Page 31 of How to Get Even

‘I know a guy,’ he dismissed with a shrug.

‘Youknowa guy?’ she demanded.

‘Take a look,’ Chase said, gesturing to the sliding racks. ‘We have time. If memory serves, there’s a Rembrandt in that one.’ He pointed just over her shoulder.

Oh, the arrogance of this man!To just be able to wander through the most highly secret, inconceivably valuable, part of one of the world’s most renowned art galleries. As if it were his own apartment and she could just ‘take a look’.

But she wanted to!

In that moment she didn’t think she’d wanted anything more in her life. She’d seen some incredible artwork at galleries around the world. But this was different. It was intimate. It wasn’tcurated.

She walked deeper into the belly of the warehouse, casting longing gazes at the racks either side of her, feeling a thrill of doing something illicit as the lighting flicked on above her.

If you want to see what I want from Nayak, then this is it.

And whatwas‘this’ for Chase?

Because it wasn’t about famous artists. He’d been near dismissive telling her that there was a Rembrandt on the rack. And she knew that there were hundreds more just as famous, she thought, catching a glimpse of a Hannah Höch.

She paused to take it all in.

‘What is your favourite painting?’ Chase asked, following her from a few feet behind, watching –inspecting– her reaction. She felt as if he were giving her a test and couldn’t help but wonder whether he’d brought Maurice and Ali here.

But she didn’t think so.

‘That’s a bit like asking what someone’s favourite movie is,’ she replied.

It’s a bit like a date question, she thought and bit her lip.

He waited patiently for her answer.

It wasn’t a date question, but it wasn’t a harmless getting-to-know-you question either. From an artist, from Chase, it wasmore.

‘Judith Slaying Holofernes,’ she replied over her shoulder as she veered off to take a closer look at the racks. The sounds of her shoes punctuated the thick silence of the warehouse.

‘One of my favourite critiques was written about that painting,’ Chase said, his voice unusually thick.

‘Really?’ she asked, not wanting to know. Not wanting this intimacy at all. Suddenly she wanted to be back out on the street, with anonymity amongst the pedestrians and?—

‘“Relentlessly physical”,’ he quoted, pulling her reluctant attention back to him, only to find his eyesthankfullyon a painting on the other side of the warehouse.

He seemed to be searching for something. ‘There is another Gentileschi down’ – he paused and pulled on the handle at the end of a rack – ‘here.’

He gestured for her to take the handle as if he were offering her an apple in the garden of Eden.

Chase bit back a smile as Bella looked longingly towards the rack.

‘I can’t just…’ She hissed out the words in a whisper, but it was clear how much she wanted to.

Christ.

That was something, right there.

Bellatempted.

It was like the name of a painting itself.

Her eyes lit with a desire to do something she thought naughty. Wrong. And it was probably the most beautiful thing in this entire room.

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