Read Every Time I Love You for Free Online Page A

sit for him! Nude.”
    “God, you're making me sound like a pimp.”
    “Well, I won't do it, boss.”
    “Hey—your choice. This whole thing is in your hands.”
    “There is no 'whole thing,'” Gayle snapped. Then she smiled. “Say that he was a she. Would you do it?”
    “Sit in the buff?”
    “Yes.”
    Geoff laughed. “I'll pose for you anytime, sweetie.”
    “Oh, you're an awful liar!”
    “I'm not!”
    “All right. Maybe you would. Maybe Boobs stands before an easel every night—”
    “Don't you just wish you could be there!”
    Gayle started to laugh, amused, and not at all sure what Geoffrey really would or wouldn't do.
    “Hey...” Geoffrey lifted his hands with an exaggerated shrug, then turned from her to answer a question Chad had just asked about lighting in the gallery.
    They were all talking around her. Someone had ordered her a new Scotch, and Gayle quickly sipped at it. Once again she was seated across from Brent McCauley. When she tried to cross her legs she kicked him by mistake. He stopped speaking to Tina and looked at her, and his sexy arrogant smile slipped into place. He seemed to think she had kicked him on purpose to draw his attention.
    “I didn't,” she retorted, though he had said nothing out loud.
    “Pose for me,” he whispered.
    “No,” she mouthed in return.
    She wanted to go home. While everyone else was having a good time, she was burning up inside. She was in panic. She needed things to go slowly, very slowly, with a man. She couldn't deal with this kind of emotional assault. Her head was pounding. She began to wish that Brent McCauley had been an old hermit with a mile-long beard. When would this party break up?
    Not ever, or so it seemed. For a reclusive eccentric, Brent was friendly and funny. He had an ability to draw people out. He listened to stories about Liz's kids, and laughed about the foibles at Tina's spa. He and Chad seemed to be good friends, not just employer and employee. They all talked; they all had a nice time. And Gayle just couldn't bring herself to be the one to break it all up.
    Liz finally suggested that it was time to go; she had to get the baby-sitter home. Brent McCauley went to retrieve their coats for them. While Chad and Geoffrey stayed inside, Brent walked the three of them out to Liz's car.
    Gayle never entered it.
    Before she could, he caught her hand again, pulling her back to his side.
    “I'll drive Gayle home.”
    “You needn't—” Gayle began.
    “Are you sure?” Liz interrupted.
    “We've a few things to talk about. The show tomorrow, you know.”
    Gayle knew that she could have protested politely. She could have said that she was tired, that she would see him at the gallery. She could have said a dozen things. But she didn't. She stood there silently, her hand in his, as Liz and Tina and Brent talked.
    They exchanged pleasantries. Brent McCauley was a star, of sorts. Maybe it was natural that Liz and Tina seemed a little awed as they told him good night.
    But he was just as warm in return. He liked them, Gayle realized, and she was grateful without knowing why. He liked them as more than pretty women; he liked them as friends.
    When Liz's car drove away, the parking lot seemed very empty. The air was cool. They were silent together, watching Liz's taillights disappear.
    “Come on,” Brent said after a moment. “I'll take you home.”
    “You came in your own car?” She asked him. She was nervous. She wanted to be with him; she wanted to lock a door a mile thick between them.
    “We all brought our own cars.”
    “No one ever harasses you?”
    “No one knows who I am.”
    “They will tomorrow.”
    “Yes. Still, not many people really notice artists. But then again—maybe being there in person is a bad idea.”
    “Oh, no! You can't back out now! Geoffrey would be heartbroken.”
    “My work will be there, one way or another. It's already hung, isn't it?”
    “Yes. But, you might not like the way I arranged the