Page 139 of Double or Nothing

Alice laughs too, her tension easing.

Jack steps closer to the canvases, hands on hips, surveying them like a general assessing a battle plan. I can almost hear the cogs of his brain whirring.

“Right. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re putting them in the auction. All three. Together. Non-negotiable.”

“They might not take them.”

“They’ll take them.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do, actually, because I’ll make sure they do.”

“Jack.”

He turns, pointing at her. “Leave me in charge as a potential buyer.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“You are not buying these!”

“I might.”

“You already bought three.”

“And they look fantastic in Bryce’s flat, by the way.”

My head snaps towards him. “You haven’t seen them in my flat.”

“I don’t need to. I have vision.”

Alice looks between us.

“You sent them to Bryce?”

Jack waves a hand. “Obviously.”

Her mouth opens.

I clear my throat. “They arrived on Monday night. I wasn’t expecting them.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I was going to.”

“When?”

“After I processed their appearance. Positioned them in the place they deserve.”

Jack grins. “He means after staring at them like life itself for fourteen hours straight, but what can I say? He’s been preoccupied.”

I glare at him.

He grins wider.

Alice’s face softens in a way that nearly undoes me.