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“I just want him out of your life,” said Terence, the photographer with no last name.

“I know that, Baby.  I’m going to tell him.  He’s going to be okay with it.  He knows we’re just friends who…”

“Yeah, yeah, so you’ve said,” replied Terence, pulling a curl out of the mass on Tamara’s head and draping it down the side of her face.

Terence had been smitten with Tamara the moment he met her.  He thought she was enchanting, and the pictures he took of her in Vancouver were breathtaking.  But it was only after she left Vancouver that he realized the impact she’d had on him.

He began calling her and even flew to L.A. to show her the photos he had taken.  They went out to dinner together, and by the end of it, Terence was completely in love.  He stayed in L.A. for a week and courted her.  Everywhere they went, he took pictures of her…the beach…the park… Disneyland… At dinner one night, he said that he would love to photograph her nude.

“Go ahead, take your clothes off,” laughed Tamara.

“I meant that you would be the one who would be nude,” said Terence, with a grin.

“No reason we both can’t be,” retorted Tamara.

They went back to her place and took their clothes off.  Terence didn’t take any pictures, though.

The relationship started just after Tamara got back from New York.  It became hot very quickly.  Terence was very possessive and was soon pushing for exclusivity.  Tamara told him about Nick.  Terence had real trouble with her ‘friends that fuck’ theory. 

Tamara told him that she was sick of the double standard, and if a man could get it whenever he wanted, why couldn’t a woman?  And it wasn’t like she slept with a lot of guys…just Nick.  Seriously, Terence, we’re just friends.  Friends that…

Terence didn’t want her to be friends with Nick anymore.  Well, he didn’t want her having sex with him.  He didn’t care if they were friends.  But he couldn’t believe that Nick would settle for that.  Terence began courting her in earnest, flying her up to Vancouver to meet his family, talking about the future, about what a team they would make together…until the babies started to arrive.   Then she might want to retire.

Babies?  When would that be? Tamara wondered.

Whenever you want, said Terence, and Tamara started to do something she’d never done in her life.  She started thinking about the future.  And the more she thought about it, the more she wanted it to be with Terence.  She was in love with him.  When she worked with him, he was a tyrant, and she wanted to hit him with heavy, blunt objects.  But when they were alone together, he was a sweetheart. 

She finally took him to meet her family.  Watching him interact with her sister’s kids was all Tamara needed.  She agreed to tell Nick that they had to drop the last two words from their description of each other.

And then Terence cancelled the photo shoot.  He didn’t even call her.  He had his assistant do it.  Something had come up, he had to leave town, he’d be in touch.  No, she shouldn’t call him.  She should just wait for him.

Tamara didn’t feel like waiting, so she went shopping.  And ran into Rafe Ariando.  Who offered to send her to Italy.

On the flight over, Tamara began to have second thoughts.  Maybe she was jeopardizing her relationship with Terence.  She called him when the plane landed in New York.  There was no answer. She left a message telling him to call her.  She checked when they landed in Rome.  He hadn’t replied.

When she got to the venue, she was angry with Terence, and so she came on to Nick in a big, public way.  She would have her four days in Italy, and then she would go back to Terence.  Or maybe not.  She’d just wait and see.

She spent the four days vacillating.  The first night, Nick had gotten incredibly drunk, and they hadn’t done anything.  When she woke up the next morning, Tamara decided that she would tell Nick about Terence and go home.  While Nick was in the shower, she checked her messages again.  Still no word from Terence.  She phoned him and left another message.

When Nick came out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around him, Tamara decided ‘to hell with Terence’.  But then Nick hadn’t wanted it either.  Tamara was frustrated and ready to swear off men for life.  Instead, she decided to see Rome.

Tamara tried to bring the subject up a couple of times over the next couple of days, but it was awkward.  And besides, Nick made up for his behavior of the first night by making love to her a lot!  So she put off the discussion for another day.  The next thing she knew, they were flying home and she hadn’t told him.

When she came home, Terence was waiting for her.  He was furious.  They had their first big fight.  He was angry that Tamara hadn’t done what his assistant told her.  Stay home and wait by the phone. 

I’m not good at that, she retorted.  And why the hell should I be? 

They got angrier and angrier and louder and louder and finally Terence yelled at her, “And then you went to Italy to fuck him!”

“I went to Italy to tell him I wouldn’t fuck him!” Tamara screamed back at him.  Then she started to cry.  “And I tried, but you didn’t call me, and I didn’t know where you were, and I was afraid I’d lost you…”

That melted him enough to end the argument, but they agreed that she would tell Nick that their days of sex were over.  Tamara led up to it slowly, mentioning different things in their phone conversations. She wasn’t sure that Nick was catching on. 

When Terence found out that they would be seeing each other in Toronto, he insisted on accompanying Tamara.  One way or the other, Nick Carter was getting the word.  If Tamara didn’t have the guts to tell him, Terence would!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melody sat through the fashion show wondering what the hell she was doing there.  She thought the clothes looked stupid.  Did anybody really wear these things?  Tamara Vance was beautiful, of course.  Mel felt a twinge of jealousy.  She remembered telling Nick that she wanted to be 5’9”.  Then she remembered where she was when she told him that.  And what they’d been doing.  She sighed.

Rafe picked up her hand.  “You okay?”

Melody nodded at him.  “Just trying not to laugh out loud,” she whispered. 

Rafe grinned at her but didn’t let go of her hand. 

Mel didn’t want Rafe Ariando holding her hand.  But she also didn’t want to be rude.  She watched Tamara come down the runway again.  Good Lord, there’s not enough material in that dress to make a handkerchief, she thought.  Melody removed her hand from Rafe’s and did a little finger wave.  Tamara acknowledged it with an arched eyebrow.

There was a cocktail party after the show, where the guests could chat with the models and designers.  Rafe suggested that they hang around there for a bit and then go out for dinner.  It would be nice to say hello to Tamara.

The last thing Melody wanted to do was engage in pleasant conversation with the woman who would be in Nick’s arms tonight, but she couldn’t see a way out of it.  She didn’t know why Rafe had asked her here.  Neither one of them had mentioned Nick to anyone.  Rafe only knew one or two people here and didn’t seem interested in meeting any more.  They were just Canadians, after all, he said.  They couldn’t do him any good in the business world.

When Tamara appeared, wearing a simple silver sheath that ended just below her crotch, she was with a guy.  He was not all that tall, shorter than Tamara in her stiletto heels, and not nearly as good-looking as Nick.  But he was obviously somebody important to her, because she never let go of him once.  She kept her hand on his arm, and she stroked him as she talked to people.

“Uh oh,” said Rafe.  “Looks like Nick’s plans for the evening might change.”

Melody never said anything.  Her head was spinning.  Poor Nick!  He maintained that they were just friends, but…  Melody tried to push down the sense of relief that maybe Nick wouldn’t be sleeping with Tamara tonight, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hardest part of his job, Jeff had decided long ago, was protecting the client from himself.  More damage was done to person and property, more messes made - more blood, more sweat, more tears, more vomit - when the client was miserable…mad at the world, mad at himself or, what was more usually the case, mad at a woman.

As Rafe left the bar, Jeff eyes followed him.  When he saw Rafe kiss Mel at the elevator, his eyes swung back to Nick.  Jeff didn’t like what he was seeing.  This could be a long night!  Nick drained his glass and set it down on the bar.   Then he headed for the door.  Jeff intercepted him.  Nick looked at him like he’d forgotten Jeff was there. 

On the elevator, Nick said, “So…Rafe and Mel, huh?”

Rafe and Mel what? thought Jeff and then saw where Nick was going with it.  “Nope,” replied the bodyguard, shaking his head.  “No way.”

Nick thought about that, as he sat in his room playing his guitar.  Jeff didn’t think there was anything going on, but Rafe had come as close to saying it as he could without having it be legally binding.  “…our women…”   That’s what he said.  Meaning Tamara for Nick and Mel for Rafe.

But Jeff said, no way.  He seemed pretty sure. 

But what about that kiss by the elevator?  Nick had asked Jeff about that, as nonchalantly as he could.  “Well, you say ‘no way’, but they were kissing.  Didn’t you see that?”

“He kissed her,” said Jeff.  “She didn’t look all that thrilled by it, if you want my opinion.”

Nick wanted to pursue it but he was afraid Jeff would figure out that he was interested in Mel.  He shrugged instead.  Whatever.  “So, I’m meeting Tamara at eleven at this Sassafraz place.”

“Toby’s arranged for the car,” Jeff told him. 

He explained that the restaurant was small, actually a house that had been made over.  There wasn’t a bar area where bodyguards could hang out.  It was also a very expensive, very trendy spot, not somewhere Nick’s fans would likely be.  So once Jeff got Nick settled in the restaurant, he was going to hang in the pub across the street, until Nick called him. 

“Sounds like a plan,” said Nick, and he went to his room to play guitar and torture himself.

Rafe and Mel? 

Yes or no? 

And if no, then what was Rafe playing at now? 

And if yes, then what the fuck was all that last night?  Nick closed his eyes and remembered Mel’s hands on him, her soft kisses against his skin, her…  He opened his eyes.  He shook his head and pounded his fist against the sofa cushions.  Goddammit!!

There was a knock on the door.  It was Toby.  He just wanted to confirm all the plans for the evening with Nick. 

Toby wasn’t in a great mood.  He and Gus had come as close to an argument as they ever had.  Gus was all giggly-stupid over Nick and Mel, insisting that they had ‘done the nasty’.  Toby wouldn’t believe it, had told Gus he didn’t know what he was talking about.  If there was anything like that going on, surely Toby would know.  After all, he rode the same bus they did. 

Gus had laughed and shrugged and said, okay Boss, whatever you say.  Toby knew that it would be an interesting night.  Whenever Gus called him ‘Boss’, he went out of his way to do things in bed that made Toby know exactly who was the boss.

“So…um…did Rafe get you to get him a car too,” asked Nick, “or did he arrange it on his own?  You know, for him and Mel.”

“Uh…no,” said Toby, slowly.  Rafe and Mel?  What?  “I only got the one for you.”

“Okay,” said Nick.  “That’s cool.  Thanks, Toby.”  And then as Toby was heading for the door...  “Um…Toby…have you ever noticed…I mean, is there like…I don’t know…some connection between Rafe and Mel?”

Toby stopped and turned back.  What did Nick want him to say?  “Well,” he said cautiously, “they went out together in New York…”

“Yeah,” said Nick, “but that was just business.”

“Oh, okay,” said Toby, but he didn’t sound convinced.

“Do you know something I don’t know?” asked Nick.

“No, no, I’m sure it was just business.  Those pictures can be so deceiving.”

“Pictures?  What pictures?”

Toby shrugged.  “It was just a couple of pictures…you know, those online photo services.”

“I’d like to see those,” said Nick.  Toby raised an eyebrow.  Nick blushed and bumbled on, “Um… I’d like to see the famous dress.  But never mind…if you don’t have them…”  Nick waved his hand through the air, dismissing the matter as beyond inconsequential.

Toby, in fact, had them in a labeled folder in his briefcase across the hall, but he just shrugged.  “I’ll have to see if I can find them.”

Toby went to his room and paced up and down nervously waiting for an opportunity.  He fiddled with things in his briefcase until he had the folder on top.  Then he went to the bathroom, hoping it would make Gus feel the same need. 

Gus lay on the bed with his arms folded behind his head and stared at the television.  He had CNN on, with the sound off.  He read the headlines along the bottom of the screen and watched Toby out of the corner of his eye.  Man, he was jumpy tonight.  What was he up to? 

Gus knew the contents of Toby’s briefcase even better than Toby.  He went through it on a daily basis when Toby was in the shower.  He knew what the folder contained that Toby had moved to the top of the pile.  If Toby wanted to be more secretive, he shouldn’t have different colored file folders.

Finally, Gus swung his legs off the side of the bed.  “I’m going to go get ice,” he said, grabbing the plastic bucket from the desk.  “We can have a drink while we decide what we want to do for dinner.”

Toby nodded nonchalantly.  Good idea.  As soon as the door closed behind Gus, Toby grabbed the photos from the folder and went across the hall to Nick’s room. 

“I did have them, after all,” he said to Nick, thrusting the photos into his hand.  “They were at the bottom of my briefcase with some other junk.”

Nick was almost afraid to look.  He had worked himself into such a frenzy, that the most innocent of pictures would have made him jealous.  And these certainly did the trick.  They were very intimate shots, not posed at all.  There were two of them.  In one, Mel was stretching up to whisper something in Rafe’s ear; he was bent down to hear her.  They looked very serious, very intense.  In the second one, they were laughing, but it still looked pretty intense.

“It is a nice dress, I guess,” said Nick, handing the photos back to Toby.  There was a block of ice in his stomach.

Toby took the pictures back and headed across the hall.  He hoped that he would beat Gus back to the room, but he didn’t.

“What’s that?” asked Gus when Toby entered the room.

“Just a couple of pictures,” said Toby, shoving them into his briefcase.

“Let me see,” said Gus.

“It’s nothing,” said Toby.

“Let me see,” said Gus, in a tone that made Toby look up.  Those dark eyes meant business.  Toby held up the pictures. 

“And what, in the name of heaven, were you doing with those?” Gus wanted to know.

“Nick wanted to see them,” said Toby.

“How did Nick even know they existed?” asked Gus. 

“It came up in conversation,” said Toby, trying to regain the upper hand.  “Look, he’s my boss.  If he says he wants to see something, he gets to see it.  You’re just pissed because it ruins your little theory about a romance between him and Mel.”  Toby waved the pictures.  “She’s out with Rafe right now!”

“Rafe and Mel?  No way.  Not a chance in the world.”

Toby shrugged and tossed the pictures into the briefcase.  “So says you.”

“Rafe Ariando wouldn’t dally with the hired help,” said Gus.  “Not for one second.”

“Well, I guess you’d know,” said Toby, sarcastically.  “What with being family and all.”