There was no reason for the thought to send a shiver running down her spine. No reason to be anything but thrilled at connecting with him the way she had. And yet, if everything he touched turned to gold...then did that mean she would too?

It didn’t make sense that she should be so uncomfortable with the idea of breaking out as an artist, as Sebastian had told her time and time again was his plan. Especially when she so badly needed the money for her mother’s care. Still, it took some work to remember to smile when she caught Sebastian looking at her strangely.

“Is everything okay?”

His hand was on her face and when she felt his warm touch and looked into his eyes, she knew she must be crazy for having any reservations at all. “Everything’s perfect.”

His gaze dropped to her lips for one heady, heated moment, before he simply brushed his thumb over her lower lip and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Yes. I want you. Badly.

His grin stole her breath, even before he lowered his voice and said, “God, how you tempt me, Charlie.” She could see how much self-control it took to add, “The other thing I’m thinking.”

Her breathed whooshed out in a half-laugh, half-sigh. “The mosaic,” she whispered. “The china was meant for us.” And truly, her heart was fluttering at both the excitement of the find, and from being with Sebastian.

They picked out every piece. Turning them over, she read names like Royal Albert, Rosina, Coalport, Adderley, Rockingham. “This one says, By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen. We should try to break out that part to use. And since they’re all broken, I’ll offer ten dollars.”

“Big spender.” He stood close enough to nuzzle her hair.

Her eyes closed for a moment as she savored him. “They’re going to end up in the trash anyway. It’s ten dollars no one else would pay.”

Ten dollars was accepted, and they loaded the box in the bed of the truck. “If they break in transit, who cares?” She was, however, relishing the pleasure of breaking them herself. And she couldn’t wait to hand over a stack to Sebastian too, so he could work off some of the latent anger she knew had to be simmering just beneath his calm surface.

“Off to the construction sale?” He handed her up into the truck, his touch doing crazy things to her. This was her world, one that no other man had ever wanted to be a part of. But just having him in it with her made the day extra special.

“Yup.” She keyed the address into the GPS.

Fifteen minutes later, the contractor trailed them through the lot until Sebastian gave him the stinkeye. The old house had once been a Victorian, but it was stripped down to bare walls and floors. The sun was high in the sky now, and Charlie was glad she’d slathered sunscreen on her shoulders, arms, and neck bared by the sundress. Sebastian didn’t even seem to break a sweat.

They found brass pipes that could work for the sinews of a horse’s legs, and several different configurations of pipe fittings for the joints. Then she discovered the spools of copper wire, holding one up for Sebastian’s inspection.

“The reins,” she said, unable to stem the awe from the clear vision she’d just had.

“From copper wire?” He looked more than a little surprised. “I’m going to have to see it to believe it.”

Oh, she’d make him believe all right. She already saw the reins flowing out from the horses’ bridles as if they were flying. She’d braid several pieces of wire to give it strength and width.

“It could work for the horses’ tails too,” he said, his tone offhand.

She sucked in a breath on a gasp. “Oh, my God. Single copper strands bunched together.” It would seem as though they were blowing in the wind. “The tails will appear to be on fire when the sun hits them.” She kissed him soundly on the mouth. “You’re a genius.”

He took the opportunity to put his hands on her waist before she could draw back. She felt his utter focus and concentration on her. He tucked away a lock of hair, trailing his finger along the shell of her ear.

When she shivered and fell into his gaze, she felt as if she were falling out of her normal life...and into a magical place where there was only his touch. Only his kiss.

Only Sebastian.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Charlie’s ability to amaze him never ceased. She found fantastical mysteries in other people’s cast-offs. A dirt-encrusted gate could open the door to another world. A length of copper wire transmuted itself into the flapping reins of runaway stallions. He had no doubt she could do it. She saw inspiration in everything.

And Sebastian found inspiration in her.

She came alive when she was working, planning, visualizing. He’d given up on the drawing app and had continued to fill sketchbooks with images of her just like this—her eyes bright, her face shining, her lips smiling. Yet none of the drawings brought him closer to discovering why her work wasn’t already world famous. Why she wasn’t already a huge, glittering star in the art world. With her talent, beauty, and charm, she could easily command that world, the shining star on top of it all. By now anyone else would have been using his contacts to network, taking anything she could from him to advance her career. But not Charlie. No matter how many sketches he drew of her, he couldn’t put his finger on the reason. But he would. Soon. Because Sebastian had long ago vowed never to give up on somebody with potential. Especially when that somebody had come to mean as much to him as Charlie already did.

Since she wouldn’t take the money for her mother’s care from him—he’d gently offered a few times more to help pay for Magnolia Gardens and she’d just as gently turned him down—that meant the only other way to help her pay for her mother’s needs was to find buyers for the rest of her sculptures. He’d already made several phone calls to that end, but he wouldn’t say anything to Charlie until he had a solid bite from a prospect.

“We didn’t even spend a hundred dollars,” he said as he pulled the truck in front of the workshop and began to unload the full bed. Even lunch had been a quick but excellent burrito off a taco truck. He’d never eaten from a food truck before—why would he, when he had the best private chefs in the world on speed dial?—but with her it had been both fun and delicious.

Charlie laughed as she set the gate she’d found against the studio wall. Admiring her strength—and knowing that she prided herself on her independence—he’d made himself stop offering to carry the heavy stuff all the time. “Why do you think I chose to work in the junk medium rather than expensive canvases or paints or marble statues?”

“Smart woman.” He put the delicate and considerably lighter box of china cups and saucers on the workbench. Beautiful woman too.

She’d worn her steel-toed boots in deference to the junkyard terrain and a sexy sundress with minuscule straps in deference to the heat. He’d driven himself nuts the whole day, touching her hair, her face, her shoulders, her neck, anything he could flutter his fingertips across. He hoped he’d driven her nuts too.

“Guess what it’s time for?” she asked, with a wicked arch of her brow.

He had a good dozen ideas of his own...all of which involved Charlie naked and gasping with pleasure beneath him. But she wasn’t taking off her clothes; she was flicking the lid of the box with her fingernail.

“Smashing up the china for the base of the chariot. It’ll be like aggression therapy,” she said, a sexy come-hither sparkle in her eye.

“I don’t need aggression therapy.” No, he needed therapy of a completely different nature, on satin sheets with the night breeze cooling their sweaty, naked bodies. He wanted her badly enough by now to throw all his caution against the wall.