on one of her works-in-progress! I mean it’s like”—I held my thumb and forefinger about two inches apart—“that big, but I welded a Zoe Neelan piece!”
Omar laughed aloud and clapped my shoulder. “That’s amazing! Oh, I would pay a fortune just to hold her torch, never mind actually weld on one of her pieces.”
“Right? It was the coolest thing ever.” I glanced at Armin, and his sweet smile melted my heart all over again. Wow, this really had been an amazing trip. Ate lunch and welded at Zoe Neelan’s. Finally landed in bed with Armin. All in a handful of days? Freaking wild, man.
We regaled everyone with our stories, and I thought Cass was going to keel over with envy that we’d also met Zoe’s cat (she was a huge art fan, but she was a sucker for critters). While we talked about the trip, we pulled out the rest of the sculptures, and when we were done, everyone stood back and… And just stared.
Because holy shit. We had a Zoe Neelan collection.
They still needed to be placed on pedestals and have the lights adjusted to showcase them, but even now, freestanding on the gallery floor, they were gorgeous.
Each was different, but clearly a Zoe sculpture. They had her signature combination of rough metal, jagged edges, and smoother, more refined and detailed areas. One was an abstract that reminded me of cattails blowing in the wind. Another was a bust of a woman whose hair and shirt collar reminded me of those marble sculptures where the sculptor made solid rock look like a thin veil or flowing water.
“Well.” Omar rubbed his hands together. “How about we move them into their place and start working on the lighting?”
Armin and I helped move them all to the place where they’d be featured, but while everyone started pulling out pedestals as well as ladders to adjust the lighting, the two of us stepped out. Normally I’d be front and center with figuring out the specifics of a new display. And I would be with this one.
But damn it, I needed a minute alone with Armin.
In “his” office, we left the door ajar, and when I faced him, we both smiled.
“We made it,” he said. “Got it all here, and didn’t break anything.”
“Yep. And the trip turned out to be amazing.” I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I got to fanboy over Zoe Neelan in person, and we fucked.”
Armin burst out laughing. “Oh, I see. I’m second to Zoe, and it’s just the fact that we fucked.”
I pretended to thinking about it, then shrugged. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“Jackass,” he grumbled, and pulled me in close. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
I was about to come back with something smart, but he kissed me, and… Eh, whatever I was going to say suddenly wasn’t important anymore. It just felt so good to be this close to him. It was like we’d been having a quiet standoff for years, and last night, we’d said to hell with it and broken that standoff. Now I had him. I wondered how long it would take for that to feel real. It sure felt good, though.
A second too late, I realized someone was approaching, and before I could pull away from Armin, someone gasped.
We jumped apart and turned to find Cass in the doorway, staring at us with a stunned expression.
“Umm.” Her face turned bright red. “I… Crap. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
“It’s okay.” Armin cleared his throat, looking more than a little sheepish. “What do you need?”
She blinked a few times, then shook herself. “Right. Um.” She gestured over her shoulder. “Omar was going to put in a GrubHub order for everyone who’s staying to set stuff up. Do you guys want anything?”
We glanced at each other again.
Armin muffled another cough. “Tell him we’ll be there in a minute.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Just give us a sec.”
Cass gave us a knowing smile. “Okay. I’ll tell him.” She started to go, but paused, and when she looked at us again, she grinned. “By the way, this?” She gestured at each of us. “It’s about time.”
“What?” we both asked.
Cass rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. We all knew you two would get together eventually. I’m just glad to see you finally figured it out.”
And then she left, leaving the two of us standing there with our jaws on the floor.
“Did she just…” Armin sputtered.
“Uh-huh.” I shook myself and met his eyes. “How the hell were we the last to know we should be a