Ruby Tuesday by Mari Carr Read Free Book Online

different directions but their friendship had never wavered, never died. Rod had gone into real estate, Natalie into photography, and he’d struck it big on the stage.
    “I need to lay down a false trail.”
    “Goddamn vultures. Found you again, eh?” Natalie asked. Her distaste for the paparazzi, if not stronger, certainly seemed to match his level of abhorrence.
    “Yep.”
    “I’m on it. I’ve got some great shots from that long weekend you, Rod and I took in Cancun that I haven’t shown anybody. I’ll let a couple of you walking on the beach slip to the right people. Fucking idiots will run up a hell of a travel bill breaking their necks to get to Mexico.” She laughed and Sky grinned at her deviousness.
    Over the years, they’d started tricking the press as a means of escape for Sky.
    Natalie took pictures of him everywhere they went together, but never published them.
    Whenever he needed a break, she simply slid a few shots to the paparazzi under an assumed name, insinuating that she’d just taken them. She always got a nice chunk of change from the deal and Sky usually found some peace and quiet as the press traveled to whatever location she gave. She claimed the entire portfolio was her retirement plan.
    Once Sky gave her the go-ahead, she was going to publish a photo biography of him and, as she said, “sit back and roll in the dough.” Until then, she had her own little 40
    Ruby Tuesday
    studio and seemed content in her job, taking photos for weddings and other special occasions.
    Sky secretly hoped he maintained enough popularity to make Natalie’s dream come true for her someday. She’d been a genuine friend, through thick and thin, never once betraying him in hopes of a quick buck. She deserved a bit of easy street.
    “So are you still at that swanky hotel in Baltimore?” she asked.
    “I’m in Baltimore, but not at the hotel.”
    “Oh?” she asked, the question dripping with curiosity.
    “You wouldn’t believe where I was if I told you,” he teased, dangling the truth in front of her.
    “Tell me,” she demanded.
    “I’m in an apartment above an Irish pub dressed in the hippie skirt of a woman I just kissed in a storage closet.”
    “Shut up!”
    “I’m serious,” he said with a laugh. “I was going stir-crazy in that hotel even with Rod, so we decided to go out for a bite to eat.”
    “I thought Rod was leaving tonight on the red-eye,” Natalie said.
    “He is. He went back to the hotel to pack and rest up for a while. I decided to hang around.”
    “Is Rod feeling better? He had a pretty nasty cold when he left here.” Sky sighed. “I told him to go to the doctor when he gets home. Poor guy slept the whole time he was here and he still doesn’t look good. He says it’s allergies.”
    “I’ll nag him when he gets back.”
    Sky grinned. Natalie was the supreme champion nagger.
    “So you stayed behind at the bar? Alone?” she asked. He could tell from her tone she disapproved of him taking such a chance.
    41
    Mari Carr
    “The atmosphere was nice in the pub and I thought I might be able to pound out a few more lines of the song I’ve been working on.”
    “I take it the decision to hang around was a wrong one.” Sky considered her comment. Truth of the matter was, staying behind was probably one of the smartest things he’d ever done. Teagan was an unexpected treasure. He wasn’t quite sure what the heck to do about her yet, but he fully intended to latch on to her talent for songwriting and possibly to any body part she’d let him touch. He hadn’t been interested in or attracted to another woman since the Holly fiasco. Teagan had reignited his libido and her continued denial of his pursuit just spurred him on. God, he loved a challenge.
    “Not necessarily,” he said.
    “Well, hell. It’s the hippie, isn’t it?”
    “She’s a songwriter. I challenged her to a contest and won. She now has to spend the next few weeks helping me write the songs for my solo