Painted Red
“Do you want to go to an exhibit with me tomorrow night?” I asked Rosie immediately as she finished a phone call with a local art supplier.
“Huh?” She didn’t even look up at me, distracted by the notes she was jotting down.
I chuckled. “You know. An art exhibit. At a gallery.”
Rosie looked up from her paper, her face adorably unimpressed. “I know what an exhibit is, smartass.” She reached over to open the calendar on the desktop computer in front of her, clicking on the calendar app. “I just don’t see one on your schedule.”
“I know.” I leaned against the doorframe, watching her seamlessly complete multiple tasks at once. Our budding relationship aside, she really was the best assistant I ever had. Endlessly efficient and hardworking. “It was scheduled before you started. I forgot to mention it.”
She nodded her head but ignored my previous question. I scoffed.
“Say you’ll go with me.”
“I don’t have anything nice enough to wear to an art exhibit.”
I looked down at her outfit, a pair of ass-hugging skinny jeans and a loose fitting cotton tank top. “You can go in what you have on now for all I care.”
The frown on her face deepened. “I think you keep forgetting that I don’t know anything about art. I wouldn’t be very good company.”
I laughed. “Rosie, no one at these things ever knows a goddamn thing about art.”
“So why do you want to go?”
“I don’t. But as it stands, one of my pieces is going to be shown so I kind of have to show my face.”
“And why do you want me to go?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I thought that was pretty damn obvious.”
Rosie relinquished, grinning up at my expectant face. “Fine.”
I dragged her out of the office chair by her face, claiming my victory with my mouth.
I was completely speechless when I picked Rosie up from her apartment the next evening. There was nothing I could have said, no words or expressions that could accurately convey how fucking stunning she looked.
Her plump, curvy body was covered in a low-cut pale yellow dress that flared out into large pleats at the waist and showed off the gorgeous expanse of her neck, her lightly freckled shoulders and the tops of her full breasts. Her hair was swept up into a curly up-do, giving me full view of her lightly made up face, and her dainty little feet were encased in a pair of white, strappy heels.
“You like?” She spoke first before closing her door and stepping out into the hallway, giving me a coy little twirl.
“You look good enough to eat, baby.”
Rosie grinned, her glossy lips curling upwards to reveal her pearly teeth. Her beauty was almost too much for me to handle. “Is it appropriate for the occasion? I’ve never been to one of these before so I wasn’t sure.”
“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” A thought pop
ped into my head. “I thought you said you didn’t have anything to wear?”
She shrugged. “It was on sale.”
Our drive to the gallery was spent in relative silence, we enjoyed the soft sounds of a local radio personality announcing the chart-topping hits as we made our way further downtown. As we pulled up and parked out front, I heard Rosie take a deep, shaky breath next to me.
I looked over at her, my expression concerned. “Hey, you alright?”
Rosie stared at the group lingering on the sidewalk outside, all impeccably dressed and laughing amongst one another. “Yeah, I’m just a little nervous.”
Taking her hand I prompted her to turn around and face me. “Everything is going to be okay, Rosie. You have nothing to be nervous about.”
She did nothing but nod, visibly steadying herself before unbuckling her seatbelt. I quickly exited the car and made my way around the other side, offering her a soft peck on the forehead as she stepped out.