“And you are gorgeous. Come. Show me your etchings.” He made wide playful eyes at her and extended his hand. “I do really love sticking it to them. This was the most fun I’ve had in months.” He was unapologetic with his smirk, “since I stole Merlin’s last contract actually.”
She shook her head and stared into his deep brown eyes which despite the dark shade were light and happy. “Terrible.”
“We can be terrible together. By the way, the information in the acquisition I made last weekend was” he kissed his fingers into the air, “magnifique. I could easily be bribed to attend any of your shows for such things. I’ll even pose for you. Nude of course.”
“Oh my gosh,” his commentary was making her blush but as she laughed loudly for the first time in weeks, truly joyously expelling air from deep in her belly, it was also cleansing. His wicked sense of humor was lightening her soul. He was, she considered, exactly what she needed at this moment.
She was standing talking to one of her former art instructors from college when her eyes yet again drifted across the room towards Isaias. He was a very good-looking man and the easy, laid-back demeanor he possessed charmed the room expertly. He was easily six feet and three or four inches tall with thick black hair, eyes dark as coal and teeth white as pearls. His teeth were crooked. She’d noticed it right away when she had interrupted him at the restaurant. His bottom teeth were not perfect, and his top teeth were gapped just a bit too much. The man had never had braces, it was certain. Yet, it added to his charm. He was debonair and suave as he flirted with the older ladies who had come in fashionably late to an art show and more than once boldly refuted the advances of the younger ones. His complexion was a golden hue she would describe as ochre. He was strong and muscular, and he walked with the lithe grace of a lion or a panther. She wondered what it would be like to be stalked and hunted by him. A strange desire to play naked hide and seek filtered in her head. She gave it a shake.
He saw her ogling him from across the room and overtly winked in her direction.
“Is he your new beau?” Alexis, her old instructor, asked with a sideways nudge.
“No. He’s a new friend.”
“You should convince him to let you paint him. I bet he’d look good in golds and reds.” Alexis spoke naughtily, “and if you missed my meaning, I meant you should use him as the canvas.”
She slapped at Alexis’ playful words with a laugh, “you are still incorrigible.”
“Art comes in many forms and not all of it needs to be shared with outsiders. If I were thirty years younger, I’d have had him in the alleyway out back hours ago.” She clicked her tongue appreciatively as the man in question, still talking to the small group at the other side of the room had his eyes firmly fixed on Liesl, “though I think his eyes are only for one woman in this room.”
“Again, we just met. It’s not like that,” yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. Earlier she had shown him her paintings, discussed them and then he’d left her to engage with her guests. He’d popped in and out but unlike Merl who had stuck to her side and monopolized the conversation, often speaking for her, he had listened to each conversation. He did not even attempt to answer for her and neither did he diminish the value of her work with pronouns such as “we” and “our” like her ex used to do. It had grated on Janka’s nerves when Merl had done so when they were together, causing her friend to often loudly question how he contributed to Liesl’s art.
She watched as he made his apologies to the group and headed in her direction. Alexis snickered her goodbye with a blunt comment about Liesl taking him into the alley causing Liesl to hiss at her to be quiet as the woman cackled and danced away.
“She seems a character,” Isaias said with a smile.
“You don’t even want to know.”
He was bold and stepped closer to her, “what if I do.”
“She told me to take you into the alley and blow you,” she said bluntly, knowing her cheeks were as red as the paint on much of her canvas behind her yet unable to stop herself.
“I wouldn’t go for it,” he chuckled. “I think our first time should be far sexier than an alley. Maybe the next show though.”
“Oh my god!” she squealed, and he laughed and hugged her to his chest. She felt his lips on the top of her head and was surprised at both the hug and the affectionate kiss.
“You are gorgeous when you blush.”
“What are we doing?” she asked as he didn’t release her and kept her in a hug, drawing gazes around the room, and very inappropriate thrusting motions from behind him by Janka and Elsie. She quickly averted her gaze.
“I like you Liesl. You have spunk and tenacity, not to mention talent in spades. I would like to spend more time with you.”
“You would?”
“I very much would.”
“Is this why you’re so flirty with me?”
“Flirty? Sweetheart, I haven’t even begun to flirt. This is an introduction. Once I start to flirt, then it’s onto seduction and from seduction it’s a whole new world for you.” His eyes danced excitedly. “I can’t wait.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Is this because you simply want to upset the McGraths?”
“Nope. Irritating them is a beautiful bonus, but I want you because I want you and for no other reason than this.”
“You might not really,” she played with his tie embarrassed. “I’ve only ever been with one person. I’m not as experienced as you are.”
Unknown
“No way.” He stared at her, “are you saying pencil-dick Merlin is the only man to touch you?”
“He wasn’t a pencil dick.”
“How do you know? Not like you have much to compare to.”
“I use pencils daily. He had more than a pencil,” she frowned, “why the fuck am I defending his penis size?”
“I don’t know but we should compare.”
“I haven’t had sex in two months.”
“Should we leave and go dust out the cobwebs.”
“Isaias,” she stared at him incredulously. “I don’t know you from Adam.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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