“No, he…he passed early.”
“I’m so sorry.” He could hear the pain in her voice, and he mentally kicked himself for bringing it up. He’d been trying to get her to open up to him, but he’d never intended to upset her.
“It’s fine,” she said with a weak smile. “You couldn’t have known. And it happened a long time ago.”
“You were close?”
“Yeah, we were.” She looked wistful for a moment, but then her smile warmed a bit. “He’s the one who taught me to love books.”
“Oh yeah?” Ignoring the silverware, Gage picked up a slice of pizza. Warm cheese oozed onto his fingers. “He was a big reader?”
“Definitely. He’d keep books stacked up all over the place. There were always one or two on his bedside table and another couple by his chair in the den, plus he listened to books on tape whenever he was in the car,” Anna replied. She cut into her pizza with her knife and fork and popped a small piece into her mouth.
He waved at the bookshelves. “No wonder you work for a publisher. Is the rest of your family still in DC?”
She nodded. “My mother is—Eloise.” She wrinkled her nose. “I have a sister, Susan, who lives in New York.”
“Your mother istheEloise Middleton?”
She glanced at him. “You read the society pages?”
He didn’t, not normally. He’d skimmed a few articles when he’d been looking up information on Anna. “Sure. When I’m bored enough. The grande dame of DC society, isn’t she?”
She grinned. “Mom would have a fit to hear herself called that. She insists that Susan and I call her by her first name—like she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s old enough to have grown daughters. She still manages to look like she’s in her forties. Appearances are incredibly important to her. I guess she’s where I got my eye. All my life, I had her pointing out to me the little details that showed if a bag was a knockoff, or if someone was dying her hair or had gotten work done. Those aren’t the things I look for now, but she did get me in the habit of examining the world closely. She comes from old money, and she has very high standards when it comes to how things should be done and how they should look.”
“That’s why the old car, the simple apartment?” He waved at her sparse digs. “You doing everything the opposite of Mom?”
She grinned. “Not exactly theopposite,but I do tend to focus on function rather than frills. Things don’t have to be fancy to be beautiful. Sometimes simple is the most satisfying. Besides, I love that old car. It has history. Why trade that in for something shiny and soulless?”
Gage leaned his elbows on the counter. “Speaking of old, I saw a photo of your boss on TV. What’s his deal? Do you think he’s really gone missing, or is he just trying to skip out on all the trouble from yesterday?”
Anna sipped her beer and shrugged. “I wish I knew. Coran’s not the most reliable at the best of times—he hates sharing his schedule, and since he owns the company outright, it’s not like he has to be accountable to anyone.”
“What do you do when he takes off like this?” Gage offered a smile. “Does it mean you get to take time off work?”
Anna smiled. “I wish. It’s business as usual. We have deadlines we can’t miss, and the police said we’ll all be allowed back into the building tomorrow. Meaning I need to set up another shoot for you.” She headed into the living room and came back with her tablet. Standing next to Gage, she put her tablet on the counter, pulled up a calendar, and asked, “How’s next Wednesday?”
“Do I have to wait until then to see you again?” he asked, leaning closer to her.
She looked up, startled. “Did you want to come in earlier? Is another day better for you?”
It wasn’t the day that was the issue—it was the way she suddenly seemed to be all business. He was the one who had brought up Coran, trying to subtly dig for information, but he hadn’t meant to break the mood between them. He wanted her soft and open again, talking to him like they were just two people enjoying a pizza, not like they were a photographer and her model with nothing to talk about but work.
“Wednesday’s fine for the shoot. But I want to know when I can seeyou.”
“You…want to see me?” She sounded surprised by the idea. What kind of men did she spend time with, for her to be this thrown by the suggestion that someone might want to be with her?
“Yeah,” he said, his voice soft and low. “I want to see alotmore of you.” Gage reached out to smudge his thumb next to her mouth. She didn’t pull back, but she did give him a questioning look. “Tomato sauce,” he said, and licked his thumb. “Tastes better on you.”
She blushed, and he reached up to stroke her face. Shestilldidn’t pull back, and her pupils grew wide and dark. Surprised…but she wasn’t pushing him away. He could work with that. Leaning closer, he cupped her chin and brushed his lips across hers.
She tasted like garlic and tomatoes and beer—and all of it was good. With a sigh, she let him deepen the kiss. She had soft lips, warm and yielding and delicious. He trailed his hand down her back, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer. She fit herself to him.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since I met you,” he confessed. Her cheeks reddened. He touched a fingertip to her face. “I love that you blush like that.” She was so sweet. When was the last time he’d had something soft and sweet in his life? Had he ever?
“Curse of fair skin,” she said. “Gage—?”
She didn’t finish the question, so he asked, “Moving too fast?”