“I watched you work in a public area.”
“Still sounds like stalking.”
He shrugged. “I’m a wolf. We stalk.”
“You’re a—”
“Let me mentor you.”
“No. And we’re talking about you stalking me right now.”
“I already apologized for that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Then, I’m sorry.”
“Fuck your sorry.”
“Fine. Fuck my sorry. Now let’s talk business.”
“Your insane.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I get it. There’s no chance of anything more than a platonic situation with you due to my actions. Is that clear?”
“Clear with a capital fucking C.”
“Then let me mentor you.”
I opened my mouth in shock.
“Let me show you the business side of graffiti. I can introduce you to powerful people, help your brand, and fund what you need. You’re talented. You are the very essence of street art. That’s what made me crazy. It was those images all over cracked bricks that fucked up my head. I haven’t been able to think straight since I’ve viewed your pieces.”
My heart pumped in my chest. My words left my tongue.
“Please. let me mentor you?”
“I. . .I don’t trust you.”
“Do you remember the first artist you fell in love with?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it?” he asked.
I bit my lip, not willing to let him know that it was him.
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, the first artist I fell in love with was Salvador Dali. Could you imagine? Seeing your first Dali painting as a kid? Double images—faces inside of faces that peer out into a desolate world of melting objects that drip color onto sand.”
Excitement decorated his sexy face. “I was obsessed with Dali. I read every book on him, watched his film short, and gobbled up anything that had his name on it. If he’d been alive at the time, who knows what I would’ve done to just be in his space.”
To watch Wolf talk about Dali was amazing. Delight burst off of his eyes. Passion lingered in his fingertips as he waved them around, forming invisible images in the air in front of him.
“I want to mentor you.” He pointed at me. “You, Red, are now my second love, when it comes to art. Although many paintings and murals have captured my heart and made me act like a fanfreak, your works have incited me with mania.”
“I—”
“Think about it.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just think about it. I could be an amazing mentor.
I studied him. “How many times have you used the I-want-to-be-your-mentor line on some unsuspecting female artist?”
“I’ve never used that line. You’re in a small group of people who even know who I am.” He raised his hands. “I’m at your mercy. I’ve confessed to you about all the things that I’ve done tonight and in the past.”
“You didn’t confess anything.”
“I admitted to following you.”
“Stalking me,” I corrected.
“Fine.”
“No, it’s not fine.” I completely faced him, ready to punch him in his jaw. He was lucky there were several feet between us.
He must’ve been feeling brave because he came closer. “I did everything tonight to get a way to talk to you. This whole party was to get you here.”
“No way.”
“It’s fair to say that I would’ve had a 420 party regardless, but not to this magnitude. I would’ve just invited a few friends. But to get you here, I needed to make it a big event for stoners, something that would draw you out of your private world.”
“You sent the invitation?”
“And I asked you to do the mural on the roof to get some time alone with you.” He closed the distance some more, standing right in front of me. His lush scent filled the air around me. Only three feet existed between us.
You sure you want to get this close? I’m in punching range.
I curled my fingers into a fist. “And you grabbed Coco’s phone to get me up here too. What I want to know is what do you want from me? Is it really that hard to get laid these days?”
Laughing, he leaned my way, his lips closer to me than they should be. “I have no problem with fucking any woman I want.”
“You can’t have me.”
Not moving away, he targeted me with a heated gaze. “Then, let me just mentor you.”
“You want to do more than just mentor me.”
“I do.” His gaze dripped with sex. “But I’m an adult. I can control myself. I would never take, what wasn’t given.”
“You’re behavior tonight says otherwise, besides, I don’t need you.”
“Yes, you do. I have funds, skills, and contacts that will take you years to gather.”
“Goodnight, Wolf.” I got ready to turn.
He stopped me.
Then, his arms wrapped around my waist.
His huge hands pulled me in.
And his mouth consumed mine.
Damn.
I pushed away,
but not soon enough.
He’d already snared me with that huge jaw.
“No, Red. Don’t go. I’m hungry.” He drew me back in and lathered me in impossible desire, a sensation that I’d never experienced.
He made me lose control.
I embraced him, taking my torture and understanding it for what it was. He was a prowling beast, and I an innocent, drawn to wickedness.