Chapter Thirty-Eight
Vanessa
I looked around the empty space with my hands on my hips, surveying every nook and cranny. I already loved the place, and it hadn’t even opened as a gallery yet. But I could practically feel the potential of it. I couldn’t wait to harness that potential and turn the place into something truly special.
Just one more coat of paint on the walls, and it would be time to start moving in some of the installations.
I pulled my hair back into a messy ponytail and carried the bucket of paint over to the ladder that I had set up just for this purpose. With the money that Trethan had won for me, I could have hired a crew to paint the place and spruce everything up. But I liked having my hand in all of it, really making the place mine. It was exciting, knowing what was to come. And even though I still worried about how well the place would do, it felt great knowing that I was doing something. Something that I wanted.
The bell chimed over the front door, and I looked over my shoulder to see who it was, already ready to tell an overzealous, would-be customer that we weren’t open for business just yet, but the words died on my lips when I saw that it was Trethan.
“Hey,” he said, smiling warmly at me as I lowered my paint roller and climbed down off the ladder. He held up a paper bag. “I brought lunch.”
“Yay,” I said, bounding over to give him a kiss. Then, I pulled away, spreading my arms and indicating the rest of the place. “Well, what do you think?” I asked. “I mean, I know it isn’t much yet, but it’s coming along, don’t you think?”
“Sure, I do,” he said, nodding at me. “But you missed a spot.” He indicated the vast swath of wall that I was still working on.
I giggled and rolled my eyes. “No shit,” I said.
“I’m going to be glad when you have something more than white walls for me to look at, because I’m starting to run out of things to say in response to them,” Trethan said, grinning at me.
“It’s not as though you care about art anyway,” I said. “Once I start asking you what you think about the latest installations, that’s when you’re really going to have to come up with creative ways to talk about things that really bore you.”
Trethan smirked. “Maybe I’ll just talk about how beautiful I think the gallery’s curator is,” he suggested.
I blushed and ducked my head. “The gallery’s curator might appreciate that,” I admitted.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter if I think the art’s boring,” he said, looking suddenly serious. “What I care about is whether you’re happy, and if art is what makes you happy, then I want you to have all the art in the world at your fingertips.”
“I’d settle with just managing to fill up the space prior to the gallery’s opening night,” I said.
“You’re not having any problems with that, are you?” he asked, sounding worried.
I laughed. “Actually, I’m having more difficulty trying to narrow down which artists I want to work with. We have more installations than we have available space. It’s good because that means in a few months, we can change some things out and get a fresh batch of pieces in. But I’m really trying to figure out some sort of common theme or vision for the place so that it doesn’t just seem jumbled.” I shook my head. “But you probably don’t care about all of that.”
Trethan bent down to kiss me. “Don’t understand all of it, but I wouldn’t say that I don’t care,” he said.
“You’re too sweet to me,” I told him, shaking my head with a smile. “Ever since your accident.”
“Speaking of my accident, I just came from the doctor’s,” he said.
“I knew there must be a reason that you were showing up with lunch,” I said, trying not to panic. “What did he say? Is everything back to normal?”
“Back to normal,” Trethan confirmed, nodding his head. “And you’re right; lunch was just a cover. I was thinking that maybe, since the doctor has cleared me and all, we could make use of one of your spacious storage rooms.”
I blinked at him and then laughed. “It’s always sex with you,” I said fondly.
“Well, can you blame me?” he asked. “It’s been two months now since my injury, and I’ve only had your mouth on me in all that time.”
I shivered a little just thinking of how much I wanted to feel him inside of me. But I was still hesitant. “You’re sure everything’s back to normal?” I asked. “I don’t want you to have another setback because we couldn’t keep our hands off one another.”
Trethan laughed. “Everything’s fine,” he said. “Look, I can roll my neck and everything. All the swelling has gone down. Well, the swelling around my brain anyway. There’s certain other swelling that requires your help to go down.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“All right, all right,” I said, already moving to lock the front door. “Let me show you to the back room.”
In the storage room, we both stripped quickly, giddy like teenagers again. As he had said, we had fooled around some since his accident, but we hadn’t had sex in all that time. The doctor had warned against any strenuous activity that might cause the swelling around his brain to get worse. Trethan had been going stir-crazy with the lack of activity, so I could only imagine how excited he was to get back to work.
But for now, he pulled me into his arms, naked skin sliding against naked skin. We kissed passionately. A fire sparked between us, awakening the heat inside me. His fingers left trails of goosebumps in their wake.
Trethan sat me down on one of the plastic storage bins, staying close in between my legs. He pushed eagerly inside of me, hardly giving me time to adjust to his girth before he thrust into me. It was everything I’d been craving, rough and desperate and lusty, and I couldn’t help moaning.
He grinned at me and sucked at my neck, his hands coming up to play with my breasts as he continued to thrust deep inside of me. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close, making me feel loved and protected and surrounded by him, with his presence both inside of me and enveloping me. He cradled me against him as he continued to plunge into me, turning me inside out with desire, driving me half mad with it.
His featherlight touches explored the planes of my skin, leaving me craving more, practically keening with need.
His thrusts picked up in speed, until I could barely breathe with the fire building inside me, until I felt as though I might fall apart at any moment. He tugged at my hair and bit at my neck, claiming me as his. He pinched my nipples, sending two sparks of hot pain-pleasure shooting toward my core. My head fell back with another breathy moan.
I came hard, my walls contracting around his thick length, but he was far from finished. He continued to use me, delving deep into me even as I shuddered with ecstasy. I sobbed, caught deep in the throes of pleasure, feeling the way he suddenly stiffened and then came.
When I finally pried my eyes open, he looked sheepish. “Sorry, I was hoping I could last longer, but it’s been too long,” he apologized.
I stared incredulously at him, wanting nothing more than to curl into him. I groaned and rested my forehead against his shoulder. “You have no idea how good that felt,” I said, rolling out my shoulders. Then, I pulled back so that I could peer up at him. “Then again, maybe you do.”
“That did feel good,” he agreed, nodding. “I wouldn’t say no to round two.”
“We’re at work,” I reminded him, blushing a little. It wasn’t as though anyone could come upon us there, not with the front door locked and me being the only person who had a key to the place. But all the same, there was something deliciously naughty about doing it there.
“It’s going to take me a little bit to get it up again, anyway,” Trethan said. “But what I meant was, maybe you could stay over at my place tonight.”
I smiled at him. “Maybe I could,” I agreed. I leaned up and kissed him. “Thanks for making all of this a reality.” I suddenly felt shy as I gestured around at the gallery which wouldn’t have existed if it hadn’t been for him.
Trethan shook his head. “I’m glad you were able to make this come true,” he said.
There was something more in his gaze, but he refrained from saying whatever it was. Instead, he finally smiled and kissed me one more time. “Come on, let’s eat. I remembered you saying that you were craving a burrito, so I picked some up on my way back from visiting Brent in Helena this morning.”