Page 66 of Infatuated as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #2)

“I know,” he said with the smallest of smiles, hand squeezing at my shoulder again. “You probably want to speak to her and show her all these paintings. She’ll love them. I’ll go get her for you.”

I watched as he moved through the crowd and over to Holly and her mom. They shared a quick conversation before she made her way back over to me, and it took me just a second to grab at her hands.

“What happened?” she asked, eyes all big with concern. “Did he apologize or do I have to get him thrown out?”

Head shaking, I gave her a smile. “No, he said sorry. No need to kick him out.”

“You don’t have to tell me what you guys talked about. I just want to know if everything is okay between you two. If it’ll ever be okay…”

I traced my thumbs against the skin on her hands. “I think things will be better from here on out.”

She shook her head a little. “That sounds too good to be true.”

“No, baby, really. He said sorry and I forgive him, and I think things are gonna be different.”

“He apologized?” She gasped. “He actually said sorry?”

“Yeah, I was just as shocked too.”

“I can’t believe I missed it. I should have recorded it.”

I laughed lowly. “I’ll remember it for the both of us, don’t worry. Me and your dad are both too stubborn, but I have a feeling we’ll be alright.”

“I’m so happy to hear that,” she said, a smile stretching across her lips before her eyes lowered. “I heard what you said to that guy. That man from earlier, when you were talking about your paintings…”

“The whole thing?”

“The whole thing.”

“Ah.”

“You make me feel really beautiful,” she said.

“You are really beautiful.”

“No one thinks about me the way you do. No one’s ever given me their all. You do things no one else has ever done for me.”

I held her hand to my lips, kissing her soft skin before I nodded towards the wall. “You wanna see ‘em up close? I can tell you what they all mean. Some might be obvious, but still.”

“That’s okay. I wanna know.”

Fingers still locked with hers, I moved her to the first one. “So, the first one… That’s the dress you were wearing when we first kissed. It’s kind of a day that’s hard to forget. Probably one of my favorite memories ever…”

Her eyes widened. “You remember what dress I was wearing the day we first kissed?”

“It’s the sort of thing you never forget.

” I moved her over to the next one. “I really like driving you around places. Feels good to have you sitting next to me. Remember what I said before? About how I used to drive by places and feel nothing, but now…” The next painting showed the scene I sometimes got when we were in my old, run down truck.

The back of her head with the wind in her hair, her long strands flying around as she leaned on the window, a sea of green leaves in the background as we zoomed past trees, on our way to whatever cheap date we were about to go on.

“And you didn’t even care that the truck you were in was on the brink of falling apart.

You never care about stuff like that. Where we’re going or what we’re doing. ”

“Well, every place feels really special with you,” she said softly.

I smiled at her words, guiding her to the next canvas. “Yeah, I feel the same way.”

“My flowers!” she said happily. “Your flowers. I love this one!”

“Flowers in a vase. It’s been done a million times before, but…”

I had painted her in bed, long hair flowing down her back with one hand outreached, fingers gently touching the petals of the flowers I got her.

There had been many nights in her bedroom where I had her against my chest, wishing for time to slow down just that little bit as I watched the tips of her fingers brush against the flowers in her vase.

“But?” she asked.

“But I liked seeing the flowers I got you on your bedside table. I guess because I got to lay there and hold you and watch you fall asleep, and the whole time I kept thinking, I can’t wait to do this with you forever.

Properly. Without having to sneak out and worry about…

you know, everything. For a couple hours at night, I got to pretend like it didn’t matter where we both came from, and we were just… normal.”

“Those nights were really lovely,” she whispered.

“And then we have this one,” I said, moving on to the fourth one. “Brodie’s favorite since he witnessed this moment.”

She laughed. “I like it a lot too.”

“I guess I get caught up in staring at you sometimes, but there you were with me, and you could have been anywhere in the world, but… you chose my place. I really like days like that. Where we don’t even do anything some people would call special.

We’d just watch a movie or talk or kiss all afternoon, but to me, that’s the best thing in the world.

When I get to just be with you, that’s the best feeling ever.

” And then I brought her to the next one.

“You’ve already seen this,” I said. “Just made it ‘cause you’re beautiful.”

She sighed, pressing her face into my arm. “Stop.”

“And there’s this one,” I said as we moved along further.

There she was in painted form: hair in her eyes as she slept, and how lucky was I that I got to wake up to that?

“That’s all I could ever want. Falling asleep next to you means I get to wake up to you.

I made too many mistakes these past few months and I don’t ever wanna risk you again.

I look at this painting and all I can think is: how could I have been so damn stupid?

How could I miss out on this, when it’s all I need? ”

Then there was the next one: her in our apartment, lying down on the couch, one of her many college books grasped in her hands as she read, doing something so simple but still looking so damn beautiful.

Then we were on to the eighth one that showed off her putting on the necklace I had given her, and from the corner of my eye, I could see Holly grasp at the pendant.

“And then we have…” The one I was the most nervous about showing her, the one that I didn’t just want her to like, but love. The one I wanted to rip out off the wall and make real in a second flat. “The last one.” I heard her soft gasp and felt her fingers tighten around mine some more.

“Wait…”

“I don’t know if I captured it perfectly.

” I stared ahead of me, taking in all the details.

The little white house and the setting sun that casted off an orange glow against the green grass and the lemon tree in the distance.

There in the windows the lights were on, and you could just barely see two figures, two shadows, two silhouettes pressed together, and I could imagine in my head, could see it and practically feel it: us in that house forever.

“That’s…” Holly’s voice trembled, and the sound had me turning to look over at her. Bambi eyes glassy with tears, I could feel her fingers fidgeting against mine.

“I want to give you that one day,” I said. That and more. The house and the tree and the permanently bright sky—I wasn’t sure how I’d do it, but I’d keep the sky that perfect shade of blue for her if it made her happy.

“I love you,” she said, voice sounding on the brink of breaking.

“I love you too. I—Holly, baby, stop crying,” I said with a laugh.

“You can’t do this and expect me to not cry. They’re all beautiful. They all look amazing and I’m so proud of you.” She pressed her face into my chest. “You deserve to have more nights like tonight. And I want that too. That life, that house. It sounds so lovely as long as you’re there…”

“Love you so much.” I gave the top of her head a kiss, squeezing her tight.

Damien was in front of me, a smile on his face that quickly faded as he eyed Holly. “What’d you do to her, man?”

“I’m just feeling emotional tonight,” Holly said, her words a little muffled. She pulled away from me, wiping at her wet eyes. “Just feeling really happy and in love.”

“Ah, I see. I don’t mean to interrupt, but there’s some people here who wanna meet you,” Damien said, nodding to the side.

“Ooh, go talk to them.” Holly patted her hands on my chest. “I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?” I asked. I hated seeing her with tears in her eyes, even if they were happy ones.

“I’ll be fine. I’m gonna go find the girls. They should be around here somewhere. Go talk to your fans.”

“I’ll come find you after,” I said, thumb rubbing across her cheek.

She nodded, pecked my lips, and gave Damien a wave before taking off into the crowd that felt like it had doubled in the last few minutes.

“There’s a couple people here who wanna ask you about doing commissions,” Damien said. “You interested?”

Commissions meant money and money meant getting that house for Holly, so I was up for that if it meant I could make my girl happy in the long run. She could buy that house easy, but I so badly wanted to be the one who gave it to her.

I spent the next half an hour shaking hands with art collectors, gallery owners, and art teachers from schools in New York and I hated every second of it.

I pushed myself to get through the night, letting people ask me why I picked certain colors and textures and lighting, and then there were the ones who asked me who inspired me, and all I could think was Holly, Holly, Holly.

It was a pain, but I finally managed to pull away from the suited-up art enthusiasts, my pants pockets stuffed with their business cards as I pushed my way through the still large crowd.

I realized in that moment that I was very much the kind of painter preferred to make stuff and not interact with the public.

But I bumped into Lex and Jay and Audrey and spent some time talking to them, and Audrey—with her bright, big smile—pressed her hands to my cheeks and whispered to me about how proud she was of me.

Then finally, I found Holly who was towards the back as she talked to the girls on the cheer team. Her eyes found mine and she gave me a little wave and that was when I felt a whole bunch of pairs of hands on me.