Skin Read Free Page A

leaned against it. His warm, woodsy scent drifted below her nose. Her nostrils twitched. His moves stiffened her resolve.
    “What do I have to do to change your mind?”
    Not be so male? Frankie’s nether parts warmed. She snapped the folder shut, pushed back her chair, and stood up to face him on an equal plane. “Nothing.”
    He smiled slow and easy. “Are you afraid of me?”
    Her jaw dropped before she caught it. “Afraid of you? How?”
    “You must have ice for blood if you don’t feel the connection we have. Isn’t that a must between a model and his photographer?”
    Frankie couldn’t deny it in her heart. But she would deny it to his face. She’d made the right decision. The man was lethal to her senses, and she wasn’t up for more drama in her life.
Skin
meant everything to her, and part of taking it to the next level was having a model she felt comfortable with. She felt the complete opposite with this man.
    “I don’t mix business with pleasure,” Reese said. His eyes glowed and a playful smile toyed with his lips.
    Frankie’s lips twitched in response. And she felt a rush, a rush to rise to that challenge, to hire him just to break him. She moved away from him. She could hear her father now.
“There you go again, Francesca. Have you learned nothing from your mistakes? By allowing your emotions to dictate business, you lose respect. You’re too much of a woman to rule with the iron hand of a man.”
    “Neither do I,” Frankie said. Setting the file down on her desk, she walked to the door and opened it. “Thanks for coming in, Mr. Barrett. If we choose to go with you, we’ll call you.”
    Reese headed for the door but stopped beside her. His blue eyes gleamed at a private joke. She fidgeted in her heels. He smiled and bent down to her ear and whispered, “Don’t take too long. Once I leave here, I’m on my way to
Stag.
I hear they’re launching a couples centerfold issue.”
    Frankie’s skin warmed, but she dug in. Her back stiffened. She’d heard that too, and what made it worse was
Stag
was the rag Sean sold out to. It was also where he was employed as editorial consult. She pulled the door open wider. “Good day, Mr. Barrett.”
    He gave her a short salute.
    “Frankie, that guy was gorgeous,” Tawny said, barging into her office the minute the door closed behind Reese Barrett’s very nice ass.
    Her instinct was to run after Reese just to keep him out of Sean’s hands. But she curbed the impulse. She might be a female, but she had the guts and tenacity of any male in her family. If there was one lesson she took to heart from her father, it was the virtue of patience.
Skin
was her priority, and she would make calm, cool, collected decisions to ensure its success.
    “Hello? Earth to Frankie.” Tawny waved her hand in front of Frankie’s nose.
    “He’s no one we’re interested in.”
    Tawny’s brown eyes widened. “Are you telling me that hunk has a Mini Cooper?”
    Frankie made a lame attempt to smile, her energy suddenly drained. “Quite the opposite.”
    “Then what the hell are you thinking?”
    Frankie scowled. She wasn’t thinking, she was reacting. Her brain warred with her emotions. Her gut screamed Reese Barrett was trouble — too much of a distraction, a distraction her upside-down, inside-out life didn’t need. There was a room full of models waiting to jump through hoops, and if none of them mustered up, there were scores more in the wings.
    Rubbing her temples, Frankie groaned. Her father wasn’t dead two weeks, the family was coming undone, everyone pointing fingers at everyone else, and if she didn’t act now,
Skin
would go down the proverbial toilet.
    His words echoed in her head.
“It’s just business, Francesca, never forget.”
    Skin
was not only her business, it was her passion. She wanted to prove to herself and to the family that she, a woman, could take
Skin
from modest to record-breaking circulation. To do that, she needed the right centerfold.