Chris sat up on the side of the bed and slowly ran her fingers through her curls. Colin rolled closer and began to kiss at her lower back. Chills ran through her as his tongue traced slowly over the tattoo there.
âAre you going to tell me the story about this?â
Chrisâ eyes were closed as Colinâs hot breath sent even more chills over her.
âYou mean the tattoo? Itâs simple, really. The Irish part is in honor of my family, and itâs a tribute to Mark McGrath, the goddess part, well, thatâs justâŠâ
âBecause you are.â Colin wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back onto the bed. âIâve always been known to be impulsive, but Iâm not one for one-night stands.â His eyes pierced into hers. âYou understand what Iâm saying?â
Chris nodded. âI think so. Itâs your bad-boy way of saying you want to date me.â With that, she tossed a pillow at him.
Colin caught it. âOh, I can see Iâm going to have to tame you, eh, lass?â He covered her body with his, and their lovemaking lasted long into the afternoon.
They sat together in the kitchen, sipping tea and reading through the newspaper. Chris thought how odd this scenario was, considering they had just met this morningâŠbut it did feel comfortable to her.
Colin was leafing through the entertainment section, looking to see how his latest film was doing. He stopped when he saw the picture of Heath and two blonde women, all of who looked as though they were partying rather well. He silently debated mentioning it, but the caption with Chrisâ name in it caught his eye.
âWell, I see a mention of you in here. Fancy thatâŠâ
Chris slid closer and looked at the page. Her breath caught when she saw the picture, but it was the caption below that really bothered her.
Ah, the photographer must have been hard to replace, as Heath gets down with not one but TWO replacement blondesâŠ
âAh, damn photogs, anyway!â Chris slid back in her chair and gathered the cups from the table.
âIâm sorry babe, I didnât mean to upset you.â
Chris walked back to the table and kissed Colinâs forehead. âIâm not really upset. Heath and I were only just friends. Yes, we had a fling, yes, we spent time together, but neither of us wanted anything permanent. The gossip rags just make me tired. Why bring me up at all? They did the same thing with Orly about a week ago.â She shook her head. Weâre all adults, and I get tired of being judged.â
Colin kissed Chris goodbye at the door, with plans for the following night. He had 2 interviews to get to, and Chris needed to wrap up her shots for the day.
Busy with developing Colinâs pictures for the calendar (yes, they had finally gotten to them) she really didnât think any more about the newspaper picâŠ
The phoneâs ring cut through the silence. She picked it up on the third ring. âClassic Design, Chris speaking.â
âDonât hang up on me, I can explain.â Heathâs voice sounded weary.
Chris held the phone tighter to her ear. Old feelings came rushing back. âHeath?â
âYes, itâs me. Please donât hang up.â
âI wonât. Whatâs wrong?â
Heath sighed again. Maybe she hadnât seen the picture, but he knew she always looked over that part of the paper, mostly to peruse the competition. He also knew they both had been free to see other people, but neither of them wanted to push it in the others face.
Chris decided to take the lead. âIs this about the picture?â
Heathâs voice was low. âYes, and I wanted you to know I had no intentions of that ever being taken. You know how I get when Iâve had a fewâŠâ
Chris was silent on the other end.