Stephanie Julian - No Reservations

Sabrina’s answering grin could light up an entire room. The girl had energy to spare. Then again, she was probably all of twenty years old.

“You know I’ll do anything for you, Kate.” Then she pulled out a frown that could rival any two-year-old. “I am so going to miss you when you leave.”

As Sabrina wrapped her arms around Kate’s shoulders and gave her a hug, Kate glanced at Tyler with an expression he couldn’t decipher.

What the hell should he do? The only time he’d been thrown for a loop like this had been when Mia died.

He’d reached the anger stage and pretty much stayed with that until he hit acceptance. He’d never really gotten to denial or bargaining. A year after they’d buried his former fiancée, he’d decided he was done mourning, and he’d managed to live without emotion since.

No grief. No longing. No love.

He’d stuffed them all away in a deep corner somewhere inside.

Then he’d met Kate, and those emotions had started to creep back into his life.

He didn’t want to lose her. But he didn’t want her to stay and later regret her decision.

Greg stepped in front of him, drawing him out of his thoughts. One look at his friend’s face and Tyler frowned. He looked visibly tense.

“What’s wrong?”

Greg shook his head and his expression became the one he usually reserved for dealing with the press.

“Not a thing.”

Which was complete bullshit. Tyler knew something was up. What the hell was he missing here?

“Are we still shooting, Kate?” Greg asked.

“I assume so. Greg—”

“Then I think we should get started. I need to head back to Philly. I’ve got some work I need to finish.”

Yeah, right. Greg had told him he had tonight and tomorrow open. What the hell had changed?

The girls were still talking. Well, Sabrina was talking. Kate was nodding and adding words here and there, but he could see the signs of her distraction in her half-hearted smile and the way she kept biting on her bottom lip.

When Tyler nodded and said “Sure,” Greg turned to the girls. “Hey, kid. Great job. Nice to meet you. Kate, why don’t you get changed so we can wrap this up.”

Sabrina’s mouth had dropped open the second Greg had called her a kid.

Her hands went to her hips again and she drew herself up to her full five-two height and stared straight at Greg. “I don’t think twenty-two is still considered a kid in this country. Then again, maybe it’s the generation gap.”

The side of Greg’s mouth twitched, and Tyler wasn’t sure if Greg was ready to laugh or grimace.

He did neither. “When you hit my age, anyone under thirty is still a kid.” Then Greg turned and nodded at Kate, completely dismissing Sabrina. “Why don’t you go get changed, hon. I’m not gonna have much time to process these before I have to print them out.”

Kate nodded and took a scowling Sabrina by the arm. “Give me a few minutes to change.”

With one last scowl at Greg, who was studiously changing the lens on his camera, Sabrina let Kate lead her back to the dressing room.

When the girls were gone, Tyler walked over to Greg. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Greg shook his head but didn’t look up. “Nothing’s going on. There’re a few things I need to take care of. The pictures shouldn’t need more than a quick touch-up.”

Tyler looked down and saw Greg flashing through the pictures of Sabrina.

“They look great.” And he meant it. Greg hadn’t lost touch of his artistic side since becoming a producer. He knew how to frame a shot for maximum impact.

Tyler had no idea why Greg no longer directed. Damn shame that he didn’t, because the guy had a gift. Especially in the close-up shots. Sabrina looked—

Ah.

Tyler looked up at Greg, who stared straight back, as if daring Tyler to say something.

Tyler knew now wasn’t the time. But later . . .

“Thanks for doing this for Kate. I know she appreciates it.”

Greg nodded, knowing Tyler had given him a break. “Have you told her how you feel about her yet?”

A break Greg apparently didn’t intend to offer Tyler.

“I don’t want to influence her decision.”

Greg’s gaze narrowed. “But you don’t want her to go, do you?”

He was saved from answering the question by the girls’ return. Sabrina had changed back into her jeans and T-shirt while Kate wore one of the more demure role-playing costumes she’d brought.

But not demure enough for him not to get aroused just by looking at her.

The top of the outfit was made from strings of fake pearls, draping down to cover all the right places but with just enough movement to suggest that if she moved the right way, she’d expose a breast. The bottom was a tiny, purple satin skirt that barely covered her ass and was encrusted with tiny pearls in a wave pattern.

Christ.

“Wow, Kate.” Greg gave a short whistle. “That’s a stunner, babe.”

Kate rolled her eyes at him but smiled at the compliment. “Thanks. The top gave me fits trying to get the pearls to drape right.”

Greg’s wolfish smile made it perfectly clear he appreciated the look. “Then let’s get started. Hey, Sabrina. Nice to meet you.”

The last had been thrown over Greg’s shoulder as he moved Kate into position against the wall.

Sabrina opened her mouth to say something but must have realized Greg had tuned her out.

Instead, she turned to Tyler and gave him a smile that held half her normal wattage before saying good-bye and practically running for the door.

Amazing, really, how attraction could cut you off at the knees that fast.

At Sabrina’s age, she’d brush it off in a few days.

In Tyler’s case . . .

Hell. He wouldn’t be brushing it off anytime soon. Because his feelings had gone further than simple attraction.

But that still didn’t give him the right to interfere in Kate’s dreams.

With a groan, Kate unkinked herself from the driver’s seat of her car and stretched.

Her eyes felt gritty and she kept yawning, although she didn’t feel that tired.

She’d been drained after the photo shoot last night and had fallen asleep only minutes after Greg and Tyler had left. She didn’t even have time to pout over the fact that Tyler hadn’t stayed. She hadn’t woken up this morning until her alarm had gone off at five a.m. Ugh.

Then, of course, traffic had been miserable. There was a reason most people around here took the bus from Reading on weekdays.

The upside to the drive was that she’d had plenty of time to think.

Which was why she hadn’t gone directly home.

Looking at the front door to her parents’ house, she sighed. She needed to make the right decision and her dad had always been the person to tell her the unvarnished truth, no matter if she wanted to hear it or not.

Later, she’d talk to Annabelle, who always saw the upside of everything.

But first, she needed her dad to lay it on the line for her.

She knocked to announce her presence then opened the door and stepped into her childhood.

The white brick ranch house on the outskirts of town had been built in the ’70s and the exterior showed it. Inside, the décor was stuck in the ’90s. Her mom had never gotten around to redecorating before her death.

And her dad never changed a thing.

“Hey, Dad,” she called out. “It’s me. Where are you?”

“In the kitchen. I was expecting you earlier.”

Damn, she should’ve called on her way home. “Sorry. Traffic was heavier than normal.”

Walking into the kitchen, she took a deep breath and her stomach growled when the mouthwatering smell of her dad’s spaghetti sauce hit her.