Shutter by Rhonda Laurel Page A

does your mom dating horrify you?”
    “I don’t want to see anyone taking advantage of her. My dad didn’t treat her well. She’s been a serial dater since I can remember. Nothing permanent ever lasted more than three years.”
    “So is that why you’re a serial dater?” she said sincerely.
    “What I do isn’t usually considered dating, is it?” he replied.
    “I suppose not,” she said quietly. “Does love scare you Antonio?”
    The minute she said it she knew it was none of her business on so many levels. She could write a list for the rest of the afternoon detailing why. But she was curious and wanted to know. He’d just confessed his mother was a serial dater and that piece of the puzzle snapped into place, but his older brother was married with children, so obviously he was open to commitment. And why did she care whether he was capable of love? She didn’t know if she was either.
    The silence after such a lovely conversation was on the verge of deafening and interrupted her creative flow. “Forget I—”
    “No, Lucy. I am not scared of love. I am scared of the possibilities of love.”
     
     
     
    It was hard to tell what she was thinking. If she understood what he was trying to say. Antonio tried to make eye contact with her but Lucy wouldn’t lift her head up. She just kind of stood there, very still, like a terra-cotta soldier. The door chimes started to play and he looked up to see Monica coming his way. Lucy smiled and excused herself to go to the stockroom.
    Monica sauntered through the store with a black designer bag draped casually over her shoulder and wearing a pair of hip-hugging jeans that looked like she had airbrushed them on that morning. As she walked around, her nose would turn up, as if in disgust, by the eclectic things laid out around the store.
    “Hey sexy,” she said, loud enough so Lucy could hear her in the stockroom.
    “Hey yourself,” Antonio said with a smile.
    “What on earth are you doing in this store? My friend Trina told me she saw you in here two days in a row and I had to come by and see if she was telling the truth. I thought you’d left town. You haven’t called me since we went to the gallery,” she cooed.
    “I’m helping out Lucy until she can find someone on a permanent basis,” he said casually.
    “Isn’t it a little beneath you? You’re a fabulous photographer. You shouldn’t be cooped up in this dreadful store helping out some weird artist.”
    Antonio took a deep breath. “Helping a friend is never beneath me, Monica. And this store is not dreadful. It may look haphazard but Lucy has made an intentional display of color in here. Most people feel invigorated when they walk through the door.”
    “I’m feeling invigorated, but it’s not by the colors,” Monica said in a sultry voice.
    “You should buy something. The art community in this town is snatching up Lucy’s work.”
    “And what is Lucy snatching of yours?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “The little flake must be doing something for you,” Monica said with a raised eyebrow.
    “Let’s just say she gets my creative juices flowing,” he said with a slight chuckle.
    “So our dates meant nothing to you?” Monica pressed.
    “Monica, I think somewhere in the universe we cancel each other out,” he said sincerely.
    “I suppose the two of us are just too much sexy for one couple,” she said with a sly smile.
    If Lucy had not been in earshot, he would have told her that her mouth should be registered as a lethal weapon. But even that statement would have made Monica believe there would be a round two in the future.
    Looking at her was truly like looking in a mirror of his sexual self. Sex was a sidebar to the way they were playing battle games with each other. And what was the end game in the seduction after the sex?
    “Monica, my dear.” He walked over to her and caressed her arms. “I am afraid you caught me amid a personal evolution of sorts. If I’d met you three months ago, there