Page 28 of Sawyer
“I had a window,” she only demurred.
Maybe it was the champagne or that feeling of walking on the clouds, but he didn’t care. He took a step toward her. She immediately turned wary. When he extended his hand, she reluctantly took it. He raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it. Shock rippled across her face before she gave in to a small smile. Also quickly extinguished, but there all the same.
“You’re really feeling the suit, aren’t you, Doc?” Madison crossed her arms. “All right, someone call this dashing lunatic a car. I’ve gotta go and wash my hands before I run back.”
Dean laughed. “She’s such a romantic, our Madison.”
Yes, he realized with the kind of sudden insight only a painter would have. She really was. The thought made him rock back on his heels. He was feeling and seeing like an artist.
Turning to look at the rest of his friends, he pulled up short when he saw Kyle staring off in the direction Madison had taken.
Dude was in love with her! Completely. Absolutely! Heart in his eyes and everything. He’d seen the looks before, butnow it was as crystal clear as the chimes of Nanine’s chandelier. Man, Golden Boy had to do something about that!
Maybe now wasn’t the time to mention it, though.
Soon Dean was saying his car was there. Brooke was helping him into his coat and adjusting his scarf. Kyle was leading him to the front door. He remembered how everyone had gathered around first Thea and then Dean for their first dates. He turned to take in the scene. They were all standing in the foyer—yes, even Madison was back with a small smile on her angular face.
His heart swelled. He noted the composition of how they all stood. Memorized the colors they were wearing. He was going to paint this scene and call itA Send-Off from Friends. Inside he didn’t feel the tremor that usually went through him in the wake of such a thought. Hewantedto paint it. He couldn’t wait to paint it. He might even start tonight. After his date.
“I’ll see you guys later.” He couldn’t help the unrestrained smile he gave them. “Don’t wait up!”
He was closing the door when Madison called, “Sawyer, I meant what I said?—”
Someone was laughing. He gave in to a Gregory Hines dance step on the street and opened the car door after confirming it was there for him. When he arrived atRouges,his heart gave a leap at the sight of Phoebe standing in the cold night in a long aquamarine coat, her red hair a deep mass of fire in the light from the restaurant.
She smiled and then sauntered over as he exited the car. He really liked a woman who sauntered, he decided. Again, his mind froze the frame. The way the golden streetlights captured the highlights in her hair and softened the high crest of her cheekbones and brow line. How the inky black night above was shot with a cluster of stars. She seemed alone even though a few other patrons milled around her, their breaths visible in the cold night. A man hunched over in a tan coat,smoking while a young couple nuzzled each other before entering the restaurant.
But Phoebe was in the center of the painting he was already creating in his mind.
A place she seemed destined to occupy.
She was lit with a fire he wanted to feel warm him. Her soul shone from her eyes, and it held a million thoughts. He wanted to hear her every opinion. He wanted to listen to her quote Shakespeare. He needed to know whether she preferred Voltaire or Rousseau, because he knew she would have a stance on the matter.
“Good evening, Dr. Jackson,” she practically purred.
He was suddenly stepping toward her and taking her gloved hand and lifting it to his lips. “My dear Ms. Anderson. It’s a pleasure.”
“As a greeting, you might have topped my longtimeTaming of the Shrewfantasy of meeting Petruchio for the first time.”
Ah, he should have known she wouldn’t choose a simple play or a simple heroine after seeing her with Titus Andronicus at their first meeting. Kate, the heroine ofTaming of the Shrew,was bold and brash and larger than life—like Phoebe. But he was ready for her all the same.“Sit by my side, and let the world slip…”
“Oh, dear,” she whispered silkily on the night wind after her green eyes brightened in her oval face. “Now, you’ve gone and turned my heart over.”
He wanted to punch the air and laugh. “Good. That’s how I felt when I saw you standing there in all your colors. Shall we?”
When he extended his arm to her, she smiled and slid hers into it. Together they walked intoRougesand turned a few heads.
Seated at their table finally, he watched her eyes take him in. Without her coat, he noted the lavender silk dress with itsheart-shaped neckline. She wore a thick strand of rough pearls that seemed to glow against her skin. “You’re so beautiful.”
He had to say it. He couldn’t have gone another minute without her knowing.
Her mauve-painted mouth curved. “Thank you. Consider yourself equally complimented. I especially like the suit. Did you choose it or have Brooke’s help?”
He set the menu he’d picked up aside. There was a thread of something in her voice. “Brooke? Do you know about her from your research? Or something else?”
She made an amused sound. “Ah…I wondered. Your friends didn’t tell you about their midnight sojourn to my gallery and our subsequent discussion. Intriguing.”
“What?”
