“Ashley is an artist,” Karen announced. She kept her eyes glued sternly on Ashley and flipped the napkin over.
“An excellent artist,” Jan said. “Draw a face, Ashley. Draw Kyle.”
Ashley obediently began a sketch of the firefighter. The others rose and stood behind her, staring over her shoulder as she drew.
“Wow!” Kyle said, looking at her with new respect. “That’s great. Sign it. I want to keep it.”
“Will you do one for me, too, please?” Mario asked.
“How about Karen and Jan?” Len asked when she was finished, handing her a stack of napkins.
“I’ve drawn them dozens of times.”
“But maybe Kyle and I would like to keep them,” Len said.
Karen covertly jabbed her. “Of course,” Ashley said.
She finished the pictures and passed them out. Kyle shook his head. “So…Len says you’re going to be a cop, right? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a cop but…these are great.”
“And she has a photographic memory. Draw someone from today—show them,” Jan insisted.
Karen placed a hand over Ashley’s. “Not the highway,” she said.
Ashley shrugged. “All right.”
“You go ahead, I’ll get the check,” Len said.
“Hey, Len, that’s not necessary.”
“You’ve fed me plenty of times, Ash, at Nick’s place.”
“That means my uncle fed you,” she protested.
“Don’t argue with an officer of the law,” he teased and walked to the bar. Ashley watched him go, shook her head and set her pen to the paper. She hesitated, then started another face. She was startled herself when she saw what she was doing. Strong, craggy features, dark hair, dark eyes, square jawline, high, broad cheekbones, and the mouth…drawn into something of a tight line, but a good mouth…
“Wow. Cool. Who is it?” Karen asked, picking up the napkin.
“The guy I spilled the coffee on this morning.”
“Good-looking son of a gun,” Karen murmured.
“See, photographic memory,” Jan said, pleased.
“Not really. But I like to draw faces. I always have,” Ashley said to the two firefighters. Kyle whistled softly. She stared down at her own drawing, oddly stirred by it. Good-looking son of a gun. Yeah, he had been. Walking aggression and testosterone, but…hmm. There was something about him. A beckoning power or strength or sensuality. Maybe all of them. She hated the saying, but animal attraction might just be the right phrase to describe him.
He did have something that…
Something that, for her, Len just didn’t.
Don’t you ever just want to have sex?
She looked back at her drawing. His type probably had lots of sex. He wasn’t the kind of man with whom she would ever want to become involved. Not that she wanted to be involved.
With luck, she wouldn’t even run into him again. Literally or otherwise. Even though he did seem to know Nick, and she had actually seen him around the place before. Lots of customers came and went, some of them frequently, some of them not so frequently.
“You’re good. You shouldn’t waste this kind of talent,” Kyle said, interrupting her introspection.
She exhaled, glad to return to the present. “Thanks,” she said, then crumpled up the napkin.
“You destroyed it!” Mario protested.
“She didn’t like him very much,” Jan said, grinning.
Len returned from paying the check. They talked as they exited the dance hall, Len expressing his regret that they were heading back the next afternoon, since Mario and Kyle went back on duty the next day.
They parted outside to head for their respective hotels, but not before Kyle and Jan exchanged numbers. As they walked back, Karen suddenly linked arms with Ashley and let out a soft whistle. “Wasn’t it a great evening?”
“Yes, I had a good time, and I really hope you and Len do keep seeing each other.”
“Yes, a guy like Len shouldn’t go to waste,” Jan said. “And, Ashley, your guy was mature…a little scary. But…appealing.”
Ashley stared at her, frowning as she arched a brow. “Definitely a nice guy. And married,” she informed her.
Karen laughed, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “I don’t think Jan means the firefighter. She means the guy in the sketch.”
“He isn’t my guy!” Ashley insisted, startled.
“Oh, yeah? You should have taken a good look at that picture you drew. You saw something in that guy,” Karen told her.
“I don’t even know him. And with any luck, I won’t.”
“There’s nothing like a mystery man,” Jan teased.
“Oh, yeah, right, nothing like one.”
As soon as they reached the suite, they headed for bed. But Ashley couldn’t sleep. When both Karen and Jan were deeply out, she was still wide awake. So she closed the door over to the bedroom, went out to the living area to make a cup of tea, and picked up her sketch pad from the coffee table.
When the three men reached the room they’d rented for the night, Len suddenly drew back as Kyle fumbled with the plastic card that had replaced the use of keys at most hotels.