“Great. You look like you’re being held hostage. That’s exactly what I’m going for.”
The corner of my mouth quirks up, and I think she notices, but I hold back a smile and keep making her life hard.
Five minutes pass, and I don’t change my stance. I almost disassociate completely.
She closes the distance between us, and then she kneels in front of me. Her brown eyes meet mine, and the proximity has me shifting in my seat.
“What are you doing?”
“Look. You’re acting like a little baby bitch. Now, I really, really need you to cooperate so we can get this over with.”
I give her the dirtiest look I can manage. “You’re antagonizing me.”
“Returning the favor.” She stands and loops the camera strap over her shoulder.
“What did I do to you?”
“Exist,” she quickly says. “That’s enough.”
“Oh, the feeling is more than mutual.”
“Finally, we can agree on something,” she says, taking two steps away from me. It’s still not far enough, but it’s a start. She holds my gaze with a challenge burning in her eyes. Then she raises the camera and takes a few shots, but her expressiontells me she’s not getting what she needs. She lowers the camera with a sigh and sets it on the table before walking toward me. My body tenses with every step she takes, and when she stops in front of my chair, she’s close enough that I can smell the vanilla perfume that I’ve been craving since Diamond.
She reaches down and grabs my shoulders, yanking me forward so my back leaves the chair. The force catches me off guard, and my hands shoot up instinctively, landing on her hips to steady myself.
We both freeze.
Her fingers are digging into my shoulders through my henley, and my palms are pressed against the curve of her waist. She’s bent over me with her face inches from mine, close enough that I can see the gold flecks in her brown eyes and the rapid flutter of her pulse in her throat.
“You’re being difficult.” Her voice comes out breathless.
My fingers flex against her hips instead of releasing because my body stopped listening to reason the moment she touched me. The heat of her seeps through the silk of her shirt, and I’m suddenly very aware of how easy it would be to pull her into my lap and finish what we started at Diamond.
She places her hand under my chin and tilts it before taking a step away from me.
“Don’t you dare move.” Her voice is steady, but I don’t know how she’s keeping control.
I stay exactly how she wants. The shutter clicks, and I stare at the lens while my body burns.
“Slightly angle your body toward the window.”
I’ll do whatever I need to keep her across the room. The afternoon light warms my face while she moves around the room, capturing me from different angles. The silence between us is suffocating. It’s full of everything we’re not saying, and I focus on the empty rink below instead of tracking her.
“Look at me,” she says.
This is the part I’ve been dreading because meeting her eyes is dangerous. The truth always lies in her gaze.
I turn my head and stare at the lens, pretending she’s not on the other side, staring right back at me.
She lowers the camera with her lips parted and brows furrowed. “Why do you have that look on your face?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re looking at me—” She cuts herself off and shakes her head. “Never mind.”
She’s tense, and part of me knows I should let it go, but I want to know what rattled her to the bone.
“Tell me.”
