Love Today (2 page)

“
Hmm, that helps
.
”

“Yeah,” I smiled. But I wasn’t about to get into how I
didn’t
like getting jobs through
Rachel
.
That’s how she lured me north, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that Maggie was more familiar with her babysitter than her own mother
, and then I knew there was a different purpose for me
.

Speaking of Maggie… She was giving me that “come on, let
’
s go” look from the car.

“Well, I need to get this little girl fed,” I told Zack. “Thanks again for the help; I appreciate it.”

“Sure, anytime.”

I did like his smile, and I’ll admit that I was attracted to him. I could tell that he liked me too, but just the whole situation—trying to pick me up at his kid’s soccer game—kind of turned me off to him. Yes he was just being friendly, and no he didn’t say or
do
a
nything super creepy
, but I had so many guy troubles that it wasn’t even funny. I couldn’t add soccer dad—
single
or not—to my overflowing plate.

I watched him leave, stopping
for
a little girl that was waiting with an older couple
.
After a few seconds he nodded and motioned for her to come with him, and th
e
two of them
got into a four-door Wrangler
. It was definitely nice, like he spent time and money on making it special.
I tended to think that guys drove cars that represented them in a way. If I had to, I’d stereotype Zack as the outdoors type, but with a touch of class.

“Taryn, I’m hungry,” Maggie said out her open door.

It brought me back to reality, so I made sure she was buckled in correctly, and got behind the wheel
in
search
of
a hot dog.

Chapter Two

“Please, Taryn?”
Rachel
begged
. She was using her big brown eyes to work for her, but I wasn’t a man, so it didn’t have the same effect.
“I’m ready for any excuse to can Yvette. If she ‘might’ be late, I need to hire someone else.
She’s always bitchy anyways. She doesn’t like me and I can’t stand her fake compliance. I would
so
much rather you be there, Taryn.
”

I sighed and glanced at Maggie. We were heading to the park that morning and she was all ready to go.
Rachel
was heading for work
on a Sunday
—some brunch for a
n important company
—but before she left she made the pitch for a
n extra
photographer.

“Sorry,
Rachel
. We have plans.”

“Taryn, Bethany can take Maggie to the park. It’s
the park
.”
She rolled her eyes at me, like I was another child in the room.

I hated the way she made it sound so insignificant. Yeah it was just the park, and it would be there the next day, but I had already promised my niece.

“Sorry,” I said again.

“I thought you needed the money,” she said, trying to strengthen her case.

“I do.”

“Then just come do this. Maggie, Taryn can take you to the park later, okay? Then she can also take you shopping and you can get some new Barbies or some clothes. How does that sound?”

Wow, the ultimate bribe. And Maggie ate it all up.
She didn’t mind a change of plans after that and she nodded her head
of long brown hair
.

“Okay, so go grab your things for Bethany’s
,” she told her.

Rachel
was on the phone
with the neighbor
before I could even object, and Maggie was already fetching her “babysitter bag.” It sounded like Bethany was all for having Maggie that morning, so I went to my room, changed my clothes, and got my equipment together.

I hate sisters that know how to manipulate.

The event that day was b-o-r-
i
-n-g. I found myself
taking pictures of weird things just to bide the time—plants, the coat check, people’s half-eaten food on the tabletops…
I
even discreetly snapped photos of people’s shoes for some reason. I
hated posed pictures, and that’s what this particular schmoozing party was for. Ooh, let’s get so-and-so with Mr. Big
CEO
, and wow, how about Ms. Cougar Widow, willing to fork over
the big bucks while the
sexy
young Mr. D
ebonair p
lays along to get the account.

Man, I hated business events.
And the political ones were even worse.

When my job was finally over
, I
began
packing up my equipment as the cleanup crew took over. One of the workers was in my area, patiently waiting for me to move so he could
complete his job
.

“Sorry, I’m moving,” I told him.

He seemed surprised that I was apologizing. “Oh, no, that’s okay,” he smiled. “Take all the time you need.”

“I’m kind of slow and methodical.”

“Expensive equipment. No reason to put it in danger.”

I
chuckled
and nodded my head. “Exactly.
Thank you for your patience.
”

We were
somewhat interrupted by Mr. Debonair
giving Worker G
uy a
questioning
look. Maybe the help wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone? But I felt like “the help” too, so what was the difference?

The man moved away to sweep an area that he’d just swept.

“You’ve had a busy day,” Mr. Debonair
said to me.

Busy? I felt like a robot, mechanical with every picture I took. Nothing felt inspiring or exciting in anyway. I couldn’t imagine any of the photos I took being worth the memory.

“There are
a lot of people here,” was all I said.

“Yes, a pretty important shindig.” He seemed to say it sarcastically, so maybe I’d read him wrong earlier. He watched me zi
p my last bag and then said, “You seem a little more easygoing
than
the
other
photographer
. Are you new?”

I looked him over for the first time
,
really. I guess maybe
he
was new, or at least hadn’t been to an event that I’d worked at.
He kind of had a familiar look to him, his face at least, but I couldn’t recall if I’d seen him before.
I tried not to look him over too closely; after all, I
had
deemed
him sexy earlier.
But even though men in Armani suits didn’t exactly impress me, I was careful not to seem interested
by staring
.
However, the fact that he wasn’t wearing a tie sort of made me curious.
He was the only man in the room not wearing one. But…that open-collared look really worked for him.

“No, I’ve worked a few of
these before. What about you? Are you new in the company?”

He cocked an eyebrow.
“
Miller
and Harris? No, I don’
t work for them,” he kind
of
smiled. I understood why when he added,
“
My dad is John
Miller
, though. I’m just here for him.
It’s a rare occasion,
”
he add
ed
.

I looked over his
expensive
suit and tried not to
form an opinion. My sister liked working for John, but that was because they understood each other. They had that
same love for the
business
world
that I just didn’t get.
But as for this suit-and-tie wearing
atmosphere
that John so adamantly policed amongst his employees, I wondered how his son could get away with being so casual.

I knew that I had to treat this guy professionally though, so I said, “My sister is
Rachel
Hartford
. She really likes working for your dad.”

“
Rachel
, huh?” he said, seeming surprised. “Yeah, I guess I can see the resemblance,” he added.

I smiled to be polite.

“So is tha
t why you’re here?” he asked. “B
usiness with
the
sister?”

I was slightly offended by that but I only said, “Actually it’s a
favor
to the sister. Um, I gotta get going,
though,
” I added, slinging my bags over my shoulder. “It was very nice to meet you, uh, Mr.
Miller
.”

He kind of chuckled. “Mr.
Miller
is my dad. Call me
Jared
.”

With a nod I said,
“Okay, nice to meet you
,
Jared
. Have a
great week
.”

I was about to leave but he stopped me with, “So am I supposed to ask
Rachel
what your name is?”

I looked at him for a few seconds, trying to determine what the best choice
would
even be.
He had a partial smile on his face, like he knew my dilemma. He w
as extremely good looking—light brown hair
and
green
eyes—and
great
teeth to go along with his
beautiful
smile.

“I’m Taryn,” I decided to divulge, just to keep my sister out of it.

He smiled with a slight nod. “Taryn. I like it. You actually look like a Taryn.”

That caught me off guard. I’d never actually been told that
before
. I wasn’t offended or anything, but I was curious as to why he’d think that.

“Just the pretty brown hair,” he said, seeming to read my curiosity. “And…the be
autiful dark eyes… I don’t know;
you just look like a Taryn to me.
Smart,
confident,
independent…just lovely all around.
”

I wasn’t sure what to respond. I un
derstood he was complimenting me
, so I just smiled and said, “Well thank you. And you look like a very…stylish
Jared
.”

That made him laugh and he smoothed down the front of his suit jacket. “Stylish, huh? I suppose I’ll take that
for today
. I guess clothes do change everything, huh?”

I eyed him carefully and asked, “Meaning what?”

“Meaning this is not something you’d ever see me in.”

“Oh?”

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “Does that change your opinion of me?”

“I don’t have an opinion of you.”

“Sure you do. You thought I was one of these snooty business
people
.”

I was going to deny it but I just couldn’t; he was right. “Okay, so you’re not here for business, but just supporting your family. Sorry I made assumptions.”

“Nah, it’s cool
,” he shrugged. “So now that that’s out of the way, you’d actually go out with me if I asked you out, right?
Now that you know I’m not corporate?
”

Suddenly I became nervous. This guy was interested in me. This very put together, very beautiful man—John Miller’s
son
.

I tried to smile
naturally when I
polit
ely declined.
“
I’m sorry.
No
,
thank you.
”

His expression hardly changed but he seemed to stare into my eyes like he was trying to figure me out. It made me even more
insecure
, lik
e he could see right through me—see that I wasn’t exactly a smart and confident woman.

“Um,
I’m not really
available
these days
,” I added, hoping he didn’t hear the uncertainty in my voice.

He slightly shrugged, but he was still staring right into me.
“Well I’m not either, but yo
u have to eat sometime, right? I’m in the area for a while, so h
ow about dinner one of these nights?”