Page 3 of Her Elusive Cowboy Billionaire

She stood to leave.“I look forward to this project.I believe it will be fun.”

He stood.“I’m glad you think so.May I walk you out?”

She chuckled.“That’s okay.I think I can find my way.”

He reddened and ran a careless hand through his hair, causing the dark strands to stand up and then casually fall back down.

Meri walked out of the office to the elevator and pressed the down button.What an appealing man.She didn’t get too much information from him, but she thought if they ever had a drink together, he would be interesting to talk to.As if.The man was a billionaire.What could he possibly have in common with an artist like herself?

Chase Harper sat backin his chair.The spreadsheets on his laptop didn’t interest him now, and they could wait.What did interest him was a certain redhead with curly hair halfway down her back.She was slender but not skinny like a model.She had ample breasts, an abundance of freckles, and was definitely not the type of woman who usually interested him.Yet, from the moment they touched, he wanted more.He struggled to keep a coherent thought in his head when all he wanted was to ask her to go for a drink so he could get to know her better.That would have been inappropriate, but he’d wanted to, anyway.

Chase let nothing such as propriety keep him from something he wanted.This time, however, he needed to bide his time and be patient.And he would have plenty of time since he planned on being here every day she was.

He turned, stared out at the purple mountains, and smiled.Soon enough, Ms.Meri Anderson would be his.The problem was, he struggled with his feelings for Paige.But was he ready for that step?Was he ready for another relationship?Was he ready to let Paige go…for the last time?

Twenty minutesafter leaving Chase’s office, Meri arrived back at her loft, which also served as her studio.She put her keys in the bowl on the table between the kitchen and foyer.Then she set her purse on the sofa.

She smiled as she did every time she came home.Her loft had cost her a pretty penny, but she’d bought it before the prices skyrocketed through the roof.It had more than doubled in value since she purchased it just five years ago.

On the top floor of an eight story building in the LoDo district of Denver, her loft had an open design she loved.The living room and dining area were all one spacious room, then she had two bedrooms with full baths and a half bath off the foyer.

The master bedroom was seventeen-by-twenty.She had room for a king-size bed and a sitting area next to the floor to ceiling windows.The view was of the mountains and she loved it.She didn’t have any taller buildings surrounding her, so the view would always be the same.The buildings across the river and the interstate from her were on a hill and, therefore, taller than hers.But they were a quarter of a mile away, as the crow flies, and somewhat to the northwest, so they didn’t distract from her view.

In the main room, she’d made a small living room with a sofa and a big screen TV on the wall opposite the kitchen.

She’d positioned a rectangular dining table with four chairs made of oak, which matched the kitchen cupboards closer to the kitchen.

The kitchen had two large islands.Four bar stools sat on one side of the island between the kitchen and the living room, with cupboards on the other side.That island abutted the stove, with the refrigerator and the dishwasher, and formed a barrier with the living room.

The sink and trash compactor were on one side of the second island in the center of the kitchen, with cupboards on the other side.The appliances were all gleaming stainless steel.Cupboards made of light-stained oak were above the island between the living room and the kitchen, above the stove and on both sides of the refrigerator.

Meri had installed pale pink marble floor tile in the kitchen, bathrooms, and in the entryway.Black granite with silver and gold flecks graced the countertops in the kitchen and the bathrooms.She had seen nothing like it before, and the salesperson assured her she would not see it again because the granite had been left over from a special order.

Her ideas for the mural were coming fast and furious.So many ideas were in her head she wasn’t sure where to start.She’d set up her studio in the second bedroom.The natural light was great with a large window facing the mountains, which she could open for fresh air.She had her easel, bookshelves for sketchbooks, paints, and brushes, a desk for her laptop and a land line so she was never without phone service.She also had a queen-size bed in there…just in case a niece or nephew wanted to stay the night.

She’d paint a miniature of the mural she thought would be best in the space and then take it in to have Chase review it.He’d either agree or give her more ideas of what he wanted.If the blue wall color was right, she’d use it for the sky.If not, she’d need to add the color she wanted into the mural.

After getting a sketchbook from the shelf, she sat on the sofa.She nibbled on the end of her pencil.She always sketched first in pencil.When she was happy with the drawing, she did another sketch, this time in charcoal.Unless she’d done something terribly wrong in the pencil sketch, the charcoal drawing should be just a darker version of the original.

Once the charcoal was complete, she’d email it to Chase for his approval.But she wanted him to see a miniature of what his mural would look like.It was so hard to see what the mural would look like from the sketches because they have no color.She took out a two-foot-by-three-foot blank canvas and painted a small version of the mural she’d designed, using the longer side as the top and bottom.She used all the specific colors she would in the mural on his walls.

She finished the painting on Sunday night after meeting with Chase on Thursday and couldn’t wait to show it to him.Early Monday morning, she went down to his building unannounced.If he wasn’t in, she would wait.He had the sketch in an email, though she hadn’t heard from him over the weekend, so she wasn’t sure he’d actually seen them.She hadn’t sent it until late Thursday night.Even though she’d wanted to show him her charcoal sketch in person on Friday, she’d resisted the urge and emailed it.

But now, besides showing him the miniature mural, Meri knew she just wanted to seehim.She wanted to know if she’d still feel the electric jolt she’d felt last time when she’d shook his hand this time.The feeling she’d gotten on Thursday had surprised her.She’d never had that reaction to anyone, including Jared, and he’d been her fiancé.

She remembered with complete clarity how she’d felt on her wedding day.The day Jared left her a note saying he was eloping with her best friend.Betrayed.Yes.Relieved?Yes, she’d felt relieved.But she’d been so angry she hadn’t acknowledged the relief for a day or two, and the relief surprised her.But down deep, the fact he had eloped with Angela hadn’t really taken her unawares.I think I knew, but didn’t want to face him not loving me.

Then she stopped crying and went out on her own.Opened her own business of designing murals for homes and offices, and doing paintings for those same clients, just like she used to do for Jared.He could let other employees do the paintings.They weren’t as good as Meri, but they would likely do all right.

But she would do better without his stupid gallery and she wouldn’t have to share any money with anyone.

She placed the cloth covered painting into the back of her Subaru Ascent.She bought the car the week after her wedding was supposed to take place.Paid cash for it, since she wouldn’t be putting the money into Jared’s gallery.She knew better now than to mix business with pleasure.

Now, with her handling everything from clients to painting, and all out of her home, she didn’t have to put it all into her business, either.Meri realized all Jared had wanted was her money.He’d been in love with Angela.They had planned it together.Why hadn’t she seen or recognized what they were doing?Angela was Meri’s best friend and a fellow artist.Having her spend time with Jared discussing Angela’s joining the company hadn’t bothered her.After all, if you can’t trust your fiancé and your best friend, who can you trust?

Meri had lost a lot of deposits for the wedding, but that was nothing compared to what she would have lost if she’d married Jared.The fact he didn’t put up any money for the wedding should have been a big red flag.But now she felt she’d dodged the proverbial bullet.She was free.She could do what she wanted, when she wanted, and with whoever she wanted.

Enough thinking about the past.She needed to concentrate on driving in the here and now.That meant she couldn’t think about Chase.But she couldn’t help it.He differed from any man she’d ever known romantically.He was handsome and polite.He was interested in her work.She had to admit that might be because he’s buying some of it.