"Claudia might look and dress like Mrs. Cleaver," Amy drawled with affection, "But she'd appreciate having naked people in her stained-glass design."

"I'll have to remember that for next time," Mia said with a grin.

"So how many of these erotic pieces do you have?" Amy asked, back to business.

"About a dozen, ranging in different sizes and designs. I brought three of them with me to show you, and I have a photo book of all the others I have in the collection, along with just my regular stained-glass designs."

"Perfect," Amy said with a satisfied nod of her head. "Let's go talk numbers."

Mia followed her back to the leather couch, where she showed Amy the other designs she'd brought and they looked through the photo album together and discussed her other work.

Once they were done viewing all the photographs, Amy made her decision. "I want to keep all three of the erotic designs you brought today, and I'll even take a few of your regular pieces, because let's face it, there are some people who might find the provocative ones a bit too shocking," she said with a laugh.

It thrilled Mia that she'd be able to display all of her art. "Sure. I'll drop them by the gallery tomorrow."

"Great." Amy opened a file folder on the table and pulled out a contract to review with Mia. "I work on consignment, a seventy-thirty split, so when the sale is made I automatically take my thirty percent, and at the end of the month I'll cut you a check for your seventy percent."

"Fair enough," Mia said with a nod.

"How would you like to price these designs?" Amy asked, indicating the pieces of art Mia was going to leave with her today.

"I really have no idea." She thought about the amount Cameron had paid her for Claudia's birthday present, but she had no idea if that was a fair price or not. And she certainly didn't want to throw out a price that might make her look presumptuous.

"You know the market better than I do, so I'll leave that up to you."

"All right." Amy thought for a moment. "For the erotic pieces, I don't think we'll have any problem getting you anywhere from fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars, depending on how large and elaborate they are. And if anyone wants a custom-made, one-of-a-kind piece, we could probably get double the amount."

Mia nearly choked on that, certain her stained-glass artwork would never sell at those inflated prices. "You're kidding."

Amy patted her leg, laughing at her naivete. "Trust me. I've been in this business for a long time, and I know my clientele. You've got something no one else has, and once the word spreads about your art and that unexpected twist you've added, it's going to drive the prices even higher than that. But we need to start low at first, to generate interest and get them sold and in the hands of the right people. And I have a list of clients who love to have bragging rights about this sort of thing."

Mia's head was spinning. She'd only expected pocket cash out of this, play money, not the potential of actually making a living at what she'd considered a hobby for so long. She had no idea if she could keep up with the demand, but she'd worry about that when and if it happened.

Putting her art, and her trust, in Amy's hands, Mia signed the contract that would allow this woman to sell her work. By the time she left the gallery, she was floating on air, and the first thing she did once she was in her car was make a call to Cameron, the one and only person she was ready to share this moment with.

Chapter Twelve

AS soon as Mia slid into the chair across from Carrie at the café where they'd agreed to meet for lunch, her friend immediately picked up on Mia's ecstatic mood.

"So what are you so excited about?" Carrie asked once their meals had been ordered and their drinks delivered. "You're actually glowing."

"I'd rather not say just yet," Mia replied, trying to be as gentle as possible with her answer so as not to hurt Carrie's feelings. "I don't want to do anything to jinx what's going on."

"You think I'm a jinx?" Carrie sounded affronted anyway.

"That's not what I meant." Mia sighed and stirred her iced tea with her straw. "I just want to be sure this… thing pans out before I start talking about it."

"Does it have anything to do with that guy Cameron?" Carrie asked directly. "You know, the one you left The Electric Blue with the night you entered the wet T-shirt contest?"

Mia was surprised Carrie remembered. She was even more shocked that her friend would bring it up now when no one but Gina knew she was seeing Cameron. "No, it doesn't." That much wasn't a lie.

Carrie crossed her arms in front of her on the table. "Are you still going out with him?"

Mia began feeling slightly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, along with Carrie's persistent questioning about Cameron and her as a couple. "We're not going out," she insisted. "He's just a friend."

"A friend with benefits?" Carrie smirked.

Before Mia could recover from the shock of that remark, their waiter delivered their lunch, saving her from having to find a reply. Which was a good thing, because she had no idea how to address Carrie's question.

Their server was young and cute and had been flirting with Mia since the moment she'd sat down. Even now he was giving her all the attention at the table, making sure she didn't need any ground pepper on her Caesar salad or a refill on her iced tea. He gave Carrie a cursory glance and asked a quick, polite, "Do you need anything else?" before smiling at Mia again and moving on to the next table.

"God, I hate going places with you," Carrie said as she stabbed her fork into her pasta dish. "It's as if I blend into the woodwork when you're around."

She couldn't tell if Carrie was joking or serious, but she felt bad just the same. As a redhead with a smooth complexion and hazel eyes, Carrie was pretty enough, though she didn't do much to enhance her features or figure. Mia knew she'd be a real knockout if she'd just make the attempt to put more time and effort into her appearance.

"I'm sorry about that," Mia apologized, trying to smooth things over. "I wasn't trying to encourage him."

Carrie waved a hand toward Mia's chest, her lips pursed. "Your breasts alone are enough to encourage any man to flirt with you."

Mia blinked at Carrie. "Excuse me?"

Carrie shook her head, set her fork down on her plate, and released a long sigh. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

Mia's first inclination was to agree, but there was no sense in aggravating the situation further. Besides, Carrie's tone held an edge of frustration, and Mia wondered if maybe her friend was just having a bad day.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, genuinely concerned, and also wanting to give Carrie the opportunity to talk about whatever might be bothering her.

Carrie offered up a tight, almost pinched smile. "I'm fine."

Mia went back to eating her salad and didn't push the issue. Carrie had every right to keep things to herself. The thing was, she and Carrie were friends, and had been for more than a year now, but they'd never been close in the way best friends were-the kind who'd push for an answer until the other person finally opened up and spilled her guts.

So instead, Mia changed the subject and made sure Carrie was the focus of the discussion, not her. "So what's going on with you?" She reached for a piece of warm bread from the basket on their table and slathered butter on it. "It's been a while since we've really had a chance to spend some time together and talk. That's why I thought having lunch together would be nice."

"It's the same old thing with me," she said as she pushed her food around on her plate. "My job at the travel agency still sucks. My car's in the shop again. And my mother invited her newest boyfriend to move into our already-cramped apartment. Glad you asked?"

Mia laughed, though there was nothing remotely funny about Carrie's situation-it was just her way of breaking up the tension and negativity surrounding Carrie. Especially when it came to her mother's latest love interest invading their living space.

From snippets of conversation Mia had had with Carrie over time, she'd learned that Carrie's mother's need for the attention of men had been the reason why her parents had divorced when Carrie was just a little girl. Carrie had always claimed her mother had the morals of an alley cat, and she hated the constant parade of men that came through their home, yet even at the age of twenty-seven, Carrie had never made any attempt to move out on her own and seemed to depend on her mother to support her for the most part. All in all, it wasn't a great situation.

Mia kept the rest of their conversation as light as possible as they finished their lunch. She also deliberately kept her interaction with their waiter to a minimum, because she was now self-conscious about his flirting and how it made Carrie feel.

"Do you have time to do a little bit of shopping?" Mia asked after they paid for their bill and walked out of the café, thinking maybe the fun distraction would take Carrie's mind off of her problems for a while. "I have a party to go to this weekend for my nephew, and I'd like to find something new to wear."

"Sure, I'll go with you." Carrie glanced at her wristwatch. "I have about forty-five minutes before I need to be back at the agency to meet with a client."

They were on Michigan Avenue and within walking distance of Bloomingdale's, so they headed toward the department store. It didn't take Mia very long to find an outfit she couldn't resist-a flowing, calf-length gauze skirt and a matching blouse in blues and tans that would go perfectly with the beige lace-up boots she planned to wear. As an added bonus, the ensemble was on sale, which left enough in her budget to splurge on something pretty and ultra-sexy to wear beneath.