TOUCH

Chapter 36

AURELIA

I swallowed hard and fought the urge to fidget under his gaze. From where I stood, the left ear on the painting looked crooked. Maybe I should have sticked with the store bought stuff.

He continued staring at me with his unflinching eyes and hard mouth. And then he reared back to look at the canvas, making me all nervous. Making another sweep over me with those blue orbs, his dark eyebrows climbed up his forehead. "I don't know what to say."

Silence ticked by, buoyant and endless, as he kept inspecting the painting. My heart set a camp somewhere next to my toes. All this effort and he didn't even say anything.

He propped his chin on his hand, and then shifted his sight at the wall that displayed the three tiger painting.

I blew out a breath. "You don't have to put it anywhere. Melanie said a painting this size will go great in the game room."

He shook his head but I couldn't tell if he was agreeing or denying. Before I could ask he rolled his white shirt sleeves further up and stood on the mini book stand.

I chewed on my cheek but I couldn't stop myself. "What are you doing?"

Zander took out all the three paintings from the wall behind the mini book shelf. "There's no way this art is leaving my room." He jumped down from the shelf and adjusted the giant canvas to get a good grip. He placed it on the shelf  then got on it himself.

When he placed the painting on the nails, it took the space of two painting combined. It was that large and wide. I didn't know what Zander thought about it but I was ecstatic at the way it turned out to be. Maybe I'm biased.

I noticed Zander's expression had gone from contemplating to happy looking at the painting on the wall. The almost life size tiger peaking from the grass blade looked powerful.

Nothing prepared me for what came out of his mouth next.

"This would have been the best piece of art, if your smile didn't exist."

Blush crept over my neck to my face as I grinned at him.

"So where did you get it from?"

Shit.

That comment snapped something in me. I was too dumbfounded to speak. Except for Raven and Anne, nobody knew I made it myself. Suddenly the gesture seemed too personal.

It didn't take Zander long to put two plus two together. And when he did, he looked flabbergasted.

Those blue irises settled on me, lines scorching his forehead. He searched for something in the painting and minutes later, found it. Earnestly running a finger at my initials on the wild flower at the top right of the canvas, he blinked innocently at me. "You made it. For me. Nobody ever gave me anything like that."

I had no idea what to do with his reaction, so I just shrugged.

He came close to me. "My love for you is growing so big and fast, I wish I had known you sooner." His voice was raspier and his eyes shone with the little light in the room.

We stared at each other for a long time.

Ducking his head, he poked my foot with his foot. "Thank you, Aura. You really made today special."

I simply smiled at him and focused on keeping my breath even.

The thing I would never admit to him or anyone else was, in that moment I desperately wanted to hug him. I wanted to tell him that its a small gesture for all that he had done for me in the past. How I wanted to keep smiling at him and wanted to hold his hand and maybe squeeze his palms to assure him that his love for me is not unappreciated. That him wanting me, is what makes each of my days very special.