3. Genevieve

Genevieve was excited for the exhibition. Archer had scoped out a number of potential talented artists, though he was most excited about one who went under the name Illuven. Genevieve had seen some samples of her work and was eager to see them in person.

She had even sent a few to Sean, who had confirmed that the artist was very talented—in fact someone he had already heard of and followed.

Genevieve wandered through the gallery, having a look at what was on offer. Waiters were serving wine from trays, and she took a glass, sipping daintily on it as she surveyed the room. She soon came to a small section labeled Illuven.

Genevieve was immediately drawn in by a stunning painting of a city at night, backed by the shadow of a mountain. The lights were so bright and so real that it made her feel like she was really there. She resisted the urge to touch the painting, knowing that artists took a dim view of strangers feeling up their work.

“Is this painting for sale?” Genevieve turned to the woman who she assumed was the artist and choked on her sip of wine.

It was Mia. Genevieve’s most recent one night stand.

Mia’s expression displayed similar shock. “Genevieve?”

“Mia.” Genevieve coughed a few times. “You’re Illuven?”

“That’s right. Did you come to see my work?”

Mia didn’t recognize who she was. Perhaps she thought Genevieve had simply been curious after their discussion that night last week.

“Yes. We never got properly introduced. I’m Genevieve Mitchell, CEO of Wisdom Investments.”

Now, it was Mia’s turn to nearly choke. She went bright red. “I—I didn’t know.”

“Clearly. Neither did I.” Genevieve took a deep breath, centering herself. The fact that they’d had a fantastic one-night stand didn’t have to change anything. It all depended on how they handled it.

Genevieve decided not to address the issue for now and focus on business. They would no doubt need to talk about it if they ended up working together, but she wanted to start things on a professional note.

“Is this painting for sale?”

“It is. The ones in this section are for sale. These ones here already belong to various galleries.”

There were so many beautiful artworks that Genevieve didn’t know where to look. One in particular drew her eye. This time, she was the one to go red.

The nude woman in the painting wasn’t Genevieve, but she had enough of Genevieve to make her self-conscious.

“Is this one…?”

“It’s inspired by a particularly good night I had with a beautiful stranger.” Mia winked at her, and Genevieve found herself blushing harder. It took a lot to tongue-tie her, but she found herself lost for words. It was extremely flattering, being the inspiration for a painting like this.

“It’s… it’s wonderful.”

Mia blushed as well. “I’m glad you think so.”

“How much do you want for this city one.”

Mia was clearly prepared for the question. She grabbed a notebook that was sitting on one of the short columns spread throughout the room and wrote down a number.

It was an ambitious bid, but the painting was definitely worth it. Genevieve knew that it would be acceptable to haggle in this kind of situation, but she felt the painting was worth the high price.

“I’ll take it.”

Judging by her look of surprise, Mia had clearly been expecting Genevieve to try to bargain with her.

“Perfect! Thank you, Genevieve.”

“Thank you, Mia. Now, let’s get down to business, shall we? I would like you to come and work for my company.”

Mia bit her lip. “No.”

Disappointment flooded Genevieve’s insides. Perhaps Mia thought it would be too complicated entering a situation where she had slept with her boss. That would be a fair concern, but Genevieve had hoped they could work around it. “You’ve changed your mind about wanting to work with us, then?”

“Absolutely not. I would love to work with you and your company, Genevieve, but not as an employee. I would like to maintain my independence, but I’m sure we can cut some kind of deal.”

It wasn’t how Genevieve usually did things. She preferred the talent she fostered to be directly under her wing. She would usually say no outright to such a request. If someone wanted to work with her, they could do it her way; and if not, there were plenty of others who would kill for such an opportunity.

However, she was strongly tempted to make an exception for Mia. Genevieve did a quick scan of her feelings, trying to determine if the fond memories of their encounter last week were interfering with her business sense and her assessment of Mia’s talent.

No, she didn’t think that was it. Both Sean and Archer had said that Mia was brilliant, and they would know better than Genevieve on the artwork side. Genevieve’s job was to assess Mia as a person and decide whether she would be a good fit for the company.

If she wasn’t joining the company, that would be a less important question. Genevieve had a good feeling about Mia. She had gotten to know her more intimately than she had ever done with a potential business connection, and the brief time she had spent talking to her had been promising.

In the end, Genevieve decided to trust her gut, which seldom let her down.

“What did you have in mind?”

Mia had her answer ready. “It’s simple. You promote my work and I give you a share in the profit from all the paintings I sell. I can offer you fifteen percent.”

“Twenty-five,” Genevieve offered.

“Twenty,” Mia countered.

“Twenty-two.”

Mia grinned. “You have yourself a deal.”

They shook hands. Genevieve was resisting the urge to go into a victory dance, and she suspected that Mia felt much the same. This going to be a very good deal for both of them. Not only was it sure to be profitable, but Genevieve would get to know Mia better, something she was eager to do.

“I’ll have my lawyers draw up the contract today. For now, we should go out to celebrate.”

Mia bit her lip again, an action so cute it made Genevieve long to free that lip with hers. “I should really stay until the end of the exhibition. It wouldn’t be professional to leave halfway through.”

Working with someone who didn’t answer solely to her would certainly be different, but Genevieve was sure she could get used to the idea. Her father probably wouldn’t be pleased at first, but once the venture started proving as profitable as Genevieve suspected it would be, his attitude would change fast.

“Of course, I understand. I need to make some calls anyway, as well as set up the transfer for that painting. I want to walk out of here with it. I’ve already got a space on my wall picked out in my head.”

“Perfect. I’d love to join you for drinks after the exhibition is done.” Mia handed Genevieve a slip of paper with her bank details on it, as well as the paper with the price they had agreed on.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours, then. I can have the contract printed out and I’ll bring it with me.”

Genevieve realized that there were probably a lot more questions she should have asked. It wasn’t like her to jump straight into a business deal. However, she also trusted her own judgement, and she was sure that this was going to end well.

She gave the rest of the artwork in the exhibition a few cursory glances, but even though much of it was very good, it paled in comparison to Mia’s work.

Genevieve called the company contract lawyer and instructed him to come up with a contract stating the terms she and Mia had agreed on. If he was surprised by this change in business model, he didn’t say anything.

Genevieve did the transfer and went back to the office to pick up the contract. She had cleared her whole day for this, thinking she’d spend hours poring through the gallery. However, she had what she came for. Now, she was going to have a well-earned treat.

It was nearly lunchtime, and Genevieve collected all of her employees into the main office. There were a few nervous looks, and Genevieve quickly sought to reassure them. “Good news, I promise. I know that we’ve all been working hard, and everyone is disappointed that we didn’t make that last deal. I want you to know that I don’t blame any of you, and there will be plenty more deals in the future. We all deserve a little break. I’m sending you all out to lunch on me, to a place of your choice.”

A small cheer broke out, and people immediately started making suggestions for places to go. They settled on a fancy Italian place that Genevieve had been to several times before. Penelope, Genevieve’s assistant, immediately started organizing people into cars.

Genevieve would be sure to follow this up with the appropriate financial action. Taking people out to lunch was all well and good, but she knew that if she truly wanted to show her appreciation, she needed to put her money where her mouth was. It had been a while since she’d awarded raises other than the standard annual increase, and this seemed to be a good time to do it.

Jake made his way through the small crowd, holding a thin folder. “Here’s that contract you wanted, Genevieve. This new artist must be excellent. You certainly seem in a really good mood.”

“I am, but I could have celebrated by taking myself out for ice cream. I meant what I said—you all deserve a break.”

“You should join us.”

“Yes, join us, Genevieve,” Penelope added. Several others echoed her sentiment.

Genevieve was touched by their sincerity, but she didn’t need that kind of interaction. She was showing her appreciation well enough; no need to get personal about it.

“I won’t be joining today, but you all have fun. I’ll come with you to get things sorted with the manager, then I’ll leave you to it.”

“Come on, Genevieve, life a little,” Penelope teased.

“Yeah, yeah, I will. Next time.”

She was met with a round of chuckles. She wasn’t going to join them next time and they all knew it.

Genevieve made a generous deposit to the restaurant and instructed the manager to send her the final bill. After telling him to treat her staff well and give them anything they wanted, she returned to the empty office. It was still a few hours until she was due to meet Mia.

It wasn’t unusual for her to take clients or new colleagues out for a meal or a drink to ease into the relationship. That itself wouldn’t raise eyebrows; it was just part of business. Genevieve was glad that no one could see into her head and read exactly how excited she was to get to spend more time with Mia.

She whiled away the hours catching up on some admin. Penelope could have handled it, but Genevieve had time, so she thought she’d make her assistant’s life a little easier.

With about an hour to go, Genevieve went home, showered and changed clothes. She didn’t know where Mia would want to go, so she wore a versatile outfit—casual, but with a chiffon shawl in her bag that could be draped around her shoulders to make it more appropriate for somewhere fancy.

Mia was waiting for her at the gallery entrance when Genevieve arrived. She gave Genevieve a warm smile and walked up to meet her. She was holding the painting Genevieve had purchased. “Hi. I’ve got your painting.”

“Hi, Mia. Thank you; it truly is lovely. I have the contact here. Do you have an idea of where you want to go?”

“Anywhere you’d like. I don’t often do this kind of thing, and I’m not sure where would be appropriate.”

“Fabiola is a good place for these kinds of celebrations. Great drinks, and some snack food if you’re hungry.”

“That sounds great.”

Genevieve experienced no small amount of déjà vu while leading Mia to her car. The last time had been under entirely different circumstances, but both situations had one thing in common: Genevieve was sure it was going to end well for both parties.

She put the painting carefully in her trunk, positioning it so that it wouldn’t get jostled during the ride.

The upscale bar was already busy, but Genevieve took one of the booths with a table, which was quieter and more private.

“Business first, I think. Here’s the contract. If you’d like to have your lawyer take a look at it…”

“No, I can read it for myself. Legal jargon doesn’t scare me.”

Genevieve was sure that Mia would reconsider when reading the contract. It wasn’t deliberately complex, but picking through legal terms was usually difficult for artists like Mia, who were more creative than analytical.

However, Mia seemed to have little trouble with it. Her brow made the most adorable concentration furrow as she read. She asked a few questions, but Genevieve read comprehension and—even more attractively—intelligence in her face as her eyes followed the writing on the papers.

“That seems fair—exactly what we agreed on. I’m happy to sign this.” Genevieve was about to offer a pen, but Mia came up with her own and signed the contract. She handed it over to Genevieve, who added her name.

“Perfect. I’ll have a certified copy made and sent to you tomorrow. I’d love to see more of your work sometime.”

The drinks arrived and Mia raised hers in a toast. “To our new partnership.”

Genevieve did the same. “To our partnership. May it be long and fruitful.”