“Some of them came out a little blurry,” I lie. “Can you fix it while I ask the professor a question for the article?” Ben looks at me, confused, until I motion him over. “Come look.” He jogs over to us. “The pictures look fine,” I whisper, not looking away from the screen. “But a few candids would be good, and if I ask him?—”
“He’ll do the exact opposite of what we want him to,” Ben finishes, and I nod. He runs back to the camera. “Okay, Professor Hayes, I’m going to fix the camera and take a few more test shots.”
Grayson dips his chin and turns to me with his hands in his pockets. “What did you want to ask me, Ms. Haywood?”
Clearing my throat, I try to think of something appropriate that will make him smile. “Why don’t you tell me a bit more about the dynamic in the soup kitchen? Just elaborate on what I saw with Marina and the others.”
As soon as I mention Marina, a small smile appears.Click.
Grayson gets distracted by the sound, and his eyes shift to Ben.
“They’re only test takes, Professor.” I catch his attention again. “Back to the soup kitchen and Marina…”
He takes a hand out of his pocket and lets out a small chuckle.Click.“As you saw with your own eyes, it’s a unique environment, and Marina is one of the key factors of that unique environment.”Click.
Grayson continues to tell me more of what I already know, but as he talks about the first day at the soup kitchen and how hectic everything was, he runs a hand through his hair while talking and laughs at some of the things Marina did that day.Click.
That’s gotta be the one.
Other than his voice, all I hear are clicks coming from the camera. After a ten-minute conversation and a hundred clicks later, Ben tells him everything is fixed, and they can continue.
I walk past Kamila, who whispers, “It might just be my imagination, but it seems like the professor is crushing on you.”
I sure hope so.
Shrugging, I keep my composure. “If he is, he hasn’t said anything to me about it.”
Not a complete lie—he hasn’t told me that.
Kami smiles warily. “Just be careful, Em.”
“Always.” I smile and walk away, nerves building in my stomach at how I was able to keep a straight face, but Grayson managed to let something slip, even if it was only him looking at me.
After ten more minutes,Ben tells Grayson to take a quick break while he reviews the pictures that have already been taken. Grayson steps back slightly from the lights but remains in the same general area.
“Hey, Em,” Ben says, moving toward his assistant.
“Yeah?”
“Do you have any powder to take away a bit of the shine from his nose?” Thankfully, my coworker whispered that, or else Grayson would’ve been flying out of the door. “It’s not anything major, and I can touch most of it up later, but I don’t want it to look overly edited.”
If only Kamila were here to hear this, but she had to head out to teach her Zumba class.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”
My heart thumps a little faster at the thought of being so close to Grayson in such a public setting. Hopefully, neither of the boys will notice anything.
Opening my large brown purse, I find my makeup bag, which holds blotting papers, translucent powder, and a small brush. Standing, the heels of my knee-length boots—courtesy of my mom’s gift from Italy—click and the sound catches Grayson’s attention. He does a quick body sweep and rubs the back of his neck as he looks away.
Yeah, because that makes it any less obvious.
“Hello, Professor.”
“Ms. Haywood,” he says in his formal voice. “Is everything okay with the pictures?”
Nodding, I make sure to keep at least four feet between us. “Everything is great. The shoot is almost done, but I did notice a slight shine on your face that needs some fixing.”
I lift my hand to show him the two products and the brush I’m holding. His eyebrows crease. “Isn’t there some way you can touch it up in the editing process?”
