“You don’t have to worry,” she called. “I’m fine.”

“Can you please tell that to my face?”

She didn’t want to see him. She knew it would only make her want him more. “Why?”

“I have something to show you.”

What was he talking about? Had he brought her earrings?

She sat up and stretched, trying to come to full awareness. “Can’t you just tell me what it is?”

“I could, but I won’t. You have to open the door.”

If she continued to tell him to go, maybe he would. Then, she’d never know what he was talking about. And he’d raised her curiosity.

After scrubbing a hand over her face, she crossed to the door and cracked it open. “What is it?”

“This.” He gestured toward a cardboard package he had with him that was about four feet tall and four feet wide.

“You painted something you want to show me?”

“I did.”

“And I haven’t seen it before?”

“No, but if you’ll let me in, I’d like to show it to you.”

She stepped back and opened the door wide enough that he could carry it inside. “What’s this about?”

His eyes swept over her as though he was eager to reassure himself that she was, indeed, okay. “I hope the fact that this painting means so much to me will tell you something.”

She had no idea what he was going for here. Was he giving her one of his paintings to help her out financially? To make himself feel better for having hurt her, even though she knew it wasn’t intentional? She had no idea, but she definitely wanted to see what he was talking about. “Then, let’s have a look.”

When she knelt to unwrap it, he helped remove the tape before lifting off the cardboard that protected the front, and Tia rocked back so that she could take it all in.

It was a conceptual representation of a naked woman and easily the most beautiful painting of his she’d ever seen. “This is gorgeous,” she admitted. “Is it of Shiloh? Because if you’re here to tell me you’ll never be able to get over her, and you want to show me this so that I’ll understand, I get it.”

He was watching her carefully when he said, “It’s not of Shiloh, Tia. It’s of you.”

“Of me?” She pressed a hand to her chest. “But...how? When? We haven’t known each other all that long.” And she thought she’d seen what he’d been working on while she was living in Maxi’s house.