Rode Hard, Put Up Wet (Rough Riders #2)(91)

Happy. Were she and Carter happy?


Despite the fact she and Carter lobbed the “L” word back and forth, things hadn’t changed much in the last two weeks. He’d locked himself in the barn to finish up the final pieces for his show and she’d worked mega hours at the diner. They hadn’t talked about what would happen after his show was over. They hadn’t talked at all about her deciding to take Velma’s offer to help run the diner. Carter had been so…obsessed with his work that he hadn’t asked about hers. It shouldn’t have bothered her, but it did.


It means your job in a small time diner isn’t as important as his big art show.


Macie hoped with the diner closing for a little over a week they’d get to eek out time.


If not, well, she did have a horse to train. She couldn’t wait to tell him. After giving her father another hug, she drove to Carter’s place.


Although his truck was there, he wasn’t in the trailer. She hesitated at the barn door.


He was protective of his space and she never ventured in uninvited after that first day.


She yelled, “Carter?”


Silence.


“Carter? Are you in here?”


No answer.


She slipped inside. It wasn’t the same pigsty she’d remembered from last time when he’d given her the erotic painting lesson. No jars of mineral spirits or rolls of canvas, sections of thin boards or mysterious pieces of machinery covered the ground.


Damn dark in here though.


Macie reached for the light. Once her eyes adjusted, she found herself looking at paintings of herself. Everywhere. But not only was she buck-assed naked in the pictures, she was lost in the throes of passion. Or just looking lost. Each one focused on a different (naked!) part of her body. The disturbing part wasn’t that the pictures were just…parts.


They were parts of a whole person. Of her. Showcasing her expressions. Her moods. Her secret thoughts. It was all there, on her face. Atop her naked body.


Tears stung her eyes. This is what he’d been creating? Pornographic images of her?


No wonder he’d acted so secretive.


She wasn’t a prude. She’d seen art exhibits with nudes. No doubt the pictures were excellent. But that was a catch-22 because she couldn’t pretend it wasn’t her plastered on canvas. Her heart, her soul and—good heavens were those her thighs?—spread wide for the world to see.


Surely he didn’t plan on exhibiting these in his show. He couldn’t be that thoughtless, could he?


The barn door opened. Macie stood her ground even when she wanted to flee.


Carter trudged in. He stopped and looked at her, then at the paintings she’d seen, then back at her. “I didn’t want you to see them like this.”


“When were you going to show me?”


No answer.


“What? You were just going to spring these on me at your showing?”


“Yes.”


Her stomach roiled. “Too bad. You can’t show them.”


“Macie—”


“You cannot display those pictures of me, Carter. I won’t let you.”


“Let me? It’s a done deal. I have a show in two weeks.”


“Postpone it until you can make something else.”


Carter laughed softly. “Right. I don’t have time.”


“Make time.”


“Come on, Macie. Be reasonable.”


“Reasonable? I’m naked in them. What does me being naked have to do with Western art?”


“Oh, so people in the West don’t get naked?”


“You know what I mean. Aren’t there supposed to be sculptures of horses or cowboys riding through sagebrush?”


“I’ve already fulfilled those requirements in other mediums and other pieces.”


“So you don’t need to show these.”


“Yes, I do. What’s the big deal? You agreed to pose for me.”


“Not like that! I told you no naked pictures.”


“I thought you were kidding. You know, like you were kidding about wanting a cowboy ménage?”


“Not the same thing, Carter. I specifically said no nudes, several times, remember?”


Carter frowned.


“I’d never agree to this. Ever. Not even half-naked. Especially not…” Completely exposed. Had he been gauging her facial expressions while they’d been making love so he could reproduce them on canvas? Was that all she’d been to him? A muse he could f*ck and use?


He stared at her blandly.


“Don’t do this.”


“Do what? Show the world how much I love you? How much I love every part of you? That’s what the pictures are, Macie. Love.”


“That is not love. That is porn!”


Carter sighed and raked his fingers through his curls. “I was afraid this might happen.”


“What? That I’d freak out about strangers seeing my bare body painted in every conceivable position?”