The Beauty Within (11 page)

flowed, but there was the ever-present undercurrent of mutual attraction. He

tried not to stare at her mouth as it closed over her fork, or the way her strong,

yet gentle hands curled around her glass as she took a sip of her sweet tea. He

was glad there was a table hiding his body’s reaction to her benign movements.

Yet Gunnar was also frustrated, because Tyler’s poker face was ironclad. He

knew he was attractive to her, but she gave him few opportunities to exploit

that knowledge. She kept discussion topics on her barbershop, his gym, and

his family.

“Inge came out to California for school as well. She had loved it whenever

she came to visit me, so she went to UCLA for Communication Studies, met

her husband Roger, became a talent scout and about ten years ago started her

own agency. They’re doing very well.”

“Do you see them often?”

“They actually stayed with me while they were getting the agency up and

running. I already had established income and housing and all that, so it was

the best bet. Besides, my house was big enough for three, and I didn’t have to

worry about them invading my privacy or vice versa. It also helped that Roger’s

dad was apparently some big-to-do screenwriter, but Roger had wanted to ‘go

at it’ alone.”

“Well, wouldn’t it make sense for him to use his father’s contacts?”

“He did, but it was strictly a business relationship in regards to this—no

putting him up in some ritzy condo or anything. That’s not to say Inge had any

qualms about using me as her landlord!”

Tyler laughed and nodded. “I lived here with Dad until he passed. I thought

about moving out eventually, but that never happened, and I couldn’t bear to

sell it after he died. This house had seen at least three generations of Carvers.

Who knows? Maybe Wendy and Damon will start the fourth…”

“What about you?”

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59

Tyler shrugged but didn’t look at him. “I’m not holding my breath.”

Her tone sounded so defeated, and he frowned. While it was true Wendy

seemed to have already found her partner for life, why did Tyler think she

wouldn’t do the same? She had so much to offer any man.

Suddenly she grinned at him, but her eyes dropped from his quickly again.

“That’s sweet of you to say.”

Apparently, he’d said that aloud, and instead of being embarrassed, he

reached across the table to grab her hand. “I mean it, Tyler. You’re a wonderful

woman. Don’t let a few idiots tell you otherwise.”

“A few?”

Gunnar shrugged. “I may be presumptuous, but I refuse to believe you’ve

not had a single boyfriend in your twenty-eight years. All the men cannot

possibly be
that
stupid.”

A haunted look entered her eyes and she pulled her hand from his slowly.

“No…”

Gunnar frowned again. “Who—?”

“What kind of modeling did you do?”

Gunnar allowed her to change the subject. They had been having a decent

conversation thus far, and he didn’t want to darken it with ghosts of past

relationships. “All kinds.”

She snorted and quirked an eyebrow. “That’s not an answer!”

He smiled, conceding her point. “Fine. I did clothes, a bit of runway work,

but mostly print…magazines…billboards.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there was a big one of me on the Sunset Strip. I was selling a watch,

but apparently I had to be in my skivvies to do it!”

Tyler’s eyes flashed and her face flushed. Gunnar’s eyes fixated on her ton-

gue wetting her lips and his body reacted accordingly. Finally, a break.

“You wish you could’ve seen it?” Gunnar asked, his voice dropping an oc-

tave.

“Um…I’m sure it was a sight to see.”

“It brought in a lot of business for me after that.”

“I’m sure.”

She’d licked her lips again and Gunnar couldn’t muffle his moan. He

wanted to feel that tongue, those lips, on his body…anywhere and everywhere

she deemed fit. He wanted to taste her, that sweet tea, the garlic sauce from the

shrimp scampi, her singular flavor.

“Tyler—”

“How did you get started modeling?”

He was jarred out of his lustful thoughts, then pinked as her question en-

tered his mind. He shook his head, not wanting to answer but doing so

anyway. “Inge.”

“Your sister!”

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Savannah J. Frierson

“Yeah. We were at the mall shopping for random things, and catching up.

A talent scout had stopped us, saying what an ‘attractive couple’ we made. I

had turned a little green but Inge had laughed saying we were siblings, and the

talent scout gave us a card with some agent’s information on it. I told Inge I

thought it was a scam, but Inge wanted to go anyway. She turned the puppy

dog eyes on and that was that.”

“Did she become a model also? I’ll bet she’s gorgeous.”

Gunnar nodded, smiling as he thought of his baby sister. “Briefly, but the

bookings were interrupting her schooling, so our parents made her stop. She

looks like Heidi Klum but better, in my opinion, and she’s so humble about it.

Da was always whining to our mother about why she had to make his daughter

so damn beautiful!”

“I’ll bet she came back with why he had to give her such a gorgeous son!”

Gunnar would’ve teased Tyler about her admission of his attractiveness

had what she said not been true. “Apparently we gave both parents a lot of

concern to worry. The phone really did ring off the hook, but I was too con-

cerned with football to really give girls a thought.”

Tyler’s look was incredulous. “Really?”

“Yeah, Inge and I both weren’t into the whole dating thing until college.

Then when the modeling started…I got hooked. It surprised me, modeling,

because I didn’t think I’d like it, but that check…the checks were almost as

gorgeous at the ladies.”

“Ah! There it is!”

Gunnar blushed again and shrugged. “I admit it. You were never lonely if

you were a model, especially a male model. Things happened very quickly for

me, even my agent was surprised, but I made sure I graduated before I took on

more intensive bookings.”

“And what about football?”

His smile became pinched. “By that time there was no football for me to

worry about. I’d blown my knee bringing down an interception during the last

game of the season.”

It had been hard, especially when his coaches and team scouts had been

talking about his pro options. San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona, Minnesota

had all been interested, and suddenly, no pro options were viable anymore.

It was Tyler’s turn to offer comfort, and she squeezed the hand that had

covered his. “It was an escape.”

“I was needed, necessary again. I’d gone from a has-been to the new-thing

once more. It’s hard to lose the taste of it.”

“I know.” She sounded as if she had experience with that sort of thing,

even if it wasn’t exactly identical to his. Gunnar wondered how she’d bounced

back, and from what.

“Anyway, I did that for almost ten years, lived the high life, then decided it

was time for a change so I moved back here.”

The Beauty Within

“A change?”

“Life was going too fast. I needed to slow down. Unlike Inge, I never found

someone who could ground me…everyone I knew was going just as fast as I

was, if not faster. I needed to breathe.”

Tyler nodded again. “I’ve heard stories, but you look like you came out the

other end better. Does your knee still give you problems?”

“No, but if I were still playing football, that would be another thing.”

“Do you miss it? Football and modeling? LA? You think you’d go back?”

“Only to visit! And no…those were times in my life that I definitely don’t

want to relive again. Things helped me put life in perspective, so while it was

good, even great times back then, I’m too old now!”

Tyler rolled her eyes and stood. “You’re not old.”

“I’m not?”

“Thirty-four? That’s not old at all! Then again, you are a man. Apparently

y’all peak at nineteen!”

“Peak!”

“Yes! Biology 202 or something, right?”

Gunnar chuckled and stood as well, collecting his dirty dishes. “I can guar-

antee you I have a lot more ‘peak’ left in me.”

Tyler bit her bottom lip and gave him a heady look before shrugging and

going over to the sink. Her nonchalance bothered him, especially since he

knew she wanted to test the theory just as much as he did. What was the

problem? They were both grown adults who had a healthy attraction to each

other.

And he would work that fact to his advantage.

Did he have to be so close to her? Did he have to be so solid and smell so

good and make her yearn in ways she hadn’t in ages?

Damn Gunnar Daniels!

They were side by side washing dishes. Though she had a dishwasher, she

lived alone, and she thought it was silly to waste energy and water for one

plate, one glass, and one set of utensils. Even with the addition of Gunnar’s

dishes, there was still no need to use the appliance, so she’d set about to

rinsing out the dishes so she could wash them later.

However, Gunnar had picked up the sponge, squirted liquid soap onto it,

and had begun washing his plate. Tyler had looked at him as if he were crazy.

“I like this soap too. The foaming action…it’s really amazing, isn’t it?”

“You’re washing dishes?”

“Yeah…doesn’t make sense to use that dishwasher for these few plates and

glasses, does it?”

Tyler shook her head in disbelief. “What?”

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Savannah J. Frierson

“I live alone, so usually after I eat…if I cook…I just go ahead and wash the

dishes. Some days I wonder why I even bothered going to Sears for the dis-

hwasher anyway.”

“But—”

“Could you pass me that plate? I meant to bring it over with me.”

Tyler tried very hard not to go slack-jawed by how sexy he looked in his

domestication. His biceps and triceps bunched and flexed with his scrubbing

motion, and his arm brushed against her chest every time he set a dish down in

the drying rack. She would’ve moved back had she had the wherewithal to do

such a thing, but surprise and a little amount of desire had her stuck by the

sink.

“Where did you get these dishes? I like them.”

“Uh…I think they’re older than I am.”

“This is quality work. Don’t see that much nowadays.”

“No…”

He flashed her a smile, then frowned at her, shaking off excess water be-

fore gripping her chin lightly in his hand. “Hey. You all right?”

“Hmm?”

He turned off the water with the hand that wasn’t holding her, then turned

his complete attention on her. His thumb drifted along her lips and she sighed,

unused to the tender action but wanting more of it. When he began moving his

head closer to her, however, she panicked.

“You want dessert? That ice cream? Or coffee? Tea?”

He grinned slightly, though he moved his thumb back to her cheek. “Do I

make you nervous?”

“No, I just…I would be a poor host if I didn’t offer.”

He glanced at the clock over the kitchen door and sighed. “Actually, I think

I should go. It’s almost nine.”

Her head snapped to the clock for confirmation, astonished by the time

creeping to 9 PM. “Oh! I’m sorry! You no doubt have plans…”

She was shaking, embarrassed, aroused, and fumbling as she walked to the

front door, not even bothering to register Gunnar didn’t immediately follow.

Tyler felt like an idiot. It’s a Saturday, and he was Gunnar, of course he had

things to do! He probably had a date waiting for him somewhere…just because

she was a homebody or that it was Durham instead of LA didn’t mean
he

wouldn’t have other fun things to do.

“Tyler.”

He’d caught her by the arm and spun her around to face him. The tears that

came unbidden in her eyes made her even more humiliated, and she blinked

rapidly to hide them from him. What was
wrong
with her? Why was

she…hurt…about Gunnar’s possible plans. They weren’t dating, and they were

barely friends! She was being silly and she felt ashamed of herself.

“I’m sorry I kept you out so late,” she said a bit huskily, and she winced.

The Beauty Within

63

“Hey.” His hands were still a little damp, but they were large and warm as

they cupped her face. He tilted her head so her eyes met his, and when two

tears feel down her cheeks, he brushed them away with tender thumbs.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m being stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” Gunnar said with a frown. “Did I say something? Do

something?”

“I feel humiliated,” Tyler admitted.

“Why?”

His sweet, caring tone had her heart cracking a little. She shook her head,

knowing if she spoke, she would break down. It had been a while since a man

had shown her compassion, and the fact it was Gunnar Daniels threw her for a

serious loop. She couldn’t go down this path again. “Compassion” was what

got her burned the first time; she was too old and gun-shy to go through that

again.

When Tyler didn’t answer, Gunnar sighed and brushed her cheeks again,