Page 83 of A Matter of Time

I looked at her. “Why? How old are you?”

“Sacrilege.” She laughed.

I liked her. “You want a drink now that we’re gonna be friends?”

“I would love one,” she said with a sigh, looking me up and down. “What happened to your eye?”

“I walked into a door.”

“I see.” She nodded, clearly not believing a word of it. “What do you do for a living, Jory?”

“I’m an office assistant.”

“Really. You don’t model?”

I scoffed.

She gave me a knowing smile. “Darling, with your skin and those big dark eyes and that body, you could model. I work for Liberty Magazine. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.” She stepped forward, brushing my hair back from my face. “How do you get blond hair and brown eyes? That’s amazing.”

“Hey, we’re home,” Sam announced as he came through the door. I turned and looked at him. I was so happy he was back.

“What?” he asked, glancing at Donna, his brows furrowing. The look suggested he was annoyed.

“Sam, you should tell your friend over here to let me introduce him to some photographers I know. I think he could model if he wanted.”

“Oh yeah?” The smile came instantly as he dropped the salad and wine on the couch and strode over to me, close, in my space. His fingers slid under my chin as he raised it to look down into my eyes. “You wanna do that, J?”

I trembled under his touch and stopped breathing.

“No?” He was speaking to Donna, but his eyes never left my face. “He’s not really model material.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“’Cause I said so.”

“And you’re the boss of him, are you?”

He looked back down into my eyes and dragged his fingers up my throat to my jaw.

“Yep. He’s mine.”

Which basically ended any plans Christine Montero had for her and Sam Kage.

“What would possess you to say that?” I asked him fifteen minutes later as we stood in the kitchen with salad and Chianti, the veal having left with Christine.

“Say what?”

“Are you kidding? You basically outed yourself in front of those people.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because clearly, you’re bi.”

“I don’t know about that.”

I shook my head at him.

He shrugged broad shoulders. “So what if I am?”