A perfectly casual invitation that absolutely should not have revved her heartbeat the way it did. He was an old friend, for goodness sake. Nothing more. They’d had coffee together dozens of times. Obviously spending an hour in the afternoon wearing sexy lingerie had had a strange effect on her libido. To refuse would make it seem as if she placed too much importance on an offhand invite. “That sounds nice, Adam.”

“Great. I’ll call you when the proofs are ready.” He smiled and opened the door for her.

“Talk to you soon,” she said, then stepped out onto the sidewalk. She actually welcomed the blast of inferno-like July heat that engulfed her because it gave her something on which to blame her discomfort. Walking quickly to her car, she slid behind the wheel. She’d driven three blocks before her breathing returned to normal-a fact she refused to examine too closely for fear of discovering the reason.

Her life was finally exactly the way she wanted it. Stable. Secure. No more moving around the country, no more living in apartments. Her career was in high gear, and she’d recently achieved a milestone goal and bought her first house. She had a steady boyfriend who had a steady job-yup, everything was perfect and…steady.

Okay, maybe things weren’t perfect with Greg, but she’d kissed enough frogs to know that he had prince potential. He provided the stability she’d always craved, and she was willing to work on the things that needed some polishing-like their sex life. Hey, not every guy could be like Adam Clayton in bed. Actually, she’d finally forced herself to admit that no guy would ever be like Adam Clayton in bed.

The last thing she wanted, or needed, was someone to rock the steady little boat she’d worked so hard for. She wouldn’t allow that to happen. Nine years ago, Adam had capsized her. She wasn’t about to give him the chance to do it again.

2

One week later, Saturday, 12:00 p.m.

WITH THE SUNSHINE SENDING shimmering shafts of gold through the front window of Picture This, Adam stared at the contact sheets from his photo session with Mallory Altman and blew out a long, slow breath.

She looked…incredible. Soft and feminine. Wicked, yet somehow innocent. Tempting and enticing and aroused and so damn sexy he found himself shifting uncomfortably to relieve the strangulation occurring behind the fly of his jeans.

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by his reaction. Hey, show him a guy who wouldn’t be turned on by these pictures, and he’d show you a dead guy. He’d told her that her boyfriend was a lucky man, but what he should have said was her boyfriend was the luckiest damn guy in New York. And for a brief, magical time nine years ago, Adam had been that lucky guy.

Damn, seeing her again had felt like a punch in the heart. Stunned amazement followed by that mind-boggling rush of pleasure. The appointment book had read M. Allory-or at least that’s what he’d thought it said, as Nick’s handwriting was atrocious. One look at her, at her smile, at those brown eyes that had always reminded him of warm, melting chocolate, and the years had slipped away, inundating him with a flood of memories…memories that had haunted him all week and that threatened to take over now.

Forcibly pushing them aside, his gaze riveted on one particular photo of her. She was lying on her side on the bed, her dark hair spread across her shoulders in a disheveled fall of loose, shiny curls. With her head propped up on one hand, her other arm rested along the sinuous indent of her waist and the curve of her hip. One stocking-clad knee was bent, her moist lips slightly parted and her eyes stared directly into the camera. She looked like a succulent silk-clad morsel waiting to be plucked from an hors d’oeuvres platter. Actually, daring someone to pluck her from that platter.

A memory crystallized in his mind, of Mallory, lying in a similar position on top of his sleeping bag in the tent they’d pitched the weekend they’d gone camping upstate. Three glorious, lazy days spent almost exclusively in that tent, exploring each other, touching, talking, learning-each caress, each new bit of knowledge about her making him fall deeper in love. He could see her as if it were yesterday, her hair a dark, glossy tumble of curls. Wearing nothing but a playful, wicked grin. See anything you like? she’d asked in a smoky voice. He certainly had-and had delighted in showing her each and every thing.

He blinked away the lingering thought and again studied the photo. Her pose highlighted every gorgeous feminine curve and her eyes seemed to say I am everything you could ever want and I’ll make all your fantasies come true. Definitely words any man would love to hear. Words the man in her life had no doubt heard.

A surge of what felt suspiciously like jealousy washed through him and he shook his head. Damn, he was losing his mind. Jealous over some guy he’d never met. But maybe it wasn’t jealousy-maybe it was more like envy. Yeah, that’s all it was. Envy. What guy wouldn’t want a woman to go to the effort of taking sexy pictures for him? To look at him like he was the only man on earth and she wanted to gobble him up in one bite? The fact that she’d taken such sexy photos proved she still possessed the adventurous sense of fun he’d found so captivating. Whoever Mallory’s man was, he was one lucky bastard and Adam hoped the guy appreciated what he had. It was certainly something Adam wished he had.

That thought brought him up short and a frown yanked down his brows. What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t want that. A woman didn’t spend the time and money to have such intimate photos taken for a man unless they were in a relationship. Unless she had strong feelings for him. And relationships and strong feelings were the last things on Adam’s current three-months-in-Europe, bachelor agenda. Mallory had wreaked havoc on his travel plans once before. She was the sort of woman he suspected could also wreak havoc with a guy’s bachelor plans. Good thing she wasn’t available.

His gaze drifted back down to the contact sheets. He’d lost touch with Mallory five years ago, right after his life had taken such a dramatic turn due to his dad’s unexpected death. Hadn’t seen her since.

Well, he’d seen her again now. And damn, he’d liked everything he’d seen. And everything he’d seen had dredged up those memories he’d tried so hard to bury. But unfortunately those memories had haunted him constantly this past week.

He’d been stunned to learn she wasn’t married. During their brief chat last week, he’d made a comment about the photos being for her husband and she’d told him they were for her boyfriend-that her engagement had ended before the wedding had taken place.

Pulling his gaze away from the photos, he looked at his watch. Just past noon. Would she come into the studio today to pick up her proofs? He’d called her this morning-shaking his head as he recalled how his heart had pounded. An answering machine had clicked on after the third ring and a recorded voice had asked that he leave a message. After saying that her proofs were ready, he’d hung up, feeling ridiculously let down that he hadn’t had a chance to talk to her.

His thoughts were interrupted when the front door opened. Adam’s heart jumped only to settle back into place when Nick Daly walked into the studio. Friends since high school, Nick was the brother Adam had never had-yet in all those years, he’d never seen Nick look more bleary-eyed or rumpled.

“How is it possible for a guy to look so exhausted and so happy at the same time?” Adam asked with a grin.

“If you expect me to answer any complicated questions, you’ve lost your mind.”

He took in the colossal foam coffee cup clutched in Nick’s hand. “I didn’t know the Java Hut made to-go cups that big.”

“Trust me, there isn’t a container big enough for the caffeine hit I need,” Nick said with a tired smile. “I think I should just request an IV drip. Sorry to be so late.”

“No problem. That’s why I’m here-to hold down the fort for the proud new dad.”

A grin that could only be described as totally besotted curved Nick’s mouth. “Oh, man, Adam, I don’t think there’s ever been a more beautiful baby in the history of babies than Caroline.”

“Can’t argue with you there. I was the proudest honorary uncle at the nursery when I visited her at the hospital. But I bet your parents said the same thing about you when you were born.” He made a great show of looking Nick over. “Then again, maybe they didn’t.”

“Ha-ha. Tread carefully, my friend. You’re dealing with someone who’s had about seven hours of sleep in the last seven days. Caroline may be adorable and gorgeous, but whew, can that kid yell. Gotta tell ya, whoever made up that phrase ‘sleep like a baby’ clearly never spent any time with an actual baby because let me tell you-babies do not sleep. At least not for more than like twenty minutes at a time. And you know what? When the baby isn’t asleep, the parents aren’t asleep.” He stifled a yawn. “Things will be easier after Annie’s mom arrives the day after tomorrow to help out. Nothing like having a doting grandma on the premises. Annie and I’ll finally get some sleep and I can get back to work. And you’ll be off the hook.”

Adam dragged a hand through his hair. “Listen, I still feel bad about leaving-”

Nick held up his hand to cut off the words. “Do not feel bad. You’ve wanted to take this trip as long as I’ve known you. Hell, you even scheduled it so you’d be around for a few weeks after the baby was born. Who knew she’d decide to be two weeks late?” He shook his head and grinned. “Typical female. But don’t worry-uber-grandma is coming to the rescue.”