Page 45 of Take the Sub and Run

“I’m there,” she said, pointing at the building just visible through the branches of the tree. “Goodbye.”

Andrei cocked a brow, shoving a hand into his pocket.

Fine. He could walk her to her door.

Sofie turned and followed the path to her door. Her home was a freestanding building in the middle of all the green. Three stories tall with picture windows on all sides, the footprint of the building was small, though it was more than enough space for her to live and work. Her front door was painted forest green, and the security keypad had been specially made with a brass housing so it matched the hardware.

Sofie typed in the code on the brass-buttoned keypad. The panel slid up, and she bent to the hidden camera so the facial recognition software would work.

Andrei let out a huffing laugh. “Now I need to see inside.”

She ignored him and typed in a second code on a six-button keypad just under the camera—this time, the buttons showed symbols rather than numbers—and the lock clicked.

Sofie grabbed the round knob and pushed the door open, preparing to slip in.

She wasn’t going to look back. Now that she was almost home, her emotions were swelling to the point that she couldn’t take a deep breath. She was going to take off this dress, curl up, and cry out all the embarrassment and sadness.

Andrei caught the door before she could push it closed.

Sofie turned to look at him through the narrow gap. Both his foot and the hand he had wrapped around the edge of the door would stop it from closing.

She gave it a try. First shoving the door then leaning her whole body weight against it.

The door didn’t move. Andrei merely raised a brow.

“Back up so I don’t hurt your toes, Angel.”

It was his use of the nickname that had her falling back in surprise. The instant she did, he pushed his way inside. Sofie backed up as he entered.

“You can’t be in here.”

“Why not.”

“You don’t have…paperwork. You need paperwork to enter my home.”

“I’m not here on official business.” He started to walk around the ground-floor studio space.

“You said you were.” Sofie stepped into his path to stop him. “When you parked the car.”

“I lied.”

Sofie crossed her arms. “I thought you didn’t like lying.”

“I lie all the time. Unless I’m topping.” His gaze finally shifted from the room to her, a line between his brows showing the start of a frown. “This is…”

Sofie didn’t answer, but there was clearly no way to stop him, so she stepped out of the way, turning to glance at her studio, trying to see what he would see.

Windows on all four walls let in light tinted faintly green as it filtered through the vegetation outside.

The center of the large room was open, her easel in a place of honor in the center. When she was working, there would be a drop cloth under her easel, but now, she was between projects, so the wood floor was bare. Given that she usually went without shoes, there was under-floor heating beneath the wood, which itself covered the original stone floors.

Wood shelving in one corner held sketchbooks, art reference books, and jars of pigment supplies. Some were glass, the exposure to light necessary, while others were brown glass or metal to keep out the light. A long metal counter ran the length of an entire wall, the lower shelf holding jugs of turpentine and linseed oil, along with varnish and less obscure supplies like tallow.

An apothecary cabinet held her brushes, organized by materials. When she first received them, her father had organized them by time period so she wouldn’t accidentally use a material unfit for the period of the painting. But now, she knew by heart when hog hair versus badger hair brushes were to be used.

The stairs hugged one wall, the windows in that wall a series of smaller square windows that paralleled the stairs themselves.

Tucked under the stairs was her technology station, with a large monitor, computer, professional scanner, overhead camera, and a small X-ray machine. Everything was set on steel tables or carts with wheels so she could pull them out into the center of the room when needed.

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