As she grappled with this need, she grew to love Gabriel’s sly sense of humor, how he often teased Jimmy unexpectedly, making them all laugh hysterically at dinner or at night when they watched television together. She learned that she wanted to hear Jimmy’s laugh as much as possible. She delighted in hearing the stories about Gabriel’s undercover assignments, and to her astonishment, Gabriel even convinced Jimmy to open up about Afghanistan. Neither man treated her like a kid, instead talking to her and asking her opinion seriously.
For the first time, she was able to talk to someone about photography. Her father indulged her and encouraged her and didn’t argue when she pursued it, but he didn’t really understand how she felt about it. Jimmy and Gabriel both seemed to realize that she had an instinctive need to record and shape what she saw. They understood her obsession for visuals and questioned her over and over about the shootings and her impressions of the people involved in both incidents, using her eye for detail as a tool to help with the case. Sabrina was happier than she’d ever been, except for one thing: neither man seemed to feel for her or each other the intense desire she had for them, an attraction she still wrestled with every day. Had she imagined everything?
She would have despaired completely, except after several weeks, she caught Gabriel looking at Jimmy, once in the kitchen and once in the hallway, where Jimmy stood in a shaft of late afternoon sunlight. His brown hair was lit with the gold, red, and darker brown colors that she loved so much. He looked beautiful. He was reading something on a piece of paper just as Gabriel turned the corner from the kitchen. Sabrina lounged in the den, trying to concentrate on a new photography magazine, not easy with Jimmy standing there looking amazing. When Gabriel suddenly stopped, a look of such naked longing passed over his face, she gasped. He glanced sharply at her, and to her shock, the heat in his eyes grew even stronger as he glanced from her face down her body before he abruptly turned on his heel and walked back to the kitchen. Jimmy never noticed, but not an hour later she caught him sneaking sidelong glances at Gabriel’s hands when the other man joined them in the den.
After that, she knew the arousal simmering just under the surface was breaking loose. She’d be making breakfast at the stove and turn around to find Jimmy staring at her, his face tight with desire. After eating lunch one day, she walked into the den to see if Jimmy had taken a break from his latest article and found the two men staring at each other in silence. As soon as they noticed her, Jimmy went back to writing on his laptop and Gabriel fumbled with his phone. Another time she woke from a nap in her room to find Gabriel standing in the doorway, his eyes tracing their way over her body. The look on his face scorched her. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t move until he blinked and turned away, stepping hurriedly down the stairs. After that, she walked around perpetually flushed. She knew it was just a matter of time before something happened or she went stark, raving mad.
Finally, three weeks after Gabriel came to stay, she told him and Jimmy that she had to go to work. Sabrina knew neither man was going to be happy about her leaving the house, but by then the sexual tension was so high she couldn’t function. She needed a break. And she needed the money for grad school in the fall since she wouldn’t be living with her father anymore. Every summer, she worked at a local portrait studio, from the last week in June until the last week in August. And each year, the local community group commissioned photographs of the Fourth of July parade queen and her court. The job was too difficult for one person, and she didn’t want to abandon Joy, her boss, after all she’d taught her the past two summers.
This particular shoot wasn’t her favorite because she didn’t like the people they’d be photographing, but she promised she would be there. Unfortunately, this year’s Fourth of July queen was also spring fling queen from Sabrina’s college, and the court was the queen’s date from the dance and all the runners-up. None of them had been very nice to her when they were in school, and she was under no illusion that this would change now that they’d graduated.
“Absolutely not!” Jimmy retorted after she’d mentioned the job to him. They were in the kitchen.
“Jimmy, I can’t let Joy down.” Sabrina crossed her arms and watched him butter his toast. She’d already eaten but wished she hadn’t. She felt her morning coffee slosh uncomfortably in her stomach as she glared at him.
“What’s ‘absolutely not’?” Gabriel asked as he walked into the kitchen. He carried his gun and holster and set both down on the table as he pulled out a cloth and small bottle from his jeans pocket. Sabrina glanced at him, then turned her attention back to Jimmy.
“I need to go to work today. Joy can’t handle this shoot alone.”
Jimmy shook his head as Gabriel sat down next to him and began taking apart his gun, setting each of the pieces in a row on the table atop the cloth he’d spread out.
“It’s too dangerous for her to go,” Jimmy said, finishing his toast and wiping his face with a napkin. To her disgust, he still looked gorgeous, even when she was angry with him. He was wearing blue again, one of her favorite colors. She sighed, trying to wrench her eyes away from his nicely muscled chest, and tried again.
“I need to go to work. Nothing has happened in nearly three weeks. Maybe the shooter has given up.”
“Maybe you want a convenient way to commit suicide?” Jimmy glared at her, pouring himself more coffee from the pot on the table.
“Jimmy—”
“We’ll go with her,” Gabriel interrupted, looking at Jimmy as he paused in his cleaning.
Jimmy set down his coffee. “What? She’ll be completely exposed!” he insisted angrily. Gabriel shook his head slowly, thinking it over.
“If the two of us are there, we can check out the building and guard the exits. I assume this is an indoor studio, right?”
Sabrina nodded and explained, “We’ll be in the back room, where it’s easier to control the light for this particular shoot.”
She looked warily from Gabriel to Jimmy, hoping they would relent and let her out of the house. She understood the need for safety, but she desperately needed some fresh air. She needed a break from the sexual tension that hung between them, relentlessly coloring every conversation, every glance. Even if the two men accompanied her, she hoped the distraction of the shoot and company of other people would give her libido a much-needed rest.
“Okay, we go in and check it out, guard the exits. Considering how quiet it’s been, the shooter may be off on other business or he may have concluded that she’s too well guarded in the house. Either way, we need to get out of here or we’re all going to go crazy,” Gabriel said, gesturing with his cleaning cloth. Jimmy scowled at him and Sabrina wondered if either man realized how tense things had become. Gabriel fidgeted with his equipment more than necessary, while Jimmy paced around the house like a caged animal. Sabrina found it both annoying and amusing as she’d caught each man more than once stealing glances at the other. They looked sexy even when frustrated. She watched as Gabriel shifted in the seat, trying to adjust himself discreetly.
Jimmy shook his head slowly. “How can we guarantee her safety in that situation?” he asked. His hair stood on end from where he’d run his hands through the strands. He looks hot, Sabrina thought. She was so relieved that Gabriel was on her side—Jimmy couldn’t blame her later if something went wrong. And we really do need to get out of this house. Then she realized that if she took them to work with her, her former classmates were going to see her interacting closely with two very attractive men. She wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. Although, if Gabriel and Jimmy let me pretend to be their girlfriend, it would be worth it. Sabrina imagined the look on the girls’ faces until she realized they probably wouldn’t believe her even if she flat-out told them she had two boyfriends. Boyfriends, she repeated to herself, smirking. Sabrina hoped she could actually claim that at some point.