Erin Kern - Along Came Trouble

A major job like the one in Mongolia could open a lot of doors for her. Her hope was one day she wouldn’t have to do dead-end, small-scale shoots that could barely get her through to the next paycheck.

“Are you finished?” Elisa asked Tyler after he’d cleared all his books away in his backpack.

“Yeah. But I’m getting kinda hungry.”

Elisa glanced at her watch. Half past seven. Kelly said Tyler’s dad should be stopping by no later than seven so Elisa wouldn’t have to worry about feeding the boy dinner. Tyler wasn’t a bother, and Elisa would have no problem fixing him a meal. Unfortunately, all she had to eat were things like whole wheat pasta and smoked salmon. Something told her an eleven-year-old wouldn’t be too excited about those choices.

“Your dad should be here any minute. Your mom said he’d feed you dinner.”

Tyler shrugged a shoulder and put his pencil in a small front pocket of his backpack. “I told you he’d be late.”

Just when Elisa was about to ask Tyler to elaborate, her doorbell rang. “There’s your dad. Now you can finally get some dinner, right?”

Tyler didn’t respond. Either he didn’t hear her or wasn’t all that excited to go home with his dad. The latter bewildered her a bit as she walked to the front door.

When she swung the door open, her heart did a triple beat then plummeted to the bottom of her stomach.

“Elisa?” The expression on Brody’s face mirrored her own surprise and confusion. He glanced down the street then looked back at her. “Do I have the right house?”

The magnificent sight he made, a black button-down shirt tucked into a pair of stone-washed khakis, very nearly pushed aside her bewilderment. “Uh…” His slate-gray eyes landed on hers. “Did you come here to look at the proofs?” A client had never come to her house to look at a proof sheet before. And she hadn’t even had a chance to scrutinize each one before showing them to him.

Brody stared at her with a blank expression as though her words didn’t make sense. Then his thick black brows tugged together. “Proof sheet?” he echoed.

“Yeah, from the pictures I took.” She gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. “I have them here if you want to—Wait a minute.” She planted her hands on her hips. “How did you know where I live?”

Something that looked very close to suspicion clouded Brody’s eyes. He dug his hand into his back pocket, then withdrew a slip of paper. “Well, I have this address but—”

“Hi, Dad.”

Tyler’s thick, navy blue backpack was slung over both shoulders when he came to a stop next to her. Hi, Dad?

The perplexity on Brody’s face melted away. In its place was an ear-to-ear grin that brought the light back into his eyes. “Hey, buddy.” He ruffled the sandy-colored strands on the boy’s head. “Did you get all your homework done?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Why don’t you go wait in the car for me?”

“’kay.” Tyler turned his green eyes up to her. “Bye, Elisa. Thanks for letting me look at your pictures.”

She placed a hand on the boy’s small shoulder. “Anytime. See you tomorrow.”

Both she and Brody were silent until Tyler got out of earshot.

“ You’re the babysitter?” Brody asked her.

You’re Tyler’s dad? Elisa’s eyes danced over Brody’s face and picked up on the similarities between him and Tyler, which were few. They both had the same straight nose and square jaw. Other than those two small details, the man standing in front of her didn’t really resemble the boy she’d spent the afternoon with. Brody’s midnight hair was at the opposite end of the spectrum from Tyler’s tow-headed coif. They both had light-colored eyes, but Tyler’s were the color of freshly cut grass and Brody’s resembled a stormy sky.

“I didn’t know you and Kelly knew each other,” Brody said when Elisa hadn’t spoken.

She couldn’t help the tilt of her mouth. “Ditto.” Now, wasn’t this just great? She’d finally found a guy, an enormously handsome guy she pictured herself spending time with, and he turned out to be Kelly’s ex-husband. Not that Kelly had specifically said “Stay the hell away from my ex.” But something about getting involved with a friend’s ex-husband didn’t sit right with her.

“Kelly gave me your address, but she forgot to mention the name.” Brody crossed his arms over his chest. “Kelly didn’t mention me?”

“Not by name. I had no idea the man I met at the restaurant and the man who’d be coming here tonight were the same person.”

He waited a second before asking, “Would you have agreed to do this if you had?”

“Of course.” But I would have thought much harder about it first .

The smile that turned his mouth up looked a little too much like satisfaction. “Actually, now that I’m here, there’s something I need to run by you.”

His grin affected her more than she was comfortable with. Her once even heartbeat did a little jig. “What’s that?”

The delight on his face faded. “I called the magazine and postponed the article. We’ve decided to wait a bit longer before going forward with it.”

Concern had Elisa taking a step closer to him. “Why? I thought doing that article was a brilliant idea.”

“We’re still doing it. Just not with Travis as our chef.”

Realization dawned. Elisa crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re letting him go,” she concluded.

He must have taken her tone as disagreement. “You think that’s a mistake?”

“It’s not my restaurant. I think with time he could have been a great chef.”

He wagged his index finger at her. “ Could is the key word there. And I don’t have time for Travis to become a great chef. I need someone great now. Look,” he said with a glance at his black watch. “I can’t go into details right because I’ve got to get Tyler home and get him fed. Can you come back to the restaurant on Friday so we can talk about doing another spread? I’ve decided not to rush into running pictures in an article, but still would like to get some shots done. I’ll even have Travis prepare the selected dishes for you. That way you can give your honest opinion on the appearance and taste.”

Go back? Seeing him here for a few seconds in the threshold of her doorway was one thing. Being on his turf, watching his long legs eat up the ground beneath him and the way his shirt fit over broad shoulders, was not the same thing.

“Brody—”

“I’ll double your fee,” he offered.

How could she tell him it wasn’t really about money? How could she say being near him and getting to know him was what scared her? Especially if she wasn’t going to be in Trouble that much longer?

However, compassion for his situation had her agreeing. “All right. Have whatever dishes you plan on using ready so I can see them and get a feel for what equipment I’ll need.”

“Yes, ma’am. And don’t be afraid to be brutally honest. Travis could certainly use it.” The same disarming grin he’d used on her during their lunch broke across his face. He started to turn and then stopped himself. His gaze connected with hers, then he took a step forward and fixed his mouth over hers. At first she was too stunned to move, but at the same time his lips were soft and felt so right against hers. It was over too quickly, yet it had been enough for her heart to kick start in her chest. “I told you you couldn’t stay away from me,” he said in a husky voice. With cocky grin playing at his sexy lips, Brody McDermott strolled down the walkway, leaving her bewildered and more turned on than she’d been in a long time.

WE HAVE A PROBLEM.”