“This is the last thing I should be agreeing to.”
“Why’s that?”
Laiken pulled back a fraction, her amber eyes glowing. “A million different reasons.”
There was such pain in those words. A fear I could feel skating across my skin. “But you’re saying yes anyway.”
“I am.”
The feel of victory surged through me, and I laced my fingers with Laiken’s. “We’ll go as slowly as you want. But I’m damn happy you’re taking the first step.”
She rolled her lips together. “We’re going now?”
“Not giving you a chance to change your mind.”
Her eyes flashed. “That’s why you didn’t say anything last night or whenever you cooked up this scheme, isn’t it?”
“I’m not stupid.”
She grumbled something about pushy men under her breath as she headed towards the back of the gallery. Gizmo’s tags jingled as he got up from his bed. He let out a bark when he saw me, charging over.
I bent and picked him up, wheels and all. “Don’t worry. Your girlfriend’s in the truck.” He licked my face. “You’ll get a few uninterrupted days with her.”
Laiken started up the stairs, motioning for me to follow. “I’m not sure how we’ll tear them apart after that.”
I wasn’t sure how I’d tear myself away from Laiken, either. The more time I spent with her, the more I wanted. She opened the door to her apartment and stepped inside. “Make yourself comfortable. It’ll just take me a few minutes to pack.”
“There’s snow up there, so bring some gear.”
She shot me a wan smile. “Ihavelived here all my life. I know there’s snow in the mountains. It’s there in the height of summer.”
“Just don’t want you cranky because you’re freezing your cute butt off.”
Laiken shook her head, turning back towards her bedroom area. But I didn’t miss the hint of pink on her cheeks. As she packed, I studied her space, petting Gizmo as I did. The walls were jam-packed with art. It should’ve felt crowded. Oppressive. But it didn’t. Instead, it made you want to lean closer.
The arrangement of the pieces was art in itself. You could step back and look at the whole or let yourself be pulled into one piece after another. I knew she had taken some of the photos. There were also watercolors. Oils. Pastels. Some had names I didn’t recognize. Others were missing signatures altogether.
I completely lost track of time until I felt a presence next to me as I studied a pastel. It was of the mountains here in Wolf Gap. Ominous clouds gathered over it, swirling with pent-up rage. “You did this, didn’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“It has that same visceral feeling I got from looking at the photo I bought. That same feeling that grabbed me by the throat and forced me to pay attention.”
“Some people don’t like that feeling.”
I turned to face Laiken. “I do. It reminds me that I’m alive. Challenges me to not look away from whatever it is I’m feeling.”
She let out a shaky breath. “When you talk about my art…it’s like you say the exact thing I most want to hear.”
“I’m not trying to win you over. I’m just speaking the truth.”
“Thank you.”
All I wanted in that moment was to kiss her. To take her mouth. To lose myself in the swirl of color that I knew the two of us would make. Instead, I forced myself to break the stare. I glanced down at her bag. “You ready?”
A hint of disappointment flashed across Laiken’s expression. “If you can grab Gizmo’s food and my camera bag, I am.”
“I think I can handle that.”