You Say It First
Page 4

He paused as if considering how much to tell her. “I’m up for a commission in Dubai. I’ll know in the next couple of months if I’m going to get it. I doubt there’s much question, but until I hear, I don’t want to commit to anything big.”
“Dubai?”
“A hotel wants to hire me to create a piece for its lobby. I would be there about two years.”
“That’s a long time.”
“I know, but it would be an interesting experience. These will keep me busy until then.” He smiled. “I promise to take good care of your panels.”
“I don’t doubt your ability,” she admitted. “Or your commitment. But I’m serious about what I could pay.”
“It’s not about the money.”
Right. Because a guy like Nick didn’t necessarily work for the money, she reminded herself. Wouldn’t that be nice?
“Take advantage of me,” he urged. “You’ll like it.”
She knew exactly how he meant the comment but for one brief second, she pretended he was coming on to her. In a boy-girl kind of way. Because it had been forever since anyone had bothered.
She knew the reasons for that were complicated. She was perfectly normal looking with an average body and no habits that were outside of social norms. In theory she should be able to find some nice guy to date and take to bed. But while there had been the occasional man in her life, there hadn’t been anyone close to “the one.” Or even “the right now.”
Part of it was where she lived. Happily Inc was a relatively small town and in her part of it, there weren’t that many single guys. The ones she knew happened to be relatives, so ick. There was also the fact that she had a way of holding herself back, emotionally. She knew why—what she didn’t know was how to change. Which meant being propositioned was rare and something to be treasured. Not that Nick had. He’d been talking about—
“Pallas?”
“Huh?” Oh, right. He wanted an answer. “If you’re willing to accept my sad little hourly paycheck, then I’m happy to offer it,” she told him.
“It’s a deal.” He held out his hand.
She shook it, ignoring how large it was and the brief heat she felt. Nick was so far out of her league as to be an extraterrestrial. Still, he was nice to look at. She would enjoy the show while it lasted.
“You can work whatever hours you want,” she told him. “As long as you’re not interfering with a wedding. I’ll give you a time sheet for you to keep track of your hours. You’ll get paid twice a month. Do you need tools or supplies or anything?”
“I’ll bring my own.”
“Good.” Because she wouldn’t know where to start. “Then I guess I’ll see you around.”
“You can count on it.”
If only that were true, she thought humorously. She wondered how wrong it would be to ask him to work shirtless. Because he’d made a fine Roman soldier.
Maybe one of her brides would want a Garden of Eden wedding where the attendants would be naked. Nick could be an extra. A fantasy to brighten her day, she thought as she returned to her office. One she would be sure to remember.
CHAPTER TWO
NICK HANDED HIS brother a beer. The evening was clear and promised to be cold, but for now it was warm enough. They sat on Mathias’s back patio, overlooking the sixteenth hole of the golf course to the right. To the left was, well, definitely an open, grassy area. It wasn’t the landscape that required an explanation so much as the residents.
“You’ll get used to it,” Mathias offered as Nick stared at the shapes moving in the near twilight. “They head in for the night.”
“To what? A barn?”
“I’ve never asked,” Mathias admitted. “Something. My guess is they get out of the open to avoid predators.”
Nick didn’t bother pointing out there weren’t any predators—at least not that he knew about. Instinct was instinct and he’d long since learned there was no arguing with nature.
A couple miles southwest of town, just beyond the golf course, were hundreds of acres of grassland. If you kept going, you got to the city dump—a high-tech, ecofriendly kind of place where everything that could be recycled or reclaimed was. But the most interesting part wasn’t the fact that Happily Inc had one of the lowest trash-to-resident ratios in the country, it was the animals that made the grasslands between the dump and the golf course their home.
So far Nick had seen zebras, gazelles and something that looked a lot like a water buffalo. All grazing animals. In the past few days, he would swear he’d seen a giraffe strolling around, but that could have been a trick of the light.
“It’s odd,” he muttered, then took a drink of his beer.
“We grew up in Fool’s Gold,” Mathias pointed out. “We don’t get to say any other town is odd.”
That was probably true, Nick told himself. And a reason why he was already comfortable in Happily Inc. Once you’d lived in a weird place, it was hard to settle for normal.
But there were differences. Fool’s Gold was in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Happily Inc was on the edge of the desert. There were mountains in both towns, but the ones here seemed newer, with sharper peaks and more edges. As interesting to his artist’s eyes were the changes in colors. Dawns were a mix of oxblood and carnelian with umber and sepia for shading.
He’d been in town for three weeks. Mathias owned a ridiculously large house on the edge of the golf course and had offered him a place to stay until he figured out what he wanted to do.
“Why’d you move here?” Nick asked. “Why not Sedona or some artists’ village in Tennessee?”
“Atsuko was already selling our work,” Mathias said, mentioning the gallery owner in town. “She wanted us to meet, and when she heard we were leaving Fool’s Gold, she suggested we stop by and visit her. One thing led to another and here we are.”
His brothers had a sweet setup, Nick thought. Atsuko had contacts all over the world. With her acting as broker, they didn’t have to bother with the business side of what they did. Instead they could focus on their art. Their studio was large and open. They had each other for company and yet plenty of space.
While Mathias lived here, by the golf course and the zebras, Ronan had a house up in the mountains. Built mostly of stone and native materials, the structure blended perfectly with the surroundings. There was even a large studio out back, when Ronan didn’t want to make the drive into town.
When Nick had figured out it was time for him to get somewhere else, he’d considered a lot of options, but Happily Inc had been the obvious choice. Especially with the Dubai commission looming.
Twilight turned to night. There were a million stars out here. Nick studied the sky and wondered if they were far enough south for it to be different from what he was used to. Probably not.
“Any regrets about leaving?” Nick asked.
“No.”
Because of their father, Nick thought grimly. Ceallach had made an impression on all of them. Some good and a lot bad.
There were five Mitchell sons. The oldest two hadn’t been blessed—or was it cursed?—with any form of Ceallach’s talent. They had been mostly ignored by their father, while the younger three had gotten the brunt of his attention.
“Ronan okay?” he asked. Their youngest brother had had the most to deal with.