Love, Art, and Murder – Mystery Romance

“I did a little homework before applying for Hex’s modeling job and read that he was twenty-eight, so you’re thirty-three?”

“Yes. You did your homework well.” Unease ran through me. “What else did you find out about us?”

“There really isn’t much on your family at all.”

Which was exactly how I liked it.

“So your father passed away, but is Hex’s father still alive?”

The line of muscle in my jaw twitched. “My step-dad is also gone.”

She probably caught something in what I’d said because she leaned her head to the side and formed her lips into a straight line. “You didn’t like your step-dad?”

“He was an evil bastard. When I turned eighteen and graduated high school, I couldn’t wait to get out of his house. I would’ve done anything. I’d applied to every military service available, and I complied a huge notebook of alternatives from being a cattle-ranch hand to selling my body, just to get enough money to save and fly off somewhere.”

She covered her mouth to hide her chuckling. “I understand exactly how you feel. My father was a bastard too. He drank a lot and wasn’t exactly a nice guy when he did. Sometimes he hit me, but to be somewhat fair it wasn’t all the time.”

I wondered if he was alive and close enough to pay the abusive son of a bitch a visit.

“I dreamed about getting away too,” she admitted.

“How did you get free?”

“That series of Michael’s, the one where he painted me as several angels. That’s what got him and me out of our crappy little town.”

“And it’s why everyone calls you Archangel. I remember reading the article in Times magazine. Hex was in it, too.” I raised my hands in the air. “Two young wonders stirring up the art world, Michael the painter of angels and Hex the illustrator of death.”

“Oh God.” She hit her forehead. “I do remember that article. It’s how all of that ridiculous feuding between them began. At least I think so. I know Michael was not happy to share the spotlight with Hex.”

“And neither was Hex to share it with Michael.”

She kicked off her shoes, and I couldn’t fight the urge to grab the foot closest to me, so I did. I lifted that tiny little foot, covered in silky stockings, and placed it in my lap. So full of W.H.L., she didn’t stop me. Instead, she laid back and closed her eyes as I ran my fingers along the bottom of her foot and tried my best to knead away the tension that horrid sight in the garden must have built all over her body.

“How did your mom and step-dad pass away?” she whispered.

I massaged my way to the top of one foot. A small whimper left her mouth. I made a quick mental note to remember that spot as I continued my way up to her toes. “I would rather not discuss that. What I want to know is if I can have a nice date with you sometime in the future. Whether you’re here or somewhere else, I would like to take you out.”

“I’m not—”

“What if we make it a competition?”

“Competition?” She kept her eyes closed, but gave me a big smile.

“Yes. If I can stump you on a movie line, then I get to take you on a date.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Anything is possible.”

“How many movies have you seen this year?”

“I don’t know. Maybe ten or so.”

She laughed. “I can’t even count them all for this year. I go to the Cannes film festival and even Sundance every year and any other one I have time for. If I can’t make it, I get the movies delivered to me. I hit up most movie premieres in the states. I watch at least a movie a night at home. During my free days I can’t even count how many I watch. It would be unfair for you to compete with me.”

“If you’re so confident, then it shouldn’t be a big deal. If I stump you on a movie, then you give me a date.”

She shrugged. “Fine. I’ll even be nice about it and give you as many tries as you like. My only limit is that if it’s foreign then it has to have had English subtitles.”

I shook my head at her ego. Granted, it seemed like she had a right to be confident. “How long have you been watching movies like this?”

“My dad owned a video rental store when I was younger, one of those now nonexistent little mom and pop spots. There will probably be a model of one in a museum right next to the dinosaur bones soon. Either way, I would drop by my dad’s store after school, grab two new videotapes, and take them home. I watched them as I did my homework. Every now and then I snuck a third movie in, if dad was drunk enough.”