Beauty and the Billionaire

The night before the art show I didn’t sleep much at all. My brain raced with excitement over the event and all the people that would be there. It didn’t help that I was away from my bed and staying in a hotel nearer to the show. The gallery said it might take them a couple days to make sure they had all the sales cleared before they would be able to give me back the remaining photos. I didn’t mind though, it was nice to have a little bit of an adventure and stay in the city.

I got to the gallery nice and early and walked around to see how all the photos looked. The lighting in the gallery was simply amazing and it surprised me at just how perfect my photos looked there. I was confident in the quality of my photos, but seeing them on display here made them look even better.

My heart started racing as I looked around the gallery and saw my life’s work on display. I said a silent prayer that people wouldn’t think my work was horrible. That was all I wanted. Just not horrible. They didn’t need to love it; I just couldn’t take it if everyone thought my photos were bad.

“Katelyn!”

The gallery owner Sarah waved at me enthusiastically and started to walk over.

“Hi Sarah, the showroom looks amazing. I think your display and lighten is what is going to get people interested in my work tonight.”

“Oh shut up! Your work is amazing. I bet we sell at least half of your photos.”

Wow, half of them. I couldn’t even imagine it. That would mean I had enough money to finish the whole renovation on my family’s home. I would be able to do the kitchen too and that was going to be extremely expensive.

“Wow, Sarah that would be great. Thanks so much for believing in me.”

Sarah brought me around to show me where the drinks would be set up and the flyers about my work. She showed me where the balcony was in case I needed to take a breather.

“Many artists get overwhelmed at their first show. There will be a lot of people wanting to talk to you and a lot of questions. The hardest part will be consistently keeping a smile on your face and interacting with people. Use this balcony when you want to escape for a moment. It has stairs that go all the way down to the first floor if you decide to make a run for it.” Sarah winked and laughed a bit.

“I think I’ll be alright. I’m really excited to meet everyone and talk about my work.”

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in a back room and trying to get some sleep. I had been up the whole night and really didn’t want to have bags under my eyes when I met everyone at the event that night. I was able to get an hour nap in before I needed to change and get ready for the show. I brought a black cocktail dress that I thought would help me blend in with the crowd if necessary. The back was cut really low and it fit me perfectly, like a glove. I had some basic black heels on to tie the whole outfit together.

When the evening started, there were at least thirty people outside the gallery door just waiting to get in. It was exciting to see that many people interested in the event. My body was so tense that I had to have a couple drinks to calm my nerves. My pulse raced and my face was flush with excitement.

I tried to just mingle around and see what people thought of the work. Since Sarah had not introduced me yet, it was nice to be anonymous and able to blend in. I really wanted to hear their thoughts and critiques without people being obliged to give me compliments. If they knew I was the artist it was more likely that they would feel like not saying the truth.

People seemed to really like the picture I took when I fell in the woods. It was one of my favorites as well. The dark circle around the moon and the trees that covered the corners made the picture very scary looking. It was ominous and I liked that. Especially because that night had been anything but ominous, it had been fantastic.

That photo was the first night Chris and I were together and I could still feel the ecstasy of his hands on my body. My body reacted as I let my thoughts drift back to that night and the power of Chris as he brought me to orgasm.

I pulled out a phone and sent a text to Chris to see if he was going to be able to make my show. Since I really didn’t know what he did for a living or where he was, I wasn’t sure he was going to be able to come to my show. It was perfectly fine with me if he didn’t show up. I had enough on my hands as I tried to relax before Sarah introduced me to the crowd. If Chris had been there, it would have made me even more nervous.

Chapter 24

“I know you all are dying to meet the artist of these amazing pictures, so please let me introduce you to Katelyn Peterson,” Sarah said over a small microphone.

The whole gallery stopped what they were doing and looked up at the small platform that Sarah was on. I begrudgingly made my way up there to say a few words. I was not the type of person who had a lot to say on a normal day, but in front of a thousand people I really didn’t have much to say at all.

“Hello everyone, I’m so happy you can all be here to share this day with me. It has been a long road to get here and I’m very excited to be starting my journey in the world of photography. I hope you all have a great night and enjoy my work.”

As I put the microphone down the room erupted in applause. It caught me off guard. They were all clapping for me. It was hard to even fathom that all these people were there at the gallery for me. They had gotten

babysitters and scheduled their whole night around coming to see my work. It was pretty dang awesome.

The second I got off the platform there were people coming up to me and asking me questions. They seemed to want to know every little detail about the work. They wanted to know where it was taken, what camera, what lens and even more personal things about myself. One man asked if I was single, another if I took dirty pictures and a few other people asked about my family life.

It was funny at first; as they would ask me a question I would ponder it for a moment and then answer. But soon I got so tired of answering the same questions over and over again. I got anxious when they asked me questions that I didn’t want to answer, like about my personal life. It was pretty amazing how people felt comfortable asking you things in a gallery setting that they wouldn’t dare ask you in any other place. I did my best to answer the appropriate questions and deflected the inappropriate ones with laughter. I would pretend to see someone waving at me, then waive back and say I needed to go.

Sarah was right; it was extremely overwhelming to have a gallery show. I had entirely underestimated the power of a thousand people trying to talk to me about a thousand different topics. I decided to take Sarah’s advice and sneak out onto the balcony.

It was a very nice balcony, about twenty feet long and six feet wide. It was on the third floor and had a set of stairs leading down to the second level and then to the main level. They had a lounge chair out on the porch and I sat down in it and put my feet up. It felt so good to take my heels off and let my feet relax.

My eyes closed for what I thought was just a quick moment, but then I woke up in a panic. I looked around and tried to get my bearings and figure out where I was at.

“I thought you would never wake up,” I heard a man’s voice say.