50 More Sexcapades novel Chapter 49

“Isn’t it so delightfully… enigmatic?” My friend Yasmin gushed, gazing starry-eyed at the bizarre exhibit she’d dragged me to this evening.

I narrowed my eyes at her and then back at..whatever it was I was looking at. The exhibit was some kind of pretentious live motion experience of the human heartbeat. In all honesty, it looked to me like a bunch of wannabe art students dressed in different shades of red, spasming around the room uncomfortably close to the spectators. Apparently, they were jolting around based on their prediction of a person’s anxiety, or some bullshit like that. Yawn.

Lisa gave me a cross stare and I blushed. “Oops, did I do that last part out loud?”

“Mona, one day you will have a great appreciation for the abstract arts, and will be thanking me for introducing you to it.”

“Honey, I’m going to be 36 years old in a few weeks, I think my ‘abstract art appreciation’ phase would have come by now, no?”

“Oh come on, just try to have a little fun. Do you know the strings I had to pull to get us in the VIP viewing section?”

“I am having fun, didn’t you hear me laughing at the damn thing before? And Yasmin, it’s a free museum!”

“Yes, but this exhibit was not intended to be open to the public. Luka kept this piece private only for the most esteemed guests.” She winked at me and I groaned internally. It was a Friday night in New York City, and I could think of about 68 million other things I’d like to be doing.

“Where is this Luka, anyway. The man throws a top-secret affair that he couldn’t even be bothered to attend himself.”

I heard a quiet chuckle come from somewhere behind me, but didn’t care enough to turn my head. It was probably some art snob snorting in disgust at my lack of culture.

“Mona! The man you speak so disdainfully of is the one and only Luka Vasiliev, a royal descendant from a line of famous Russian artists and one of the last of his heritage. He’s commissioned by the Vatican for Christ’s sake.

“Wait, Russians and Christians get along?”

“You’re hilarious,” Yasmin said with a completely straight face.

“Alright, alright I’m trying honey; I’m just out of my element that’s all.” We walked into the next and thankfully last room of the exhibit arm in arm.

“Maybe not as much as you think,” Yasmin said pointing at the state-of-the-art open bar that greeted us.

“A reward for getting through this house of horrors, at least the guy is empathetic!”

Another identical chuckle to the one I heard before, prompted me to turn and quickly scan the crowd. The room was excessively dim but I still spotted him immediately. A tall, straight, broad-shouldered older man- I’d give him mid-50s.. He had a head full of grey and blonde hair, weathered but charming blue eyes, a long straight nose, and lips that have certainly sinned…He was dressed down in stark contrast to the rest of the room, just a pair of casual black slacks and a grey jacket over a button-down…even I was wearing my full-priced Prada for goodness sake. He looked like he gave less a shit than I did about the whole thing. Perhaps he’d be up for martinis and derogatory jests later?

I realized I was staring far longer than the “stare window” allowed for. I smiled shyly and he slowly smiled back, never peeling his eyes away from my own. Feeling oddly overwhelmed, I turned my back to him and focused on calming my suddenly fast-beating heart. Hopefully one of those red-painted jackasses didn’t come sauntering over to me.

“Vodka tonics!” Yasmin suddenly reappeared by my side with two tall glasses in her hands. I jumped a little at the exclamation and she looked at me strangely. “What’s gotten into you?”

I accepted the drink and shook my head. “Nothing, I- well there’s a man staring at me.”

“Well it must be some man, look at you! You’re blushing…”

“What! No, no, no that’s just the color of the room reflecting off my face.”

“Uh-huh, so where is he? I want a little peek for myself.”

I indicated with a head nod that he was behind us. Yasmin, not so inconspicuously, turned her head. “Oh, the bald guy in the suit? Yeah, I guess he’s not bad. Oh wait, he has a wedding band on.”