A Girl's Best Friend Read Online Free PDF Page A

She ran a hand over her hip, brushing at invisible lint on her dress. Ah, she was worried about her weight. He never understood it when she made comments about how she was fat and ugly. Lorna was one of the smartest and most beautiful women he’d ever known. Some airhead model couldn’t compete with that.
    “No, ma’am.” He answered the taller woman’s question while she winced at the ma’am . “I’m not a model.”
    “So…you really are in SWAT? It’s not a costume?” Her eyes took on the greedy gleam some women got when they found out what he did for a living. Not that he hadn’t taken advantage of a groupie a time or two, but the thought left him cold today.
    He shook his head. “I’m just here with Lorna.”
    “Not with me, with me though. His dog is going to be in the shoot today.” She gestured to Diamond, who was still being fawned over by Mrs. Carraway.
    “Oh, what a cute puppy.”
    Tyrone ignored the model and looked down at Lorna. “Don’t be shy now, baby. You know you’re with me in every way a woman can be with a man.”
    His thumb rubbed circles on her palm, and she shuddered, blushing and stammering to the model. The woman grimaced at them and wandered away to find someone who would drool over her good looks. He pulled Lorna to the table Edith was standing beside. “I have some paperwork to fill out?”
    “Yes, of course. Roger can help you with that.” She grinned at him. “Lorna, what do you think of this ring for the 1920s set?”
    “I have the documents for you, sir.” While a skinny kid who couldn’t be more than twenty spread some papers out at the opposite side of the table, Tyrone watched Lorna deftly maneuver the bouncy older woman and a pissy photographer into making decisions when they wanted to vacillate and argue. She was damn good at her job, but it didn’t surprise him. She was one hell of a woman.
    “So this one?” Edith showed them a fancy ring with a huge stone in it.
    “Yes,” Lorna and the photographer chorused. Someone else came along, scooped up the ring, and scurried over to give it to a blond model posing with a poodle.
    “Which one is your favorite, Lorna?” Edith turned back to Lorna, and Tyrone propped his hip against the table, taking the opportunity to stare at his voluptuous redhead.
    Lorna’s brow arched. “Which ring?”
    “Yes.” The older woman nudged the case toward Lorna.
    She reached in to pluck out a ring with a spray of tiny stones embedded deep in white gold. Edith wrinkled her nose. “It’s not very big.”
    “I like the filigree on the band. It’s very Art Deco.” Lorna winked at the older woman. “But that’s why you make so many rings, right? So everyone can get what they like.”
    Edith’s teeth flashed in a toothy grin. “Right.”
    “Just sign here, sir.” Roger’s finger tapped the paper in front of Tyrone. He grunted and scrawled his name on the last of the documents.
    “You’ll bring Diamond by my house tonight when you’re done?”
    Lorna nodded and blushed when she met his gaze. Then she hurried off to say something to the photographer.
    He sighed and turned to head back to his SUV. He had no idea how this thing between Lorna and him was going to work. He didn’t want to hurt her and getting in deeper with her would do that, just as his brother had so bluntly pointed out, but Tyrone couldn’t walk away from something that felt so damn right. It was one hell of a mess he’d landed in.
     
    * * *
    How many times had she been to Tyrone’s home over the years? He’d bought it for a song back when the housing market tanked. Lorna had gone house hunting with him until he’d found just the right one, and then had been there with her family and his to help him move in. She sat in her car looking at it now, but the place looked the same as it always did. Neat yard, big trees for shade, blue shutters, his black SUV backed into the driveway so it faced the street. Everything was the same and none of it