“I don’t mean to hurt you.”
“This is what I looked like, saying that shit to you?” he asked. “Hurting you.”
“Words cut deeper. They last longer than a bruise.”
He turned toward her, and she gasped. The emotion, the pain, the hurt, all of it was there for her to see. “I’m sorry.”
For the first time, she truly believed him.
The remorse was there. The pain. The guilt.
“I forgive you.”
She did. Turning back to the wall, she stepped up toward the couple, and carried on painting. Even though Kurt was in the room, she kept on painting. “You’re not going to tease me about the porn?”
“No.”
“Being a virgin?”
“No.”
“We have come a long way.”
“Noah called. Elsa wants us to go to dinner over at their place.”
Kim chuckled. “Do you think they’re planning on keeping an eye on us? Make sure we’re good?”
“I bet they are. Nothing will get past them.”
Kim took a deep breath and turned toward him. “Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.” She had already placed a call to the diner to let them know she wouldn’t be back. Kurt had given her an opportunity to focus on her art, and she was going to take it. There was no way she was going to let this chance go.
“I’ll do anything for you, Kim. All you have to do is ask, and it’s yours.”
He left her alone, and for several minutes, she stared after him.
They had changed once again. Neither of them was going to be the same. Staring at his image, Kim could look at him, and know the Kurt of now wasn’t him. This boy on the wall, he meant nothing. He was gone.
The hurt he’d caused was over.
****
Kim’s work had the power to cut him to the core. Kurt walked into his office and took a seat, spinning around to stare out over the garden. Ben, the gardener, was pruning some flowers, and stopped to wave at him. He waved back, staring out at the beauty that was before him. This was all for her. None of it was for him.
The only thing Kurt had wanted was Kim. She was his reason for buying this house, for doing so well. In the early years of college and work, he’d tried to build a life for himself. Kim had always been there in his head, refusing to leave. She didn’t have a clue of the hold she had on him.
Rubbing his eyes, he tried to clear his head of the image she’d painted. It was so brutal. That was who he’d become to her. Some vicious monster who spewed abuse in her direction. He didn’t want to be that man ever again.
Firing up his computer, he checked his emails to see that his company was doing fine without him. He’d left a manager in charge, a man he trusted, so that he could take this time away.
When boredom started to set in, he got to his feet and started for a walk in his garden.
He went outside the front door and along the paths until he was near her art studio. Kurt was about to move on, when she saw him.
“Hey,” she said, moving toward the door. “Would you like some company?”
“Sure?”
“I have to check. You being the boss and all.” She walked toward him. The jeans she wore were covered in paint. The thin strap of her crop top slid down her arm, showing the white strap of her bra.
“I’m such a hard ass boss.”
She chuckled. “Total hard ass.”
Kurt nodded for her to start walking, but she surprised him by linking her arm through his.
“After Noah’s dinner invitation, I was thinking of accepting one for a charity event in three weeks. I was wondering if I could showcase some of your work,” Kurt said. He held his hand up before she could complain. “It’s for charity. People within the community are going to be there, and I think it’s a perfect opportunity to showcase you.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to argue?”
“I want to, but I also see what you mean about having help. I need to learn to accept help that you offer.”
“In my company for one day, and look at the change in you. I’m so proud.”
“I’m kind of nervous about going to dinner with Elsa.”
“Why? They’re our friends. It’ll be fine.”
“They’re going to ask questions.”
“So, we tell them the truth. I want to help.”
He paused near the water fountain, and Kim stopped touching him to bind her hair up into a ponytail. Kurt wanted her hair down so that he could run his fingers through it.
“You don’t think that’s strange?”
“A little, but what does it matter?”
“You said we’re going to end up fucking.”
“Big words for a virgin,” he said, tugging lightly on a loose strand.
“I’m learning from the best.”
“I should be offended, but I’m not. I’ll have you cursing like the rest of us.”