“So, she came to me and then you thought you’d do the same?” Nel pushes, her camera clicking as Micha looks at the photo of his wife.
“Well, her photos were…” he pushes out a long breath and continues, “amazing. I have one in my wallet that she caught me looking at a while back and said that she would love to have some sexy photos to look at too.” There’s that squirming shyness again.
“Can we try something?” Nel says and Micha nods.
She asks me to grab the stepladder tucked away by the cabinet where the whips were, which I do. By the time I get back, Micha is laying in the bed, the cherry red sheets bunched and draped around him like they’ve been slept in, and the photo of his wife is laid at an angle by his head.
“Do you and your wife lay in on a Sunday morning, Micha?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you guys talk about in those moments?”
He chuckles and bites his lip as he thinks, a shy smirk telling us that the answer may not be safe for work. Before he gives his answer, Nel is clicking her camera.
“Ah ha! I know that look,” she smiles down at him. “Micha these photos are coming out great, look at your wife’s picture.” He does. “That’s how good you look too.”
Snap. Snap. Snap.
They move to the other set and do some more concepts, use some props—not whips—and I watch in fascination. At Nel, obviously. Micha’s fine but I really don’t swing that way. He came in this morning like a kid who’d been sent to the principal’s office for the first time, but she put him at ease quickly and gently. Far from the mouse she’s been at her brother’s, she is calm and assertive as she directs her client. She checks the screen on her camera often and she gives him encouragement, telling him how great the pictures are coming out. He is so different from the man who walked in, and she is the woman I’ve been watching on Instagram for years and dying to meet.
Micha is there for an hour before he dresses and thanks Nel profusely with a handshake that turns into a hug. When she showed him some of the shots on her camera he huffed an amazed laugh, clapping his palm over his mouth and I can’t help but smile with him. Another hug with Nel and a shake of my hand and he leaves us to tidy up. I pack all the—no less than seven—whips back in the prop cabinet and have a little poke around. There’s a bag full of Christmas decorations, on top of which is a plastic sprig of mistletoe. I roll the stem between my fingers, recalling my ill-advised actions of last night. The thing is, the more I think about it, the less regretful I become. I mean, I’m not some creeper—despite what you may think—and I’m not taking advantage of Nel. I’m not interested in messing her around, but the more time I spend with her, the clearer it’s becoming that I want her. I want to start something. Something real and, although I know in my heart of hearts that Harry won’t just give us a thumbs up and let it be, I find myself not giving a flying fuck.
In the time it’s taken me to gather my thoughts, Nel has packed away the backdrop and stripped the sheets from the bed. I stand with the mistletoe in my hand and walk over to her, her head snaps to me and her eyes find the sprig.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to kiss you, but I brought props in case you need an excuse.”
Her lips twitch as I stop just in front of her. “Jake, I…” her words trail off and she looks down, uncertainty clouding her pretty brown eyes.
“You don’t want to kiss me?” I try for a teasing tone but my own insecurity bites at my heart. Nel had a crush on me years ago, but I may have been reading her wrong the last couple of days.
“I…”
Shit. Ihaveread this wrong. I take a step back and clear my throat. “I’m sorry. I uh…I shouldn’t have—”
“Why do you want to kiss me, Jake?” She cocks her head to one side and narrows her eyes in confusion.
Jesus, am I sweating?“I uh…I thought there was something…” I clear my throat feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed. “Um, something between us.”
“Oh.” Her eyes pop wide. “You did?”
“You didn’t?” I frown.
“I don’t know. I guess I never allowed myself to believe there was anything from your side.”
I eat up the distance between us again and cup her jaw, the mistletoe still between my fingers. “Why?”
“Because you’re Jake and I’m—”
“Perfect,” I finish for her before planting a soft kiss on her lips.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“We could all use a little Christmas spirit all year round.”
NEL
