"I know. I respect that. Please, can I come in? I just want to talk for a little while."
She hesitated for a moment, so I gave her my best puppy-dog eyes, and she finally let me in.
"You can only stay for a few minutes," she warned as I followed her into the kitchen.
"Is Gwyneth coming home soon?" I guessed, but she shook her head.
"No. She's moved to New York city with Vick, so I'm leasing the place for a month until I figure out more permanent arrangements."
"So, you're positive you don't want to move back in with me." I couldn't keep the hurt out of my voice.
"One day, when we get married, we can buy a place together that is all ours; but until then, I need some space of my own. I need to be independent and live within my own financial means."
"You still want to marry me one day?" All my hope had been restored.
"Of coursem I do. We're committed to each other, and I still love you with all my heart. I just needed some space to get my priorities straight, and I figured you needed some perspective, too. Now that we have that, we can start talking about dating again."
"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot," I said and meant it. I moved in to kiss her, and when our lips met, it was even better than I remembered it being. She tasted so sweet and her lips were so soft, like the petals of a delicate flower. I wanted to make love to her right then, but we had m
ore important things to discuss. "So, what are your conditions for dating? I'll do anything you want."
"I like the way things were. You live at your place, and I'll live at mine. We'll each work our separate jobs during the day and then meet up at night. Sometimes you can sleep over at my place, and sometimes I can sleep over at yours, and when we're both ready, we can make the step of moving in together and getting married."
"What if we worked together?" I asked with a mischievous grin, and she looked startled.
"I'm a model. I'm not going to take a job as an office secretary or steal some executive’s position based on nepotism."
"No, of course not; but what if Speed Motorcycles hired you to model for us again?"
"I already posed for the cover once. I know your magazine hires a new girl every month."
"Yeah, but now we want to hire just one girl to be the face of a whole new advertising campaign. Billboards, magazine layouts, television commercials. Everything you've ever wanted. I figured we could shoot pictures for the bike I'm designing for Tommy in Milan, and I want to make a version of the All-American called The Tour that we photograph in France and Germany. It will require that you go on an extended trip across Europe, but as CEO of the company, I would oversee the entire project and travel with you."
"Are you serious?" Kayla's bright-blue eyes lit up with excitement.
"Absolutely. I had Keith draw up contracts and Steve is prepared to cut you a check for any amount you want to get you to take the job. We'll let you have any bike in our fleet to keep, pay your travel expenses, and give you a monthly salary, plus bonuses.
“It's the deal of a lifetime and worthy of a top model. I want that model to be you, Kayla. It will make you the household name you've always wanted to be."
She looked so happy, I thought she was certain to say yes, but then she surprised me by shaking her head no.
"I would be the girlfriend of the owner who got handed a job she didn't deserve."
"But you do deserve it. You're beautiful, talented, and nobody is better at modeling bikes than you are."
"Thanks, but others aren't going to see it that way. Everybody knows Speed Magazine has a certain way of advertising. You're famous for picking a new ingénue every month and placing her on the cover. If you changed that now and made me the face of your company, everyone would know you were doing it for me."
"So what? I love my girl, and I don't care if the whole world knows it. I'm willing to turn my company upside down and change everything about it if it makes you happy. Hell, I'll sell the whole damn thing and hand you all the cash if you want it; you can use it to start your own modeling company."
"Thanks, but that's not necessary," Kayla giggled at me. "I actually have a modeling job and it's everything I ever wanted."
"What? Why didn't you say so? Tell me all about it." I was so happy for her, I could feel my heart ready to burst.
"It's for a new fashion line that Gwyneth has created. I fly out to New York next week to start shooting the catalog. There'll be a web page, magazine ads, billboards, and television commercials. I'll be shooting in Paris, Prague, Nuremberg, and Milan. It's the dream job I've always wanted."
"That's great. I'm so happy for you, and I couldn't be more proud of you. I knew you could do it. When do you leave?"
"I fly to New York Friday for a week, and then it's off to Europe for the next six weeks."