I Married a Billionaire: The Prodigal Son (Contemporary Romance) by Marchande Melanie

Author:Marchande, Melanie [Marchande, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-07-01T22:00:00+00:00

Nine

As I pushed open the front door to the Starra Gallery and inhaled the familiar smell of the hard wood floors and accents, I almost forgot for a moment why I was here.

It didn’t look like a place that was closing.

I’d decided to take Curtis up on his offer to bring some more work to sell in the upcoming liquidation. Typically - especially of late - it had taken months and months for my displayed work to sell, but now he couldn’t keep the walls filled.

With my portfolio tucked under my arm, I headed towards Curtis’s office in the back.

“…don’t be an idiot. You want my advice? Go take a walk, or paint a picture, or whatever you do for fun. Get out of this gallery and forget about it for a day or two. You’re way too absorbed in this place and it’s made you lose your perspective completely.”

Who the hell was this guy? The voice was brash and unfamiliar to me, and whoever it was, he wasn’t allowing Curtis much chance to respond.

“I don’t really think that’s fair,” I heard him respond, finally. Quietly. I’d never known Curtis to sound so cowed.

“Of course you don’t. It’s a criticism of you.” God, I wanted to punch this guy right in the face. That was probably the hormones talking. But maybe not.

By now, I was close enough to the doorway that they were going to notice me at any minute. I cleared my throat.

Both men turned to look at me.

Curtis seemed relieved. The other man was tall and rotund and florid, with a wireless earpiece that looked absurdly small compared to the size of his head.

“I apologize,” he said, his tone of voice instantly changing to forced politeness. “Why didn’t you tell me you had an appointment?”

His whole demeanor was different, as soon as he looked at my face. I’d seen it happen dozens of times before, and even though the change was always in my favor, it still made me vaguely sick to my stomach.

“I’m a drop-in,” I said. “I should be apologizing to you.”

“No, no, of course not. I’m sure you don’t need to make appointments.” The man was actually smiling and walking backwards. For fuck’s sake. “Curtis, we can finish this discussion later.”

“Holy hell,” I said, as soon as the door was closed.

“I know.” Curtis looked positively gray. He went to the little electric kettle that he kept in the back of the room, fiddling with it absently. “That’s my landlord, by the way.”

“Oh, my God. You’re kidding me.” I sat down, folding my arms across my chest. “I would have murdered him by now.”

“Well, I barely ever have to talk to him. He’s usually too busy snorting cocaine off of Eliot Spitzer’s prostitute, or whatever he does in his spare time. Of which he has plenty.”

I smiled at him as he handed me a mug of tea. “Don’t hold back, tell me how you really feel.”

“I don’t understand why he’s been up my ass lately. I already told him, I’m not renewing the lease and he’s the reason why.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.