The Arrogant Artist : A Billionaire Boss Romance (International Bad Boys Set Book 2), стр. 50
“Then, paint with me.” I step off to grab another blank canvas.
“No. I can’t.” She shakes her head.
“Why not? You told me you used to paint.”
“Yes. That was a long time ago. I can’t anymore. I’m not very good.”
“So what? You’re not painting for the Louvre… you’re painting for me.” She shakes her head again, this time more forcibly. “Please?”
“No.” Her answer is definite. Those emerald eyes sparkle with tears, she turns on her heel and rushes away from my studio.
“Emily. Emily, wait,” I call after her.
“Don’t, Louis. Please… just don’t.” She waves me away.
My steps slow, and I let her go. I don’t want to push her any more than I have.
I’ve triggered something, I have no idea what, and I didn’t mean to.
29
Emily
“I’m so embarrassed,” I cry into the phone to Ava.
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Talk to him, Emmy. Tell him. It sounds like he wants to help.”
“But he’s Louis Marchant. He’s a genius,” I moan.
“Um… he is also your boyfriend,” she tells me.
“Well, he hasn’t asked me to be his girlfriend, so I don’t know.” I sniffle.
“He’s asked you to be exclusive. He’s told you he’s falling for you. He’s whisked you away to Ibiza. Yeah, I’m totally calling boyfriend material.”
“Anyway…” I try to change the subject.
“Anyway,” she repeats. “Don’t forget you helped him find his way back to whatever genius art he used to do, and it sounds like he just wants to help you find your art again.”
“But I’m crap.”
“No, you’re not. What was crap was Toby and his negativity about your painting. He killed your creativity. He took so much from you, Ems. He dulled your spirit. Your fire. We never said anything because we thought you were happy, but Toby changed you, and I hope it’s not too late for you to find yourself again. Ever since you have been in France, we can see the old Emily coming back. The fun-loving, carefree girl you once were.”
Tears fall down my cheeks. “Did I really change that much?”
“It was gradual, but he dulled your sparkle and now… now we can see your sparkle has come back. So, why not make yourself shine again.” Ava’s words ring true. “Toby wanted the limelight to be solely on him. He liked having power over you. He liked that you needed him, that you relied on him, and that he called the shots. He was like your damn dad.”
Well, that just hit far too close to home for my liking.
“Shit. You’re right.” I’ve known Ava, Rosie, and Georgia all my life. We grew up in a little coastal town down in the South of England where everyone knew everyone, and that was generation after generation. Not many people left the village. They became farmers, fishermen, or housewives.
That’s not what any of us girls wanted. So as soon as we could, we all left the village. I thought I hit the jackpot when I met Toby. He was this rich, well-traveled guy. The guy all the girls wanted because he was a catch. We were opposites from our backgrounds to our interests.
Was I that desperate not to be alone that I let myself fall for someone who was exactly what I was escaping? Someone like my father who hated art and who despised anything that he didn’t understand that wasn’t in his norm.
“You don’t have to be the best, Emily. You just need to try. You need to find your passion again.”
“You’re right, Ava. You’re so right. I let Toby’s irritation ruin my love of art. I let my passion die. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t ever get an art position because I was no longer passionate about it.”
“I think you might be onto something,” she agrees.
“I miss you guys so much.”
“We miss you, too, but you’re hardly alone. Hello, hot French artist. ‘Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls,’” Ava quotes Titanic, and it makes me laugh. “Just have fun, Emmy. You deserve it. You deserve him. The photos you’ve posted of the two of you on Insta, you can see the spark between you two. You look good together.”
“He’s so far out of my league, Ava.” She huffs at me. “Have you seen his ex? She’s a damn supermodel.”
“Do you even see yourself, Emily? Stand in front of the mirror because you’re beautiful, too.”
“But I’m not sexy.” I pout.
“Pull yourself together. A hot, French artist, with a giant dick…” How does she know that? “I saw your post. The world saw it,” she answers my unasked question. “And holy hell, that’s a big paintbrush he has there.” Ava giggles. “He’s whisked you away to his special place in Ibiza. He’s painting again. He wants you to join him in making art together, and that’s not a metaphor for sex, which I know you have been having heaps of. Bitch! He wants to make art… art with you. Forget about everything else.”
Wow! I’d expect a pep talk like this from Rosie or Georgia but not from Ava. I like it. Maybe I do need to start having a little more confidence in myself.
“I love you, Avie.”
“I love you, too, Ems. Now go jump that hot man and take one for the team.”
I hang up, smiling.
Louis pops his head into the bedroom. “I wasn’t eavesdropping…” I bet he was because there’s guilt written all over his face. He totally was.
“How much did you hear?”
“Um… okay, well, all of it.” He gives me a shameful smile.
“Come here.” I call him over and pull him into my arms, surprising him as I cuddle into him. “I’m sorry about before.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“I haven’t had much support when it comes to my art, and I guess I didn’t know how to cope when I finally got some.”
He kisses my forehead. “I’d support you in anything if it makes you happy.”
Oh my God, this man!
“That’s new for me. So, sorry for the freak-out.”
Louis shakes his head. “Whenever you’re