Free No Reservations by Stephanie Julian Page B

into his arms
     and let her cry it out against his chest.
    He hadn’t pegged Kate as a crier and, as he watched her struggle to maintain her composure,
     he realized she didn’t want to cry. Was fighting against it hard.
    Her bottom lip trembled but she bit down on it as she took a deep breath. She stared
     straight out the window, her hands held tight in her lap.
    Strong. Battling.
    He liked that.
    So he talked about zoning laws and union workers and waste management contracts, figuring
     if nothing else he would bore her into a state of numbness.
    Except she surprised him. She asked questions. Questions that told him she was actually
     listening to him instead of just nodding her head when he paused for a breath.
    So they discussed aspects of the company he never discussed with anyone other than
     Jed.
    Mia had never wanted to know details about hotel management. She’d been content to
     let him handle all financial aspects of their relationship. Anything having to do
     with money or business had been off Mia’s radar.
    She’d been more concerned with their impending marriage, which had still been six
     months in the future at the time of her death. They’d seen no need to worry about
     when they held the actual marriage, but Mia had wanted the whole royal wedding deal—big
     church, ten bridesmaids, ten groomsmen, ring bearer, flower girls, huge dress, ice
     sculptures, ten-piece orchestra and an entire warehouse of flowers decorating the
     hotel ballroom.
    He’d gone along with everything because he’d loved Mia.
    “Tyler? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to bombard you with all these questions. It’s okay
     if you don’t—”
    “No, Kate.” He shook his head and reached for her hands, twisted into a knot on her
     lap. He wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed. “Sorry. I just kind of zoned
     out there for a minute.”
    “What were you thinking about?”
    He paused. “My fiancée.”
    “Do you want to talk about her?”
    No. Not at all.
“Would you like to talk about your ex-fiancé?”
    He wanted to take back the words as soon as they left his mouth. Damn it, he hadn’t
     meant to sound so damn defensive, especially in the state she was in.
    Mia would have broken down in a hysterical mess if he’d said the same to her
    Kate laughed, a short burst of sound that hit him low in the gut. “Touché. Okay, so
     no talking about former partners. How about you tell me the story behind the Salon?
     That should take my mind off of other things.”
    For a second, he couldn’t believe she’d let it go so easily. Mia—
    Kate wasn’t Mia. And he had to remember that.
    “I wasn’t really involved in the inception of the Salon, but I know Jared’s inspiration
     comes from his interest in Victorian erotica.”
    “Not something you typically hear guys get worked up about.”
    Tyler slid a grin in her direction. “Have you met my brother? He’s not exactly the
     poster child for typical.”
    “No, Jared definitely is not typical. But then neither is Annabelle.”
    “They suit each other.”
    He glanced over and caught Kate’s smile. Damn, he really liked making her smile.
    “Yes, they do. Seeing them together helped me realize what I’d be giving up if I married
     Arnie.” Her smile disappeared. “I decided I didn’t want to live half a life.”
    Something in her voice made him want to dig a little deeper. “What do you mean?”
    She paused so long he wasn’t sure she was going to answer.
    Finally, she said, “My mom . . . She was never really happy. When you’re a kid, you
     know how you pick up on things that you know aren’t right but you can’t really figure
     out what’s going on?”
    He nodded, his jaw tightening as images of his own mother’s troubled past crowded
     to the forefront. “Yeah, I do.”
    “I didn’t realize until I was about thirteen or so that my mom wanted to be a photojournalist.
     I thought she’d always wanted to teach college. Then one night, I heard her and