Selling Grace: A Light Romance Novel (Art of Grace Book 1) (17 page)

"So he's a bit strong-willed," I summarized.

Portia nodded. "Maybe even a bit of an understatement. He goes for whatever he wants, and he's not afraid to piss off a lot of people in order to get it."

"Well, that could work out for me," I said after a minute of consideration. "I mean, if I can get him to want this statue, he'll dig in his heels and buy it, even if someone else doesn't think that it fits with his other decor?"

"Or he'll put it out at his mansion," she added.

I frowned. "Mansion?"

"Oh, didn't you hear about that? He's got a big house out on the edge of town. Real big place, totally overdone. Even has gardens like it was a real palace; he pays half a dozen gardeners to keep it looking perfectly groomed, even though he apparently never ventures out into them." Portia shook her head. "Weird guy, but richer than Croesus."

"Croesus?" She'd lost me with this comment.

"Yeah, he was this rich old king of Turkey. Really wealthy."

I decided not to ask how Portia knew about the wealthiness of Turkish kings. "Look, the point is that Albrecht can both afford this sculpture, and he really wants it. Both of those are good for me!" A smile bloomed across my face. "Portia, I might actually pull this off after all, get Barry out of my life and this whole divorce finally finished and behind me!"

She beamed back. "I hope so! And then, with Barry no longer around at all, you'll be free to finally pursue both of these sexy men who are interested in you, and you can come here and tell me all about how they seduced you and made you finish in ways you've never come before!"

Instead of protesting against this foul language, I let it slide, I was so excited. "I just have to close the sale, and I'll be golden!"

"Well, let me know if I can help," Portia promised. "Or if he ends up backing out on the sale, let me know so that I can come help you throw toilet paper all over his mansion. It will be good payback for how he acted at my charity auction."

"You know, maybe you could help out with the guy problem, too," I said after another minute. "When's the last time that you went out with someone?"

"For more than just getting a bit of relief from the built-up sexual pressure?" Portia sighed. "Too long, I'll admit. I wish I could just say that it was because I was too busy with work right now, but..." She toyed with her hair. "Actually, maybe I will stick with that as an excuse, because it sounds better than the truth."

"So, I've got two guys interested in me, and you need a date - this seems perfect!"

"Which one do I get?" Portia asked.

I opened my mouth, but frowned and closed it after a minute. "I, um, I'm not sure."

For some reason, Portia didn't look surprised by this. "Right. Like I said, Becca, you need to try them out, at least to just figure out which one you like the best. Once you've made up your mind, let me know."

"Yeah, right," I said, mentally insisting once again to myself that I wasn't going to let either Onyx or Carter seduce me before I'd finished this sale. If I was going to be forced to resign in ignominy from my job as manager of Uncle Preston's art gallery, I'd at least leave without any more debts to my name.

First, sell Onyx's giant dick statue. Then, I could start thinking about which man would win me over.

Chapter Twenty

*

I woke up the next morning to more good news - a response from Albrecht sat in my email inbox.

I opened the email as I filled my thermos with coffee, trying to keep my hand from shaking with nervousness as I poured the hot liquid into the travel container. Please be good news, I prayed silently, closing my eyes for a moment before opening them and focusing on the electronic text.

"Dear Miss Grace," I read off. "Thank you for sending the pictures - they provide an excellent representation of the power and virility of the piece. I will admit that I am quite interested, but I would like to consider this for another day or two before I make a final decision. I would request, however, that you hold the piece for me and do not show it to other buyers - and yes, you may regard this as a sign of interest."

Well, that sounded like fairly good news! He wasn't yet ready to commit to buying the piece quite yet - but then again, it probably took some time to work up to dropping six figures on a giant stone penis, I considered to myself. And if he wanted me to hold the sculpture for him, maybe he just wanted to figure out where it would, erm, fit in best on his property before he went ahead and placed the order.

With a light heart, I headed out of my apartment, off to open up the gallery and get ready for the day.

My next happy surprise strolled into the Halesford Gallery a few minutes after I'd turned on the lights and settled in behind the front desk to enjoy my coffee. "Looks like I didn't need to bring this for you," he commented, holding a cardboard container with two cups of steaming Starbucks coffee sitting nestled inside.

"Gimme!" I exclaimed, pushing my thermos of drip-brewed home stuff aside without a second thought.

Carter laughed, half-leaning, half-sitting on top of my desk and dangling the cup of coffee he'd brought for me just out of my reach. "First, tell me that you're glad to see me back from my trip."

"I refuse to give in to torture," I insisted stubbornly, even as my mouth watered at the thought of that coffee.

"What if I told you that I also brought you a chocolate scone?"

"I'm so glad that you're back, I totally missed and thought about you every second that you were away," I immediately burst out, rising up from my seat so I could lean forward and finally get my fingers around the insulated paper cup of coffee. "Now, hand it over!"

Carter laughed again, but gave up his grip on the coffee cup, letting it drop down into my hands. I immediately took a long pull, sighing at the smoother, much cleaner taste. Somehow, the already-ground beans that I used at home just didn't create nearly as satisfying of a mouthful.

"Now, where's my scone?" I asked once I'd swallowed my gulp of coffee, holding out my hand like a child waiting for her allowance.

Carter popped open the zipper on the messenger bag he wore slung over his shoulder and withdrew a crinkling little paper bag. I tugged the scone out from inside, loving how the pastry already began to flake apart in my fingers. My mouth watered at just the sight of the chocolate swirls that cut through the brown dough. The thing was probably horrible for me, but all that artery-clogging fat was irresistible, and I took a big bite.

"Good?" Carter asked, watching me.

Mouth full, I just bobbed my head. "Mmm-hmm," I managed to get out.

He reached past me and snagged the pastry from my fingers, taking a bite himself before returning it back to me. "Yeah, that's the stuff," he nodded. "So, how have things been for the last few days?"

I shrugged, feeling a little twinge as I thought about Onyx and his kiss, his touch on my bare skin. "Good - I got a prospective buyer interested in the big statue from Onyx," I said, deciding to stick to the relatively safe topic of work.

"Hey, that's great!" Carter beamed at me, looking genuinely happy for me. "Who is it? Anyone I'd know?"

"Probably - have you heard of a guy named Robert Albrecht?"

I expected that Carter would know the name, of course - there's no way that he, as a real estate agent, wouldn't recognize the name of the guy who owned the largest skyscraper in town - but I didn't expect him to frown suddenly at me. "Wait, Albrecht is buying the sculpture?"

"Well, he hasn't officially said yes, not yet," I demurred. "But I sent him some pictures, and he said that he's interested-"

Carter, however, was shaking his head. "Becca, I hate to say this, but you shouldn't get your hopes up too much here.".

I felt my happy mood starting to slip. "What? Why not?"

He sighed, and did that thing where he slid his hand through his hair, but I didn't let this distract me this time. As cute as he looked, I really, really needed this sale to happen.

"Come on, Carter," I pressed. "Tell me."

"Okay, but don't shoot the messenger, alright?" He took another sip of his coffee, and then set it down. "Albrecht is definitely wealthy enough, and he could probably buy the statue without even needing to check his bank account balance. But there's still a reason why most of the other businesses and places in Davis don't like working with him."

"Oh? What's that reason?"

"He..." Carter sighed again, and I nearly jumped over the desk to shake him until the answer came out. "He tends to waffle on decisions, to make a choice but then immediately back off from it, sometimes even backing out before the ink's dry on the paperwork. He always makes sure to include a clause that lets him get away with this, too, and he's got enough clout to get his way. But I've seen him do it more times than I can count, to the point where most agents won't work with him any longer."

Carter's words made me think of Portia's tale, about how Albrecht ended up bidding on himself at the charity auction because he didn't want to go home with the winning lady after all. From what Carter now said, it seemed like Albrecht pulled stunts like this regularly.

"So what, you think that he won't end up buying this statue after all?" I asked, feeling a sickening pit open up in the bottom of my stomach.

Looking unsure, Carter shrugged. "I don't want to totally crush your optimism," he said, "but I've seen it happen before. Albrecht will walk in somewhere, ask about making a massive purchase, and then ends up backing out at the last minute. Always leaves the merchant crushed, but there's nothing that they can do about it."

I'd felt so good about my future this morning, but now, in just a few sentences, Carter had brought it crashing down around my ears. I knew that it wasn't the man's fault - he was just trying to tell me so that I was informed - but a little part of me still felt like I should blame him, like he was personally responsible for bringing me down.

Carter reached across the counter and patted me on the arm. "But maybe it won't happen this time," he said, although I could hear the false confidence in his voice. "Besides, it's quite the striking statue. I'm sure he can find a place for it, don't you think?"

I nodded, trying to keep myself together, but I felt my breath already starting to come harder, my chest shaking. "Right," I said, just before I burst into tears.

"Shit." In a heartbeat, Carter was over on my side of the desk, his arms around me, trying to comfort me. "There there, Becca. It's going to be okay. This will work out - you'll make the sale, get the money to pay off Barry-"

"No, I won't," I sobbed, hating how quickly my optimistic outlook had deserted me. "This was kind of my last hope, and I don't know what else I'll do!"

Carter kept his arms around me, sinking down into the chair behind the desk. Somehow, I ended up on his lap, my own arms wrapped around his neck, crying into his shoulder. I was probably ruining his shirt with my tears, I thought to myself, but this just prompted another wave of sobs.

"Can you borrow the money from someone?" he asked me, his hand patting me on the back.

My face still pushed into him, I shook my head back and forth in a negative gesture. "I don't know who I could borrow it from. I don't have anything that I could sell or pawn, and the only people who could loan it to me is maybe my parents, but I can't ask them. They've already been so disappointed-"

"Shh, I understand," he murmured softly. "But surely Barry understands that if you don't have it, he's not going to get anything?"

"I don't know what he thinks," I confessed. "I think he's just angry about the marriage failing."

Here, Carter grasped me by the shoulders and leaned me back for a moment so that he could look down at me, confusion in his eyes. "I thought that he was the one who cheated and broke up the marriage?"

"He was," I confirmed, "but in the end, I was the one who left him. I think that's what bothers him so much. That in the end, even though he caused all the problems, I was the one who finally had the courage to walk away."

Carter sighed. "I know a guy like that. He doesn't want anything except to win, no matter how much damage that might cause for everyone else."

I nodded, sniffing loudly as I felt a bubble of snot forming in my left nostril. Perfect. I probably looked completely unattractive right now.

Carter didn't say anything negative about my appearance, however. Instead, he just drew me back into the hug, apparently not caring at all about how the liquids streaming out of various holes in my face were leaving marks on his shirt. "Just let it out," he murmured into my ear as he held me.

His arms did feel really good around me. Even though I knew that I ought to get up, clean myself off, try and get my life back on track and figure out what I'd do as a backup plan, I wanted to just stay here a little longer. With Carter's arms around me, sitting on his warm, solid lap, I felt safer, less threatened by all of the injustices of the world.

"I suppose I should let you get off to work," I finally said, still reluctant to get up and lose the warmth of his arms around my sides, his hands pressed against my back.