Overture (Rain Dance, Book 1) (Rain Dance Series) (5 page)

     
"What
would you suggest, then? Teddy bears and bleeding children?"

     
Was he mocking
my older works?
Wait…
Too distracted to be nervous, I regarded him with
keen interest now. "Would you allow such a thing?"

     
He stopped
making his rounds and faced me completely. "Carte blanche, Miss Myers. You
have my permission to be as obscene as you wish."

     
"Truly?" I couldn't help the bit of delight that spread
throughout at this news.

     
"Bloodbaths, sexual deviancy, and more," he ended darkly with
a slight spark in his eyes.

     
This man.

     
I bit my lip.
As much fun as it sounded to be able to mark this highly polished establishment
with my twisted ideas, I knew I would never be able to go through with it. I
shrugged. "I wouldn't go that far. This is a work place, after all."

     
"So you
will
do it, then?" It came out as more of a statement than a question.
He's good.
Also, he's fairly easy to get along with - now that I've gotten over the shock
of him. Damn.

     
I turned away,
not liking the situation at all. There was just something too personal about
letting me choose what to do. That sort of defeated the purpose of hiring
someone to begin with. And if there was no use for this room as of yet, what
was the point?

     
"Is there
really nothing in particular you would like me to do?" I asked.

     
"I'd very
much like to see what you come up with."

     
Suddenly, I
felt like an experiment. "It could be something simple. I could just paint
it all black and splash on some stars for a galaxy effect - maybe throw in a
planet or two."

     
He nodded.
"I wouldn't object to that. Whether simple or complex, I just want you to
do what feels right."

     
Yes, this was
definitely too personal. Now that I was positive I could handle it, I looked up
at him, trying to see past the unabated force of his eyes.
Why me
? I
almost asked the question, but managed to restrain myself. I did come here for
a job, after all. Just because it was him who wanted me to do this, it didn't
have to mean anything special. It just happened to be his building that I'd
used. Had it been anyone else, I'm sure they would be the one standing here now.
Anyway, as part of the human species, it's my duty to take part in rare
offers like this.
With that in mind, I agreed. "Alright. When do I
start?"

     
"Are you
working on any other projects?"

     
"No, not
at the moment."

     
"Do you
have any upcoming obligations?"

     
"No."

     
"Tomorrow
you may come and set things up. If you're able to, of course. Are you?" I
nodded and he continued, "You'll need to get a permanent badge of your own
since you'll be coming and going as you please. Afterwards, I'll have someone
take you to get all the supplies you'll need, so it would help if you had a
list prepared. All expenses will be on us, of course. I'm sure you would prefer
working in a more comfortable environment, so anything else you need to pick up
to feel more at home will be fine. Actually, it's highly recommended."

     
Wow, he's
really prepared.
I followed his gaze outside of the room.

     
"The room
directly across from here is completely furnished. You may use it as a break
room as often as you like. No one will bother you in there. In fact, this
entire corridor is off-limits, except for those with permission. When you
arrive tomorrow, we'll have a contract and check prepared for you. After the
initial twenty-five thousand dollar down payment, you'll receive a second check
of the same amount upon completion of the room. Is this acceptable?"

     
I kept nodding
until his last statement finally registered. "Twenty-five thousand
…Fifty
thousand dollars for the whole room
?"

     
"Is it not
sufficient enough?" He looked at me seriously.

     
Blinking
frantically, I searched around and held out my hands about a foot apart, trying
to measure the room. "One, two," I began counting quietly to myself.
"…Thirteen, fourteen feet…?"

     
"It's
fourteen by fourteen."

     
I moved my eyes
up and down the room, then looked straight up at the glass ceiling.

     
"Twelve
feet in height," he answered my unspoken question.

     
"Huh." I was going to need a very good ladder.

     
"I tried
to match it to every square foot, but we could negotiate if it doesn't please
you."

     
Was he joking?
It didn't match up at all. I was horrible at math, so I couldn't do the
multiplication in my head, but I knew that, altogether, it should
not
have added up to fifty thousand. Then again, the currency of the wealthy was a
little higher than that of the average Joe. Perhaps the equivalent of
twenty-five to thirty dollars per square foot equaled around sixty or seventy
to him. No, that still didn't make any sense. Unless he paid
all
his
employees that good, which I very much doubted.

     
I took a deep
breath and rubbed my temples. Counting always gave me a headache. "That's
an awful lot of money for not knowing what you're going to get."

     
"Money is
no issue." His stare was both unwavering and intense.

     
In his case it
was probably true, but I didn't like the idea of taking more than I deserved. I
had already been doing that for my entire life. Would it be rude to ask for a
lower price? I didn't want to insult the man's intelligence though, so I
justified it by reminding myself about my somewhat-expensive hobbies. This way
I would be able to afford a few more nightgowns.
When life gives you lemons,
right?

     
As soon as I
got home, I began getting undressed. Mr. Desmond had offered to have someone
drive me, but I insisted on walking. I needed time to process what I had just
agreed to - countless days of putting normal clothes on and leaving the
apartment. The idea alone was overwhelming, and left me with a dire need to
take comfort in my favorite chocolate-scented bubble bath.

     
I was a person
who craved isolation. I needed it like I needed water, food, music, and ice
cream.
Yes, that's right - I just put ice cream and food into separate
categories.
I enjoyed staying home and not having to get up to go to work
every single day. Schedules were my enemy, and had caused a major riff between
life and I. I hated going anywhere simply because I had to be there and not
because I actually wanted to be there. I mean, who wanted to go to sleep every
night desperately wishing that there would be no next day? It was a horribly
childish way of feeling, but I couldn't help it.

     
Would that end
up being the case now? Would I grow tired of working on the same thing for too
long a time? As much as I loved painting, I was afraid that I would. Never had
I ever worked on this large of a project before. Who knew how long I would be
stuck working there. True enough, I could take the easy way out and choose to
paint something simple. What's more, I could have just said no. I suppose it
was a matter of pride, as well as the need to prove to myself that I could do
it - that I was a capable human being.
I don't even know why I'm
complaining. If anything, I should be celebrating.
Art was what I did. It
was more than just a hobby now. And with the amount of money I was going to get
paid, I had no right to sit here and whine.

     
Relaxing my
back against the tub, I hummed to myself and began playing with the bubbles.

     
Desmond
.
I didn't even know his first name. I didn't know anything except that he was
gorgeous, owned the Luxadigm, and, much to my delight, was intrigued by my art.
Oh, and judging by his 'carte blanche' comment, he was perhaps a tad bit
wicked. Would I have to wait until he offered information about himself freely?
Or should I just look him up online?

     
Just use the
internet, dear.

     
Right. Anyway,
the last thing I needed was to become buddies with him. I could already see
where that would lead: heartbreak followed by more running. Or, if things
between us actually blossomed: more running followed by heartbreak.

     
My face began
to heat up as I remembered with perfect clarity the way my hand had felt in
his. Never had I ever been as attracted to a person as I was with him. If his
personality didn't turn out to be sour, it wouldn't be long before I fell. Did
he know? Did he have any idea at all of the effect he had on me? No, I suppose
he couldn't.

     
…But he knew
who I was.

     
He'd already
known that it would be Leaf Girl coming into the interview. Was it really only
because of the painting that he had sought me out, or…?

     
I laughed,
feeling ridiculous now. I was starting to think far too much of myself. There
hadn't been a ring on his finger, but a man like that had to have a girlfriend.
If not, then at the very least, a line of models eagerly waiting to have their
turn with him. That he would be interested in me like
that
was absurd.
Yeah, I could be really pretty, but that was about the extent of my appeal.

     
I felt my eyes
begin to sting, already feeling the loss of something I never had.

     
Stupid girl.

     
No. The best
thing I could do was to continue to ignore those kinds of feelings. In the end,
they would only cause me pain, and that was putting it mildly.

     
I stepped out
of the bath, put on a nightgown after drying up, and got on my laptop so I
could temporarily disabled the commissions section of my site. Not in the mood
to cook, I ordered some cheap Chinese food, something I couldn't do at the last
place I had lived.

     
In between
bites of food and keeping an eye on the Korean horror flick I had playing on
the screen, I wrote out a list of supplies I would need. I was still unsure
about what kind of mural I wanted to do.
Should I play it safe or do
something unexpected to avoid being unoriginal?
But if I made the design
overly complicated just for the sake of complexity, I knew I would get bored
too easily. On the other hand, this was a job and the last thing I wanted to do
was half-ass it, especially since I was getting paid a fuckton of money.

     
But he
did
say I could paint whatever I wanted.
What to do…
Well, I guess I ought to
take advantage of the fact that I had a whole room to work with, thus having
the ability to build an entire world around myself. I might as well try to
bring my dreams of sleeping under the ocean to life. Before I went to lay down,
I looked up some tips and tricks for creating murals, just to make sure I
wasn't forgetting anything.

     
Unfortunately,
I wasn't used to going to sleep so early. After two hours of tossing and
turning, I got out of bed and headed into the living room, taking my pillow and
blanket with me. With the help of my favorite tea and an episode of some random
telenovela, I soon found myself falling fast asleep.