“Next pose!” Yayoi barks.
Thank you!
I drop Joss at once, trying not to let the slide of her body do any more damage to theJust Friendssign flickering inside my mind. It’s getting worse, whatever’s breaking it. Letting this woman in on my secrets installed something in our friendship that simply doesn’t belong.
Wish I could take it back.
Suffering a sense of inevitable doom now. Maybe I’m about to have a heart attack.
Yayoi turns to Ali. “Can we borrow your engagement ring?”
With a sly smile at Joss, Ali slips off her ring and hands it over. Joss slides it on her left hand. Peculiar things happen in my chest at the sight. Did someone turn down the oxygen again?
“Aw, honey.” Joss wiggles her finger at me. “You shouldn’t have.”
“Anything for you, dearest,” I force out in a tone that is acceptably jovial.
Yayoi points at the ground. “Sit. We’re doing some close-ups.”
We sit side by side in a patch of flowers, allowing Yayoi to position us however she wants. My legs are stretched out while Joss’s are bent and resting against mine. The skirt of her dress drapes artfully over my khakis. Yayoi sets my hand on Joss’s knee, then Joss’s ring-laden one over mine.
“Now,” Yayoi says. “Just look at each other.”
Our bodies turn slightly toward each other, and as soon as our gazes touch, they lock.
The overacting and sarcasm and laughter vanish from her expression, now slightly guarded. Her eyes always remind me of cinnamon—warm and rich. This close, in this light, little slashes of gold and jet emerge.
The effect is quite beautiful.
Sheis quite beautiful.
And she’s wonderful, too. Trustworthy. Loyal.
Funny.
Caring.
She’s sort of...
“Perfect!” Yayoi says, thankfully ripping through that thought. “Now put your hand on his cheek.”
She does.
“No, like you’re about to kiss him.”
Stomach is gone now. Acid has eaten it away. Whose stupid idea was this?
Joss leans a little closer, her lips bare inches from mine. “I feel like she deserves punishment for this,” she whispers, some sort of lemon candy on her breath.
My laughter combines with hers, probably making for a much better picture than the deer-in-headlights I was before.
Click, click, click.
“Now stand up and face each other.”
Jeez. Yayoi has gotten really fucking bossy today. Still only inches away, Joss blinks a few times before she obeys, and I follow.
Yayoi adjusts us closer together. “I want to get thatPride& Prejudiceshot. The sun is perfect now.”
