If I ask her when she’s in a bad mood, she’ll say no. But how will I get the opportunity to spend enough time with her to catch her at the right time?
That’s when the most surprising idea pops into my head.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FINLEY
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I stop taking pictures of Thomas and stare at him like he just morphed into a reptile.I must have heard him wrong.
His smile is positively blinding as he repeats, “I’d like to book a couple more sessions with you.”
“Why?” I’ve done nothing but make this man uncomfortable. Why would he want to spend one more minute with me than he has to?
“I’d like to have some real pirate shots taken. Maybe throw in a snooty duke, and I don’t know …” He shrugs before adding, “How do you feel about cowboys?”
I feel like I’m in one of my napping dimensions. “I love cowboys,” I tell him, all the while envisioning him in a pair of chaps. Goose bumps pop up on both of my arms.Breathe, Finley.
Thomas stands up and walks over toward me. Then he reaches out and rests his hands on my shoulders. An honest to God electric charge shoots through me that I’m pretty sure isabout to make me start levitating. “It just occurred to me how I can get even with my parents for that awful prank they pulled on me as a kid.”
My synapses have stopped firing, and I have no idea what he’s talking about. “What does having fantasy pictures taken have to do with getting even with your parents?”
Thomas turns around and takes a giant step backward. Then he faces me again. “I’m going to make one of those calendars you thought Constance wanted.”
“What? Why?” I’m having a strange out-of-body experience that I can’t seem to wake up from.
“I’ll give it to my parents for April Fool’s Day and tell them I’ve taken a hiatus from being a doctor to become a model.” Thomas practically lights up like a thousand lightbulbs have turned on under his skin. “What do you think about that?”
“I think … I think …” I’m thinking but I’m not processing. I eventually say, “I think it’s genius. But they might actually have a heart attack. I mean, who gives up being a doctor to dress up like a pirate for a living?”
“That’s clearly the prank part,” he tells me. With a very satisfied grin, he adds, “This is the best idea I’ve had in a long time. Are you in?”
“Yes. Of course. I’ll do it.” I have an expansion to pay for, after all. But I’ll have to spend time with Thomas looking like a pirate, which makes me worry I’ll behave badly. And if not badly, then certainly oddly.
“Should we start today?” he wants to know.
I look at the clock and discover it’s already four thirty. Even though Icouldstart now, I’m not mentally prepared. I need to consider stuff like how I’m going to do this without acting like a total groupie. I need to plan. “I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I’m busy tonight. We’ll have to do it another time.”
He looks disappointed, which I decide to take as a compliment. Even though he’s not doing this to spend time with me, we will technically be spending time together. I’m positively giddy at the prospect.
“Can I look through your costumes before I go?” he asks. “That way I can see what I might need to buy.”
“Oh, you don’t have to buy anything,” I assure him. “I have a lot.” I gesture toward a rack against the back wall. “It’s all over there. Go ahead and look.”
As he leaves the set to go look at the outfits, my mind starts to reel.Can I really do this? Can I spend time with Thomas dressed as a pirate/duke/cowboy and not throw myself at him?I’m afraid this might stretch the bounds of my professionalism. But even so, I really want to see how he looks as a cowboy…
I sit down in front of my laptop and look through the pictures we just took. Unlike our last session, these are all acceptable. In fact, they’re boring enough that Constance will probably do backflips of excitement.
Thomas walks over to me with a police officer’s uniform draped over his arm. “How about this one?”
“That’s a popular one,” I tell him. I immediately cross my arms to stop myself from stretching out my wrists for him to handcuff me and drag me off to jail. “There’s also a firefighter if you’re interested.”Oh, gosh. I’m done for now.Why did I tell him about that?
“How many sessions should we set up?” Thomas wants to know.
“It depends on how many costume changes you want.” I’m hoping he says a hundred, but it would be better for my sanity if he kept the number down.
“There are twelve months in a year, so it stands to reason I would need twelve different looks.” He really sounds excited about this, which both pleases me and assures me that I’m goingto have to take some personal time to recuperate when it’s all over.
“Then we should do four sessions with three looks each. But it’s already March, so we’ll have to move fast.”
