Total Package by Cait London Page B

from his wife going on. He’ll get over it.”
    But would she?
    Would she ever be able to forget Danya?
    Sidney placed the telephone on a stack of brochures for the Cayman Islands. She’d taken the pictures, done the scuba diving shots, and had picked up a nice little fee. Taking photos of the Amoteh Resort wouldn’t take long, and taking pictures of the Stepanov family would let her experiment with portraits of children and those faces with a few lines of experience, like Fadey and Viktor. It would be all light and shadow and beaches and sky and—and Danya.
    Sidney decided that what had happened with Danya wasn’t finished and taking those jobs would be the perfect time to see more of him—on a friendly basis. Nothing permanent, of course. Because eventually he’d find someone who matched the wife and children and home picture he should have. Everything was about pictures when you really came down to it, she decided. Some compositions fit and others just didn’t.
    She’d seen him over one rough spot, after all, she justified, and she couldn’t just desert him.
    On the other hand, she couldn’t use him as a toy boy, either.
    Not that Danya was a boy, of course; he was very much a full grown and very hot male. And not her type.
    With a sigh, Sidney took a folded sheet from her linen closet, wrapped it around her and went to lie on her couch. She’d be worthless on a photo shoot if she couldn’t focus and that was her problem right now.
    She needed to complete her Danya-assignment, needed closure to her uneasiness, and then life would move on as it had.
    Sidney removed an earring and lifted it to the light, studying it. Glittering in the shadows, it represented Danya and too many unseen dangers. She couldn’t be what he needed; Ben had made it quite clear that she wasn’t appealing as a wife. “You’re okay, Sid,” Ben had said. “But I love Fluffy. You understand why a man would want a woman like her, want to settle down, right? Thanks, Sid, I knew you’d understand. You’ve always been a good buddy.”
    She didn’t want to be Danya’s “good buddy,” and she didn’t want to hurt him either.
    She reached for the telephone and dialed his number. Someone picked up, and Sidney’s heart beat quickly as she waited for Danya’s voice. “Sidney?”
    All of her fears and thoughts came rushing out. “I’ll get someone to do your family portraits. Someone really good, who specializes in that—I don’t. I just took the gig at Amoteh because I didn’t want to run into Ben, but now I don’t have to worry about that as he’s not leaving Fluffy—she’s pregnant, you know. They’re raising ducks in Wisconsin. I like duck a l’orange, but I wouldn’t want to murder one to feed myself. I’ll send the earrings and insure them. They belong to your family and I don’t know why you would give them to me, or why I would take them. We had sex. It was good. I don’t need payoff for that. Consider the account closed. You’re okay now and you don’t owe me anything. I don’t want to be your sometimes-on and sometimes-off. You should marry someone and have that family. I’m not coming back. Bye.”
    She waited for Danya to end the conversation and the silence at the other end of the line stretched with her every heartbeat. Finally, Danya spoke and every word was wrapped in cold, tight anger. “Okay, Sidney…if that’s the way you want it. But I never thought you were a quitter or a coward. Goodbye.”
    “Listen, guy. I am not a quitter or a coward—” She looked at the telephone which had just clicked and was buzzing with an empty sound. She redialed, because Danya wasn’t getting the last word. The telephone rang several times before she hung up. “I am not a quitter, Mr. Danya Stepanov. I just think someone else would do a better job of the portraits, that’s all.”
    But that wasn’t the issue, and Sidney knew it. Something wove between Danya and herself, and it terrified her.
    She should run,