“I…I…”
Yes. She was going to tell him.
Right then, Felix plopped beside Rafa, out of breath. Damn.
“Did you catch a shot of that big-ass spider?” Felix asked.
Before Rafa could answer, Jerry came over, pointing his finger. “If you did, you can’t put that in the magazine,” Jerry said.
“Don’t worry. I got your good side,” Rafa said. He could feel Miri’s smile. A bit of vindication for Jerry’s whining.
Jerry opened his mouth to protest, but Felix butted in. “Have you been getting many decent shots? I mean, not that we’ve really done anything yet,” Felix asked.
Rafa noticed Miri’s shoulders deflate out of the corner of his eye.
“A few,” Rafa said.
“Can we see?” Felix asked.
Rafa handed the camera to Felix. “You can hit the arrow there and scroll through. Though, like you said, we’ve only just begun.”
A more-than-buzzed Logan started belting out the Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun,” while swaying back and forth in Rahim’s arms.What a bunch of goofballs.But at least they were lovable goofballs. Rafa smiled as he watched them, feeling sorry that their time together would likely be short lived.
“You’ve sure got a lot of pictures of Dr. Jacobs in here,” Felix said, snapping Rafa out of his thoughts.
Shit. Hedidhave a lot of pictures of her. No, not a lot. A shitload.
Rafa tossed a glance at Miri, who was already looking at him. Great. Did the guys not realize that she was sittingright there?
“Um, well, she is the lead. Of course she’s in a lot of thephotos,” Rafa said, pulling on the back of his neck and trying to play it off.
Anddesperatelyavoiding eye contact with Miri.
“I don’t know. This one doesn’t really look like anI’m taking pictures of her because she’s the leadsort of pic,” Felix said, turning the camera around so Rafa—and everyone else, Miri included—could see the photo he was referring to on the little view screen.
A photo of Miri up close. Smiling bashfully at the camera. Or rather, smiling bashfully at Rafa.
“Ooooh,” a now-drunk Logan whistled. “Do you have the hots for Dr. Jacobs?” he asked about as quietly as any liquored-up buffoon could.
In other words, loud enough to get all of Florestacasa’s—and all of the Amazon’s—attention.
Other team members who’d been completely engrossed in their own conversations suddenly turned their heads, their ears wide open. Fuck. He didn’t need everyone getting into his and Miri’s business, even if there wasn’t any business to be gotten into anymore.
“Give me that,” Rafa said, reaching over and trying to take back the camera. But Felix spun around, shielding himself so he could continue scrolling.
“Man, Dr. Jacobs looksgoodin some of these,” Felix murmured under his breath, unlike Logan, as he twisted away from Rafa’s clawing hands.
Rafa stifled a frustrated growl.
“Dr. Jacobs looks good all the time,” Rafa said, finally managing to finagle the camera back. And then he immediately froze and shut his eyes.
He pulled his lips into a tight line as he held his eyes closed. Why? Why did he say that out loud?
“Oooooh!” Logan said, shaking Rafa’s shoulders. “Someone’s got a crush on Dr. Jacobs!”
More drunken, teasingoohs andaahs followed. Rafa was afraid to turn and look at Miri.
Please. Please let this end.
