Tempting the Artist (25 page)

“
I’m glad I kept my mouth
closed,” Peyton said. “Those first few minutes were awkward, but
when Luke explained why he was there. I calmed down. I actually
felt bad for him. After you had left, I got the impression Luke had
been blindsided by the meeting. When he came back into the
conference room after dealing with you, the tension bouncing off of
him was fierce.”

Christina thought of Gary. If that guy
was up to no good, God help him when Luke got his hands on him.
Then again, that scared Christina even more. Luke was probably
already angry with having to fill in for Gary, and she hadn’t
helped matters by overreacting and verbally attacking
him.

“
What am I going to do? He
probably hates me,” Christina said behind her hands.

She recalled every mean thing she had
said to him, and she would never forget the hurt in his eyes. “He’s
never going to forgive me.”

Peyton stood and walked over to the
single window in her office and opened the blinds.

“
CJ, I know I’ve given you
a hard time about Luke,” she said, her back to Christina. “But I
was wrong. I’ve been wrong about so many things lately. I’m not
sure where to start with my apologies.” She finally
turned.

Christina stood next to the desk,
toying with the pencil holder that was made to look like an
electrical box. Their grandfather had given the custom piece to
Peyton after she finished her electrician
apprenticeship.

“
You don’t have to
apologize,” Christina said. “I have said some things to you that
I’m not proud of either.”

“
You didn’t say anything
that wasn’t true.”

“
Well … the things I said
behind your back might not have been true.” Her lips quirked trying
to hide a smile.

Peyton frowned, but Christina didn’t
miss the humor in her eyes. “Oh. I’m sure I don’t want to know what
you said behind my back.” She turned fully to Christina. “I really
am sorry about everything. I hate when we fight. As for Luke, he
seemed pretty upset this morning. Actually, I don’t know if upset
is the right word. I think he was more pissed than anything, and I
don’t think it had anything to do with you. At least not at first.
Even sitting in the meeting, he seemed on edge.”

Peyton filled Christina in on the
brief meeting and the tension in the room. Luke had informed them
that Gary was the lawyer for the case and would contact them
soon.

Christina didn’t know how or what she
would say to make things right with Luke. But she had to try. She
couldn’t lose him again.

*

Two days later, Christina knocked on
her grandfather’s partially opened office door.

“
Can I come in?”

The elder Jenkins looked up from the
book he was reading, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose.
She wondered how he could stand to wear those glasses like that
when it looked so uncomfortable.

“
Of course, sweetheart.
Come on in.” He set the book to the side, placing his glasses on
top.

Christina walked farther into the
office. The only light in the room was that of the floor lamp next
to her grandfather’s favorite chair, which he occupied. Shaking out
of her lightweight jacket, she laid it on the sofa along with her
bag, before taking a seat.

Now that she had her grandfather’s
attention, words failed her.

“
How’s the painting going?”
Her grandfather asked, filling the silence.

Thankful for the momentary
distraction, Christina was reminded of what Luke had found out
while in New York. She couldn’t believe Valerie would betray her
and for what? To sell more paintings? Christina still wasn’t buying
the woman’s reasons, and it didn’t matter. They were no longer
working together.

“
The paintings are going
well,” she finally answered. “I’m slowing things down a little
since I won’t be doing a show in a while.”

“
And what about
Luke?”

Christina hesitated. “I think I really
blew it this time, Grampa.” She kicked off her tennis shoes and
tucked her feet underneath her butt. “I don’t know if he’ll ever
forgive me for jumping to conclusions and for not giving him a
chance to explain.”

“
You’re young. I can’t
begin to tell you about all the misunderstandings your grandmother,
and I had early in our relationship. You girls took those fiery
tempers after Katherine. She used to give me hell.” He
laughed.

Christina smiled. Her grandmother had
shared plenty of stories and insisted that the majority of their
disagreements were CJ’s grandfather’s fault. Katherine Jenkins
still didn’t play, but what Christina loved most about them is that
no matter how mad they might get at each other, they never went to
bed angry. That’s what she wanted. That’s what she wanted with
Luke.

“
I don’t know what to do
about Luke.”

Sadness swelled in her heart. If she
weren’t such a chicken, she would have called him that same day and
apologized to him. Even if he didn’t want anything else to do with
her, she at least owed him that much. Until recently, her temper
rarely reared its wicked head. It usually took a lot to get her
angry and within days, she had spat hateful words at both Peyton
and Luke, two people she loved dearly.

“
I can’t believe how I
behaved, especially since I know Luke. He has more integrity in his
pinky finger than most people have in their whole body. Grampa I
didn’t give him a chance to explain. All I could think about was
that he was going up against our family.”

“
I don’t know what it is
with you girls. You get these great guys and then you find a way to
push them away. I’m starting to see a pattern. First Toni, then
Jada and now you.”

Christina couldn’t speak for her
cousins, but she didn’t intentionally push Luke away. She guessed
it didn’t matter though. Intentionally or unintentionally, she had
still screwed up the best thing that had ever happened to
her.

“
I blame myself for some of
this,” her grandfather said.

“
Why? You didn’t do
anything.”

“
I’m the one who instilled
in all of you, from an early age, the importance of putting family
first, but I think I need to add more to that speech
now.”

Christina’s shoulders sagged knowing
one of her grandfather’s speeches could take hours, but then again,
she was desperate. He had never steered her wrong, and she hoped he
could say something that would help her situation.

“
Once you commit your life
to a man, a good man, then he should be your top priority.
Hopefully you’ll never have to choose your mate over your family or
vice versa, but if ever you are in that position, you should side
with your mate.”

“
What if he’s wrong? I’m
not saying that’s the case here, but I’m sure when I do get
married, my husband is not going to always be right.”

“
Probably not, but you’ll
work together to get the right answer. Christina, don’t risk losing
Luke out of some loyalty to the family. Besides, I think Luke might
have showed some loyalty to the Jenkins family.”

Christina tilted her head. “How
so?”

“
I talked with your uncle
Ben earlier regarding this mess with Leroy and Ben received some
interesting information. Well good news for us, but not for
Leroy.”

“
What news?”

“
Though your uncle never
thought Leroy had a case, someone sent Ben some anonymous
information that could have put Leroy away for years if Ben had a
chance to use it. But he didn’t have a chance. Leroy was picked up
on bribery charges this afternoon.”

“
What? How?”

“
From what I understand,
the Department of Investigation and the District Attorney’s office
has been investigating scheming contractors who have been bribing
city inspectors. According to Ben, some of the inspectors have been
rushing through projects and signing off on permits without the
work being properly done.” Her grandfather leaned forward, his
elbows on his thighs. “Yesterday, they received photos of Leroy
offering a bribe and a signed statement from a city inspector
confirming this.”

“
And you think Luke sent
the information to the District Attorney and Uncle Ben?”

Her grandfather hesitated. “The
information was sent anonymously, but Ben thinks the timing is too
much of a coincident. He believes your boyfriend had something to
do with the chain of events.”

“
Well, he’s probably my
ex-boyfriend. Luke is never going to forgive me.” She had let him
down once by not being honest with him and trusting him with her
secret, and this time her distrust reared its ugly head
again.

“
He’ll forgive
you.”

Christina looked at her grandfather
sideways, trying not to get excited, but hoped he knew something
she didn’t know. She placed her feet on the floor and sat forward.
He had spoken the words with such authority. He had to know
something. “How can you be so sure?”

“
Because he’s in love with
you.”

Christina dropped her shoulders and
sat back. “I don’t know if love is enough this time,
Grampa.”

“
It’s enough, but you’ll
never know if you keep hiding out at home, or over Jada’s house, or
even over here. Instead of talking to all of us, you need to be
talking to Luke. He’s probably missing you as much as you’re
missing him, but you’re the one who has to make this
right.”

Christina knew her grandfather was
right. She was a grown woman. It was time she started acting like
one.

“
By the way, I heard he
quit his job.”

“
Wha … what?” Christina
brought her hands up to her mouth.
God,
please don’t let him have moved back to New York or worse, gotten
into trouble because of me.

*

Luke lounged on his sofa, flipping
through TV channels trying to find a baseball game. Out of all of
the professional sports, he liked baseball the least, except during
the playoffs.

Finally settling on a channel, he
tossed the remote to the side, rested his head against the back of
the sofa, and propped his legs on the coffee table. The position
had become a norm for him in the last two days, each day felt
longer than the last.

Most people who up and quit their jobs
usually either have something lined up or start searching for
something new right away. Not Luke. He needed time to regroup. Time
to reevaluate his life, as well as his plans for the future, and he
couldn’t think about his future without thinking about Christina.
When they reunited months ago, he had promised himself that he
would never let her go again, and he meant it. She didn’t know, but
he knew there was no one else for him. He planned to spend the rest
of his life with her.

Planting his feet on the floor, Luke
stood and walked over to his doublewide, stainless steel
refrigerator. Holding the door open and peering in, he considered
cooking, but quickly shot that idea down. Instead, he grabbed a
beer and went back to the sofa. At some point, he was going to have
to do something other than watch television, and drink beer camped
out on the sofa. But for now, kicking back was working for
him.

He brought the bottle to his lips but
stopped before he could take a swig when his cell phone vibrated on
the table. Holding the bottle in one hand, he picked up the phone
with his free hand. Glancing at the screen, he sat forward and set
the beer down when he saw that it was a text from
Christina.

“
Is it a crime to fight
for what is mine?”

A slow smile spread across
Luke’s face.
When did she start quoting
Tupac?
Hell, he didn’t care who she quoted
as long as he was hearing from her.

Don’t think so, but if it
is, I know a good lawyer.

I know one too…

Luke wanted to see her more than
anything, despite still being a little pissed that she didn’t trust
him. The day she accused him of lying and of going after her family
hurt more than he would ever admit. After all, they’d been through,
and all the time they’d spent together, she should have known he
would never do anything to hurt her or the Jenkins
family.

Without a doubt, they needed to talk.
She needed to understand a few things, and he needed to see her.
Hold her.

He went back to his cell
phone.

In case you plan to commit
a crime, contact your lawyer first.

When minutes passed, and he didn’t
receive a text back, he picked up the cigarette that he’d been
ogling all day. He twirled it between his fingers. He hadn’t had a
smoke in weeks and tonight he craved one almost as much as he
craved having Christina in his arms.

He laid his head against the back of
the sofa and closed his eyes. For a minute, a flutter of eagerness
bounced around in his gut at hearing from her. He was acting like a
damn high school boy getting all excited about hearing from the
most popular girl. What had his life come to that a woman held this
type of power over him?