Fuck he’s hot. He might be even hotter dressed down in his hoodie and shorts than in that goddamned suit he wears every day. His less than perfect hair paired with his sleepy smirk was a chef’s kiss and had my heart racing when I opened the door. Part of me wishes he were just a little less attractive so I wouldn’t blush so hard when I’m around him.
Pathetic, I know.
I let out a sigh, close the curtain, and wipe the crumbs from my toast off my black dress.
I quickly brush my teeth and grab my camera with a few rolls of film. Yesterday pissed me off but I don’t know what else to do. The camera was a gift from my mom, and I don’t have any money to replace it. I’m just going to have to deal. Like always.
A knock at my door has me pausing while I slip on my pink checkered Vans. I thought Lucas was just going to follow me, not escort me, to the shoot. I had planned on walking today and I grab all my things and shove them into my small backpack. When I open the door, I expect to see Lucas but it’s Kyle who greets me instead.
“Hey, is everything okay?” I ask, hoping nothing happened to Mary.
He nods his head. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just wanted to check in on you.” He throws a thumb over his shoulder. “I saw him across the street.”
I cross my arms and prop a hip against the door jam. “Seems like you two are buddy-buddy all of a sudden and decided to talk about me behind my back.”
Color blooms on his cheeks and he rubs the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I just got a little freaked out about yesterday. I think the guy’s an asshole but he’s an asshole who seemed worried about you when he overheard me talking to my mom about the robbery. I can still come with you today if you want?”
I shake my head. “No. Absolutely not. Just focus on fixing my Insta page and I’ll deal with him.”
The slamming of a car door has us both turning around. Lucas is headed straight toward us, his focus on Kyle. I step out of the doorway and stand between them, not sure what’s about to transpire.
His gaze flicks to me and then he licks his lips. I can feel heat traveling from my chest to my face and there’s no stopping it. His eyes are eating up every inch of my body and I can’t tell if he’s mad or turned on.
When he reaches me, in a move that I’m not anticipating, he skims his fingers from my elbow to my wrist and gently pulls me to his side. Every part of my skin is on fire as his hand holds onto mine. I look down at where we’re touching and all I can payattention to is his giant hand in mine. A shiver wracks my body when his thumb starts moving in a delicate rhythm across my skin.
What is he doing?
His voice pulls me out of my trance, and I try to step away from him with no such luck. “Kyle…” he says, his arm stretched out for a handshake, a stark contrast from their unfriendly encounter the other morning.
Kyle’s eyes are dancing between the two of us with curiosity, but he finally returns the greeting to Lucas.
Lucas’s eyes return to mine. “We should go. Is that all you need?”
I nod and hike my backpack further up my one shoulder. “Yeah, I’ve got everything. I just need to lock the door.” I feel both sets of eyes watching me. Lucas lets go of my hand and I pull out my key, unfortunately struggling to fit it into the keyhole.
When I finally get my shit together and turn around, Kyle is covering up a laugh with a cough, and Lucas’s eyes are on my legs.
I glare at both of them. “I’m out. I’ll see you later,” I say as I high tail it down the sidewalk without a backward glance, leaving them to entertain each other instead of using me as their entertainment.
It shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes to reach the photoshoot location and I’m hoping today goes better than yesterday. This couple seemed normal in comparison to Candy and Brad, although that’s not hard to do. But I looked them up last night to make sure I wasn’t walking into another scam, and they’re just two young adults whose social media are like everyone else’s. They originally scheduled a forty-five-minute shoot with me, but with my film camera, there’s no way I can stretch it that long because I have to be selective with my shots.
I don’t make it more than thirty yards before I hear large footsteps behind me. Without turning around, I say, “You can go. I don’t need you.” My stubbornness is showing, and I’m irritated.
I hear a huffed laugh. “And I told you I would follow you no matter what. So here I am.”
I smile to myself because the man is relentless. He barely knows me and has some sort of savior complex towards me. Little does he know, I’m more Pitbull than princess.
“Are you going to stare at me the whole time I’m with this couple? I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable.” I turn on my heel so quickly that he runs right into me.
“Fuck,” he mutters and grabs me by the shoulders to stabilize himself. “Are you okay?” His eyes search my face.
I don’t realize that my hands are gripping his waist until it’s too late. Our bodies are pressed together from hip to chest, and… is that a fucking flashlight in his pocket? My hands involuntarily clench his sides at the thought of his dick being that big. Not to mention, he smells like all man, the scent of cedar and something uniquely him invading my senses.
His lips twitch and he runs one of his hands from my shoulder to the back of my neck, his thumb rubbing at the pulse of my throat. I stifle a moan because the pressure feels good, and I don’t want him to know. “Let’s go, beautiful. You don’t want to be late.”
My eyes widen because what the hell am I doing? And I turn out of his grasp. Instead of trailing behind me, he walks right next to me in silence until we reach an amazing mural on the side of one of the buildings in town.
The mural is a depiction of a sunset over the ocean, framed by giant peonies in light pinks and soft yellows. Every other year an artist comes through and paints somethingdifferent on this very wall. No one knows exactly what it’s going to be, but everyone always loves it.
