“Yes, even when they aren’t winning, but tonight I’m hosting an event,” he replied, looking down into her eyes and realizing he didn’t want their time together to end. Should he invite her to come along? It seemed like the quickest way to see if they were going to hook up. But he also admitted that the more time he spent with her, the more this wasn’t just about lust and ending his sexual torment about Piper.
“What kind of event?”
“I sponsor a program with the local elementary schools. If someone gets all As for the grading period, their name goes into a draw and I bring the winners to the game,” he said.
“That’s a great incentive,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t have expected this from you.”
“Thanks. What did you expect?”
“Someone more driven to ensure his company’s success at all costs,” she admitted. “Taking care of kids like this is really the kind of gesture that helps to build their futures.”
“I thought so. Also, some of these kids would never get to go to a game otherwise,” he said as they reentered his office.
Tony stood there with a sheaf of papers in his hands and the look that meant that Brian had more things to do before he left.
“You have about ten minutes until you need to leave. I’ve got a car waiting downstairs for you, so you don’t have to worry about parking. The charity has confirmed that ten kids and a parent and/or guardian will be there. They have one boy whose older brother would like to come I told them yes,” Tony said. “Also, I need your signature on these.”
“Thanks, Tony. Would you get Ms. Holloway’s details and write up a contract for her to do the art for the building?”
“Yes, sir. Ms. Holloway, please have a seat,” his assistant said.
“Of course,” she replied. “See you later, Brian.”
He hesitated. He was seconds away from inviting her, but he needed to get himself in hand before he did that. He was in lust with Piper. He wasn’t about to start getting emotionally entangled with her. That was a complication that neither of them needed.
“Later,” he said.
Piper curled up in her pajamas later that night watching the Mavs game and thinking about Brian and Keith. Were they the same type of guy?
She had spent a lot of time over the last five years decorating her house in Frisco, one of the northern suburbs of Dallas. She’d haunted estate sales and online auction houses to get everything right. Her goal was to purchase pieces that were solid and could keep up with her eclectic and changing tastes. Piper looked at the tribal art she’d purchased recently and smiled to herself. She’d been slowly updating her collection and the new goddess mask suited the new phase of her life.
A tinge of sadness flowed through Piper as she thought about Ava exiled from her own home and struggling to get her company back from the brink. Piper wondered if there was some way she could help the Wingates. She had overheard some snippets of conversation at the wedding that suggested Keith might know more about the troubles at Wingate than he let on. He’d been helping out and making decisions for Ava while she’d been overwrought with grief for her husband.
If Piper had another reason to see Brian, would she feel safer somehow? Like she could go out with him because she knew she was doing it for her family. Though she wasn’t involved with the business or really that close to Ava.
She started a group text with her family, wanting to ask them what kind of information from Keith they were looking for, but every time she tried to word her text it just sounded like she was Nancy Drew trying to solve a mystery on a bicycle. She had no idea how to get information from Brian. He’d brought his uncle up today, so she felt like she could easily ask him about Keith if she needed to, but she was stymied as to what she should ask.
Piper called her sister, but it was after nine and Ava’s phone went straight to voice mail. She didn’t leave a message. What could she say?
Rubbing the back of her neck, she headed to her studio. She had been spending more and more time in here lately. Her art had always provided an escape from the real world and this trying time was no different.
She was working on a second piece based on a spoken-word poem she’d heard at a café down the street from her gallery. The author of the poem was a nineteen-year-old man who’d spent most of his teen years in and out of juvenile detention, and the last time he’d gotten out they’d warned him he’d likely go to prison if he got in trouble again.
Xavier had challenged himself to find another life, but his poem spoke of the struggle to live within the law and not take it into his own hands. The idea for the sculpture had come to her one night while she’d been sleeping. She’d thought that would be enough for her. But she’d been called to the canvas and had been working on an abstract painting that showed both sides of Xavier. The intelligent young poet and the tough gang member who wouldn’t hesitate to kill. She’d seen now they both existed inside the same man, the struggle constant as each side fought to remain in control.
Piper had asked his permission to use his poem and likeness for the sculpture, which she’d be donating to be auctioned off for Habit for Humanity at the end of the month. But she wanted to gift Xavier the canvas. She was almost finished with the piece. The figure had pen and paper in one hand, a gun in the other. His eyes were still haunting her.
She couldn’t get the intelligence just right. Unbidden, an image of Brian’s eyes as he’d talked to her about his building flashed into her mind. He had that inner core of intelligence and determination...that was what she’d been missing for this piece. She went back to work, furiously working until she stepped back and saw Brian’s eyes in Xavier’s face.
She was pleased with what she’d accomplished. Glancing down at her watch, she was surprised to see it was after midnight. She wandered out of her studio and noticed her phone was buzzing on the coffee table where she’d left it. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw it was a text from Brian.
Brian: I know you are probably sleeping, but I wanted to apologize for how I had to leave this evening.
Piper: Still working in my studio. You don’t have to apologize. I dropped by unannounced. How was the game?
Brian: Dismal. I know we are in a rebuilding season, but tonight was painful.
Piper: I don’t follow sports but...hugs?
Brian: [[Laughing emoji]] Thanks. What are you working on so late?
Piper: A portrait. It really needs to be finished but I was struggling to get it done.
Brian: Does that happen a lot? I don’t think I ever realized that you were an artist.
Piper: It’s not my main thing. It’s just an outlet... sort of more hobby than occupation. I do a lot of collaborating.