Page 123 of How to Get Even

And he was right.

She’d really found her feet – when she wasn’t being distracted by the competing roles of trying to save the gallery and pranking the current director – in a role that incorporated all the things she loved – art, communication, plans. And perhaps just a little bit of high-level manipulation.

The cab pulled into the alley beside the studio. She paid and got out, checking her phone one more time before she went in to see a picture from Paige on the WhatsApp group of her, Olly and Casper – the dog that had adopted them, rather than the other way round. Hearts and ‘aww’s had followed from the others and Bella smiled, delighted that Paige had found her happiness with a man who loved her as much as she deserved.

She love bombed the message with more emojis than strictly necessary.

If the girls had been amazing before, they’d been incredible in the last few months. The fast friendship had turned into something more. Ride or die best friends who had turned into a family she couldn’t bear to think of living without.

Her parents and sister had been happy for her and Chase, and for her new job, but the girls? They’d been thrilled, they’d championed, screamed and cried their fierce support of her, and it had just made everything incredible.

She and Astrid were meeting up soon – Bella finally agreeing to a yoga class that didn’t require losing half her body weight in sweat, on the proviso that they went for cupcakes afterwards. (Red velvet for Bella and fondant fancies for Astrid.)

She’d caught up with Sienna just the other night, meeting her ‘sort of’ step-daughter, Melanie, over the small phone screen, the young teenager’s smiling face shining full of love for Si which was a delight to see. But she ached to see her friends in real life.

Which, of course, she would do because in just a few months’ time the entire Karma Club would all be meeting up for what would be, if she and Paige had anything to do with it, the most amazing wedding anyone had ever seen!

Talk of weddings no longer hurt so much. Not now. Olly, Bella truly believed, had always meant to be with Paige. And she… well, she had found a man she’d not have even been able to dream of, but one who was perfect for her in every single way.

After firing off a very quick message to Paige about possible activities for the wedding, Bella slipped her phone into her bag beside the copy of her new book.

First Sun Tzu, and now Machiavelli? You’re the only woman I know who’d have political treaties on the same bedside table as erotic romances.

She laughed every time she thought of Chase’s reaction to seeing it.

So it was that when he appeared in the doorway, he found her with a smile on her lips full of heat and affection.

‘Mr Miller,’ she said, a tease in her tone. ‘How kind of you to make time for me in your busy schedule.’

‘Ms Carmichael, so good of you to come,’ he said, his tongue in his cheek. ‘If you would?’

She eyed the dark strip of silk in his hands, the blindfold making her blush almost instinctively now, not that she thought thatthatwas what she was here for this time.

Turning, she allowed him to tie the silk over her eyes and let him guide her towards the entrance of the studio. She didn’t need to ask him questions, or to know what was going on, because she trusted him. She trusted that this was what he needed or wanted and she would happily give that to him if it was within her power to do so because she loved him utterly and completely.

He paused on the threshold of the studio, and she felt him turn to face her. She raised her face to where she imagined him to be and pulse points around her body throbbed in anticipation. His lips claimed hers, gentle, but probing, slow, but carnal just the same, his fingers flexing against her shoulder and throat.

He mmmd against her lips as he gently ended the kiss, and then laughed.

‘You taste like red velvet cake,’ he teased.

She shrugged a shoulder. ‘Maurice thought we needed a bit of a sugar boost to get through the afternoon.’

‘Maurice did, huh?’

‘Mmm hmm,’ she sounded, because if she didn’t use her words, it wasn’t technically a lie.

The sound of his knowing laughter skimmed over her as he led her into the space where he had spent an enormous amount of time over the last three months. And that time had been more than she could possibly ever have imagined.

She would never have guessed that getting to know Chase would mean getting to know herself too. That was the gift of their love. That it had made her life rich, full, and something joyous as she took the time to get to knowherlikes and dislikes, wants and wishes just as much as his. And together, it was an exciting, thrilling and adventurous journey she never wanted to end.

* * *

Chase brought Bella to stand in what she assumed was the centre of the studio, his heartbeat racing, despite how ludicrous it was to be nervous about this. But she would be the first person to see it. Perhaps the only person, depending on how he felt about it once she had. But still. It was the first piece he’dcompletedin nearly two years. Oh, he’d started hundreds of other projects and pieces, but this was the first one he felt was done. The first one that he was proud of.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked, not having to tell her what for, or explain himself. She knew him. All of him. The bits that he found hard to talk about and the bits that he was trying to change. And that she loved them was still a little surprising to him.

‘Always,’ Bella replied and he removed the blindfold and stood to where he could see her, not the painting he had finished yesterday. Because he wanted to seeher.

---