The Genius and the Muse (20 page)

He was still holding on to her ankle, and she felt his thumb brush along the curve of her calf. He looked down, his sleepy eyes tracing along her legs as he knelt between them. Her heart began to race, and she leaned forward. Javi quickly rocked back on his heels and stood, silently holding out a hand to help her to her feet.

“How was New York?”

She tried to ignore the rush of disappointment as he distanced himself. She grasped his hand and stood. “Good. It was good.” Kate turned back to the desk to zip up her lens case.

“Reed said he enjoyed meeting you, which is unusual for him.”

She smiled, knowing he didn’t intend it as an insult.

“He called you?” She swung around to catch him staring at her legs with hooded eyes. Javi blinked again and cleared his throat.

“Yeah. Yeah, we talked this afternoon.”

“What did he say?”

He stared at her, and Kate wondered if he would even answer.

“He said I was lucky.” His eyes raced over her face, lingering a little on her slightly parted mouth. “To be working with you, I mean. He thinks you’re really talented.”

“Oh.” She nodded and forced a smile. “That’s really flattering.”

“Yeah.”

They stood across from each other, both silent as tension blanketed the room. Her heart was racing. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the swirling flames that covered him. She wanted to trace each curling flame with her fingers. Was his skin as smooth as it looked? Or would it be rough? His hands would be rough. But strong. Kate saw an anvil marking the inside of his bicep.

She wanted to sink her teeth into it.

Kate finally lifted her eyes to meet Javi’s. Her knees almost gave out when she saw the unguarded hunger in his sleepy stare. Her heart sped up, and she took a tentative step toward him. Reed’s words rushed back to her.

“I’ve never seen Javi share his space with anyone before.”

“No one?”

“Never.”

Taking a deep breath, Kate took another step toward him, only to see Javi step back from her and cross his arms over his chest. He frowned and looked at her feet. It didn’t matter anymore. She had seen the invitation in his eyes.

“Did you twist your ankle or anything?”

“Javi—”

“You should probably get some sleep. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“I slept on the plane.”

He stood motionless, like one of the statues he created, his arms crossed and his shoulders tense. Kate stepped toward him again, but this time, Javi didn’t move away. Her heart was pounding when she lifted a hand to his bare chest. He sucked in a breath as she ran a tentative finger along one of the flames that started over his heart, tracking it up his chest, until her finger lay over his collarbone.

She felt his massive body shiver under her touch as he exhaled a rough breath. Looking up to meet his dark eyes, she stood on her tiptoes and leaned forward until her lips met his. Kate held them to his for a moment, waiting… hoping he would kiss her back. Finally, she felt Javi’s surprisingly soft lips move a fraction as a rough sound escaped his throat.

Kate drew back, unsure of his reaction. His shoulders were still tense and his arms remained crossed, but his mouth gaped a little, as if in shock. Her face flaming, she stepped away from him, turning toward the desk to grab her bag so she could make a quick exit.

“Kate.”

Plastering on a blank expression, she turned. Javi stepped toward her, reached a rough hand out to cup the back of her neck, and pulled her into his arms. His lips crashed into hers and his left arm came around to grip her waist and weld her against his body. She felt his fingers thread through the hair at the nape of her neck as he tilted her head to angle her mouth toward his. Hard lips devoured hers and when she gasped, Javi only pulled her closer. Her head swam and Kate lifted her arms around his neck; a soft whimper escaped her throat.

He drew back immediately. “Am I hurting—”

Javi couldn’t finish his question, because Kate pulled him back and kissed him again. She pressed her body to his, reveling in the heat of his arms. The strength. She dug her fingers into his shoulders. His upper body was hard as stone from years of working with metal and concrete, but his callused hand stroked her neck gently as he kissed her with the same intensity and focus he had when he held a torch.

Yes
, she thought.
More
. This was what she needed.

He finally pulled away from her. “Kate,” he panted. “I don’t—” He cleared his throat, still eyeing her lips as his fingers flexed at the small of her back. “What the hell are we doing?”

She took one hand from his neck and ran it along his jaw until her fingertips traced his lips. “Kissing.” She leaned in and softly bit over the spark scars along his neck.

He let out a low growl and pulled her lips back to his. “You know what I mean,” he mumbled against her mouth. Javi’s arms were tightly controlled power, but his lips… his lips were soft and hungry.

“I really don’t,” she said.

“Is this—” He broke away and tilted her chin up to press kisses along the soft skin of her neck. “Are you going through some…” Kate’s eyes rolled back when she felt the soft tug of his fingers twisting in her hair. “…some bad-boy, ugly-artist phase?”

“You’re most definitely not a boy. And there’s nothing ugly about you, Javi,” she whispered.

He drew back and met her eyes. The overwhelming hunger she had seen earlier had softened. The tension left his shoulders, and his hands relaxed against her skin. He pressed a single, soft kiss to her mouth as his fingers explored the curves of her face.

“Why me?”

She smiled. “Because you see me, and I see you. And because…” Kate reached up and pressed her cheek to his as she whispered in his ear, “You’re more than you think you are.”

He reached up and cupped her face, looking directly into her eyes when he spoke. ”If we do this, it’s gonna be real. You and me. Meet the family. All that stuff. I’m too old to play around with this shit.”

“You know, Javi, I don’t think anyone would take you for a casual kind of guy. Especially not me.”

He smirked, and his thumbs brushed against the soft skin of her jaw. “So no fooling around?”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Well, I don’t know about
that
.”

Kate was surprised to see the bashful smile cross his lips. “I didn’t mean… that. Exactly.”

She smiled a little. “Good, because I like some kinds of fooling around.”

“I just mean…” He frowned and placed a hand over her heart. “I want something real with you, Katie. With us. I’m not a kid, so if that’s not what you’re looking for—”

“It is. That’s what I want, too. Something real. And something honest.”

Javi’s smile dropped, and he looked her dead in the eye. “I will
never
lie to you.”

Kate snorted a little. “Oh, I know you won’t. Even the few times I might
want
you to, I’m sure you’ll be brutally honest.”

He shrugged and put an arm around her, tugging her toward the door leading out to the warehouse. “I might learn to be… slightly less brutal,” he muttered as he shut off the lights and led her toward the kitchen.

“Just be you.” She leaned over and touched her lips to his shoulder, smiling against his skin. “I’ve become surprisingly attached to that guy.”

Javi stopped and drew her into another kiss. Kate was overwhelmed by how gently he held her. Like she was glass. Something precious and delicate. And she remembered the hands that swung a hammer could also set a tiny stone.

He pulled away. “I never expected this. I wasn’t looking for you.”

“I guess that’s what you get for letting me into the warehouse.”

His face broke into a rare and brilliant smile as he pushed her in front of him to walk the labyrinth of scrap metal. His hands stayed at her waist and she placed her own on top of his, threading their fingers together.

“What am I going to do with you?”

“I have some ideas. A few of them. You could say this place has inspired me.”

Kate heard his low chuckle. “None of that, at least not tonight. I need to, you know, take you out and shit. And take a shower. I probably stink.”

She leaned back into his chest. “You smell fine. And you’re going to take me out?”

“Of course I’m going to take you out. That’s what you do.”

“We going out for something other than tacos?”

He paused. “Maybe.”

She turned and grinned at him, realizing she had unwittingly become an expert at reading the taciturn man in the weeks they had spent together. His mouth may have been twisted in a slight scowl, but his eyes were warm and happy. They were also tinged with exhaustion, and she wondered how many days he had been working.

“Javi?” She turned toward him, his hands still clinging to her waist.

“Hmm?”

“I don’t want to leave. Do you mind if I stay? Just to sleep?”

A low growl came from his throat, but he nodded, pulling her toward the low bed tucked into the corner of the warehouse behind a makeshift screen. She toed off her shoes, and Javi pulled her down, tucking her in front of him as he lay on his side. He kissed her temple once before he fell back in exhaustion. Then, he draped an arm across her waist and released a deep sigh when she pressed her back into his chest.

Kate smiled, thinking that they fit together like mismatched puzzle pieces. Her fingers tracked up and down his forearm, softly tracing the outline of the green flame that covered it. After a few minutes, she felt him relax behind her.

“Katie?”

“Yeah?”

He leaned forward, barely whispering in a sleepy voice. “I missed you.”

Her heart swelled as she nestled into the warm comfort of his embrace. Javi’s breathing evened out, and she smiled into the darkness and closed her eyes.

“I missed you, too.”

Part Ten: The Muse

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Crestline, California

August 2010

A
soft, dry dust kicked up from Kate’s wheels as she turned into the small clearing in front of the log cabin at the edge of the lake. Dee had given her directions to Sam Rhodes’s home in the mountains, but not her phone number, so Kate wasn’t sure whether the painter would even be there, though Dee assured her that Sam was usually there and working during the week.

Kate was relieved to see the lone figure on the dock standing next to an easel. She parked the car, got out, and resisted the urge to grab her camera and capture the scene.

The light was perfect, and the midmorning sun captured the gold highlights of the woman’s dark blond hair. She stood leaning on one foot while her right arm worked; her head was cocked, studying the scene she was painting.

A small wooden boat was tied to the end of the dock, and it rocked slowly in the quiet water. Kate could hear the small waves slap against the wooden pilings as she walked toward the woman she’d heard about for months.

She was halfway down before she heard her call out.

“Stay back there!”

She didn’t turn around, but her voice carried in the still morning air.

“I’ll talk to you in a few minutes, but I’m right in the middle of this.”

Kate hesitated, looking at the woman, and then back to her car.

“Should I go? I can wait in my car if you want.”

“No. I’ll ignore you. Just sit down there and don’t get in my light.”

Kate sat on the edge of the dock, kicking her legs over the edge, and staring into the blue water of the lake high in the San Bernardino Mountains. After another half an hour, she heard the woman at the end of the dock begin to move around. Kate stood, brushed off her legs, and approached cautiously.

“Can I help?”

The painter finally turned and looked at her, and Kate got her first look at Reed O’Connor’s muse.

She was smiling, and her eyes squinted a little in the bright sun. She was older than the woman in the photographs, and faint lines marked the corners of her mouth. Her hair was a little shorter and swept her shoulders, but her brown eyes were familiar, warm, and friendly. She wore a simple pair of blue jeans, a stained green t-shirt, and her feet were bare.

“You must be Kaitlyn.” She wiped her hands on a rag, but didn’t offer to shake.

“I am. It’s just Kate, though.”

She kept wiping her hands. “Nice to meet you, Kate.”

“You’re Samantha Rhodes.”

Suddenly, the painter smiled, and it transformed her pretty face into something infinitely more beautiful.

“Yep, I’m Samantha Rhodes.”

And just as suddenly, Kate understood why the painter’s face had haunted Reed’s dreams for so many years. None of her features were particularly eye-catching in isolation, but taken all together, Sam was a stunning woman. Her eyes brimmed with life, and the air around her almost seemed to vibrate. She turned back to the easel and started packing up the paints she’d been using. Kate stepped forward.

“Can I call you Sam?”

“That’s fine.”

Sam continued to pack up her things, and Kate saw her take a deep breath before she spoke again.

“You know, my ears have been burning for about five months now.” The tubes of paint went into a box. “I hear you ask good questions.” She looked over her shoulder, and Kate caught a twinkle in her eye.

The younger woman shrugged and let her hands hang in her pockets, unsure of what she could do to help. Sam handed Kate a box of paints and an unfinished canvas to hold as she folded up the easel and tucked it under her arm. She quickly wrapped her brushes and palette, then traded them for the canvas and started walking back toward shore, allowing Kate to follow with the rest.

Kate fumbled the box and brushes as she walked, wondering how the artist did this without an extra arm. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”