facility’s air conditioning—or the higher elevations—were going to freeze her out.
After slipping into her sweater, she walked up to the house and followed a flagstone trail around to the double front doors. The scent of the Arabian Jasmine climbing over the entryway wafted past her. She let the smell entrance her before pressing the doorbell off to the side.
A man in his late thirties to early forties opened the door and stared at her. His blond hair, blue eyes, and handsome face were easy on the eyes.
“Hi.” She smiled. “Gavin Elliot?”
He smirked at her. “You must be the photographer.” He stepped back and waved her inside. “Come on.”
She followed him through the house to a large, open family room with windows lining the far wall. The view—rolling hills behind a wooden deck with a sunken hot tub—was magnificent.
He gestured toward a couch facing the windows and waited until she sat. When she did, he took the chair kitty-cornered from her. “So you think you can wrap these pictures up tonight?”
“Tonight?” she repeated. Surely she’d heard him wrong.
“Tomorrow then.” He was serious, and less than compliant.
“Honestly...” She tried not to laugh. “A shoot like the one you’ve asked me to do typically takes two or three days to get the right shots. But weather permitting, I guess anything’s possible.”
“Nonsense.” He frowned and shook his head. “I expect you to...” His words trailed off as he looked over Rosanna’s shoulder. Silence filled the room and he looked away sheepishly.
Rosanna looked over her shoulder to see what had shut him up. In the archway behind her stood one of the—okay, possibly the best-looking man she’d ever seen. His blond hair was not unlike Gavin’s, although a bit darker, and complemented his sapphire eyes that were dancing with amusement. But all that was just icing on top of one very sexy body. Quickly, she scrolled through her mental list of true blue hotties, but couldn’t come up with a single one that topped this guy.
And he was here, seemingly alone, in the secluded house of Gavin Elliot. That could mean only one thing. He was Gavin’s friend .
Rosanna moaned softly and turned back around to face Gavin. It was true, all the good ones were either taken or they were gay.
“Ms. Carmichael…” Gavin waved a grand gesture and eyed his companion sternly as he moved moved toward them. “This is—”
“I’m Jase.” Mr. Hottie stood over Rosanna, offering his hand. She accepted it. “Otherwise, sometimes known as the bane of his existence.”
Gavin erupted with rumbling laughter. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I trust you’re playing nice with our guest,” Jase said, sitting on the couch.
Our guest . Well that sealed the deal. Not that she hadn’t already figured out they were a they , but this was just added confirmation.
“And why should I do that?” There was an obvious bite in Gavin’s tone.
“Because if you don’t,” Jase said, “I’m going to—”
“Hold up.” Rosanna stood and raised her hands in surrender. “You guys don’t need to argue on my account.” She glanced back and forth between the two men. “I’m not sure why I was called in, but clearly Mr. Elliot isn’t interested in doing a photo shoot.” She shrugged. “So why don’t I just leave? I’m sure that’ll make us both happy.” Rosanna smiled at Gavin and headed for the door.
She heard one of them, probably Jase, calling after her. But if he thought she was going to stop and reconsider, he had another thing coming. Once Rosanna started for the door, there was no stopping her. She’d had plenty of practice at premature escapes.
CHAPTER 3
ON THE DRIVE BACK from Gavin’s place, Rosanna had thought about heading back to L.A. that night, but decided against it because she wasn’t keen on driving that far alone at night.
The car rolled to a stop in front of the door of her motel room. She’d call Kelly, her agent,