Kate. Every painting, every emotion…I wanted to own it. Your art is filled with joy and happiness, anger, frustration. I’ve never experienced such passionate, emotion-evoking art before. I’ve read about people who have experienced that kind of reaction to a painting, but I’d dismissed it before that day, thinking the people were just…nuts.”
Kate laughed at his honesty because she suspected a lot of people felt that way as well. They simply couldn’t see the intrinsic value of various forms of art while others thought art was breathtaking.
But the laughter quickly died away as she looked around again. All of those paintings! Everything she’d released to the world was right here in Davis’ house
“So if I paint something else, does that mean you’re going to keep it?” she asked. She wasn’t sure how he wanted her to answer that question.
He touched her cheek, silently telling her to look at him. “Can I have first right of refusal on each piece?”
She didn’t understand. “You want…”
He sighed. “On the one hand, I want the world to experience your art. I want you to know the incredible feeling of success. I think, once you put your art out on the market, that you’ll start to understand what an amazing artist you are. Once people are clamoring for your works, you’ll start to gain confidence in your art. But on the other hand, I still want the right to keep all of your art here, close to me. I think everything you’ve produced is the most outstanding, amazing and shocking pieces of art I’ve ever viewed and I want to hoard it all to myself.”
She laughed, delighted with everything he was telling her. “So what are you going to do?” she asked.
He pulled her into his arms. “First, I’m going to marry you so that I have you all to myself. Then I’m going to build you the most amazing art studio so that you can create all day long. No more accounting. Now that I’ve discovered your hidden talents, I want you to dedicate yourself to your art.”
She was in whole hearted agreement with that. “And then?” she asked, correctly assuming that there was more on his mind.
“And then, I’m going to ensure that you have plenty of material on which to draw by bringing you to my bed every night and making love to you in various sorts of ways so that when you go down to your studio,” he bent lower and kissed her gently, starting the flames that were always there, just simmering under the surface, “you’ll have plenty of passion to put into your art.”
She laughed, leaning in to hug his enormous body with excitement. “I can’t think of a better way to spend the rest of my life,” she told him. “Thank you,” she whispered, putting all of her love into those two words.
Chapter 13
“I don’t want you going there alone,” Davis said through the phone. “Just give me an hour and I’ll go with you.”
Kate was back in Boston, but only so that she could close up her apartment and resign from her job. Kate smiled as she packed up the last of her paints, sealing the box. “I’ve got to do this alone, Davis. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” She thought about it and realized that she really was okay. Now.
“Kate, I don’t care how ‘okay’ you think you are, I still want to be there. Your father is a bully and he doesn’t fight fair.”
Her heart melted with the concern in his voice. “Do you trust me?” she asked, throwing his words back at him.
Davis ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “Of course I trust you,” he told her. That didn’t mean that he liked her going to confront her father alone. She was supposed to be handing in her resignation, packing up her office and getting on his plane to come back to Atlanta. If he’d known she’d try and do her office in person while her father was there, he would have gone with her, been there to stop her father’s abusive words.
“I’m going to be fine. There’s nothing he can say that will hurt me. And if he’s not there, I’ll just lay the resignation on his desk and move on.” She picked up her purse, wiping her hands on her jeans. “My apartment is packed up and I’ll be on the plane in,” she glanced at her watch, “two hours. That gives me plenty of time to get to my