand of trees separating the barn side of the property from the house side.
As she meandered along, the chirps and rustles and hoots wrapped around her like a beautifully hand-knitted shawl. Warm, comforting, familiar.
Then came a crashing that announced a much larger presence. Maybe this hadn’t been her brightest idea.
“Greer, dammit, are you out here?”
She huffed a quiet laugh. No bobcat or mountain lion. Just a prowling Villanueva. “Probably the only thing out here now. You’ve scared everything else away.”
“Something wrong with your car?” His voice came from ahead and to the right.
“No, why?”
Alex materialized from between a couple of grasping yaupons. “Because you’re walking.”
She held her hands up as though she could touch the moon. “It was a nice night for a stroll.”
“I could’ve humped it back by myself. I don’t need an escort.” A ghostly howl echoed through the trees, making them both flinch. “Jesus, I feel like I’ve walked into a Red Riding Hood story. Think a pack of coyotes is reason enough not to wander around in the woods by yourself at night?”
“I’m not by myself.” She slipped her arm through his. “I’m with you.”
Alex grunted and paused to break a dead branch off a skinny tree trunk. “Guess I know now to arm myself on these late-night sneak-around sessions.”
“I never even thought your living in the barn could create problems. But Chad, he’s the kind of person who would blow the whole thing out of proportion.”
“You’re smart to be cautious. He’s a shifty one.
” With the stick in his left hand, Alex slid his other hand around hers, intertwined their fingers.
The warm spot that had been glowing inside Greer for the past half-hour did a cartwheel, a roundoff, and a back handspring, landing somewhere in the vicinity of her heart.
She squeezed his fingers, and he rubbed his thumb along hers. Probably the least sexual way he’d ever touched her outside their first handshake, but the warmth of his skin, the sheer rightness of his hand in hers, rushed to her heart, making it tender and hopeful.
They made it out of the trees without a coyote sighting, but Alex didn’t toss the branch aside. Instead, he poked at the ground here and there. Probably not a bad idea since rattlesnakes were native to the area. Night wasn’t their prime time, but that was no excuse to be stupid.
As they walked toward the barn, Greer suddenly wasn’t sure she was ready to make love with Alex in that metal-framed bed upstairs, the one that had once been her parents’.
She pointed to the open-sided cargo trailer parked under a massive live oak, one of the most beautiful living things on the property. “Perfect night to look at the stars.”
Without protest, Alex changed direction, cutting a diagonal through the grass to the trailer. Greer unhooked the metal tailgate and lowered it to the ground. Then she hopped up and turned in time to watch Alex step onto the wooden trailer bed.
She took his hand again and drew him down to sit beside her and tugged his fingers. “Best way to see the stars is on your back.”
“Best way to do a lot of things is on your back.”
“Like work on your car, you mean?”
His smile changed him from a hard-ass to a bad boy, one able to charm his way out of a million scrapes. But he let her pull him down until they were both lying on their backs, hands clasped, letting a comfortable silence stretch between them.