“You trashy whore,” Finn teased.
Callie stuck her tongue out at him. “Says the man slut.”
Evan waved Finn out of the shot. “Enough you two. Let’s work on some make-your-man-drool magic. Ready?”
Callie smoothed her expression and gave the camera her best come hither look. Evan snapped a few shots, then checked the preview window to make sure the lighting looked as good on film.
“Looks all right?” Callie asked, her voice not quite as confident as it was before.
Evan sized her up in mock evaluation, then smiled. “I’d do you.”
She grinned. “Excellent.”
Evan spent the next hour and a half snapping shots of Callie and adjusting each background in between Cal’s outfit changes. Finn also jumped behind the camera for a small chunk of the session to get some practice. He kept telling Callie to look fierce, which inevitably made Cal laugh instead of looking fierce at all. But even with that, there was no doubt they had gotten some great shots.
By the time Callie had headed out in her street clothes to meet Brandon for a date, it had gotten dark outside. Evan checked the time on her cell phone. Damn. She’d told Jace and Andre that if the session didn’t run too long, she’d try to stop by before heading home for the night. But she was going to have to text one of them and cancel.
They’d all gotten in the habit over the last month of stealing whatever time they could together, not bothering with the pretense of going to The Ranch anymore. That home turf boundary had already been crossed the day she went to Jace’s apartment and made love to him on his balcony. She’d stayed the night there with the two of them, cutting through every safety net she’d set for herself.
No matter. She could fall for them just as easily wherever they were having their interludes. Her heart certainly didn’t care about the location.
But having “the end” looming at the end of eight—now four—weeks had kept her in check. Ever since she’d broken down and cried at the cabin, she’d made sure to hold a piece of herself back when she was with them. It’d taken her a few days to get her footing again once she’d returned home, but now her guard was solidly back in place. Leaving herself that vulnerable again was not an option. Especially after she’d felt the shift in Jace.
Over the last few weeks, he’d morphed from Mr. Distant Dom to a grown-up version of the boy she used to know—playful, sweet, and so fucking flirty that it was hard to believe that when the bedroom door closed, he could be such a ruthless cuss. The combination was the sexiest damn thing she’d ever encountered. Add in Andre with his relentless charm and giving nature, and a girl could completely lose herself.Author: Roni Loren
She wanted to lose herself.
But that’s exactly why she couldn’t. There was no way she would give someone else that power again—the ability to define if her life was happy or sad. She was in charge of her happiness now, and she would be in charge of it when she got on a plane to California in a few weeks. She’d prove to herself she could survive all on her own when she walked away from Jace this time. Pass the ultimate test and stop worrying that one emotional slip-up would send her spiraling back into dangerous depression. Maybe then she could go forward and live her life without the white knuckles.
Evan turned off the last of the lights in the studio, too tired to pack up the bedding and equipment. She’d take care of it tomorrow. She headed back toward her office in the front. Finn, who’d parked himself in her chair, looked up and smiled. “I’ve got all the shots loaded onto the computer.”
She sat on the corner of the desk. “And?”
“They’re almost sexy enough to make me think straight thoughts. We did good.” He clicked a few buttons to send the pictures to a flash drive. “They’ll still need some touch-up, but if that stick-in-the-mud boyfriend of hers doesn’t jump her bones after this, then he’s just after her for her free cupcakes.”
“Or maybe he plays for your team,” Evan teased.
Finn’s expression turned sardonic. “If that were the case, he would’ve checked out my ass when he stopped in here last week, not yours.”
Evan cringed and instinctively glanced at the door Callie had gone through to go out on her date. “Did he really?”
“No doubt. Ogled actually.” He rose from the chair and stretched. “But I wouldn’t worry about it. Men are pigs, and that skirt you were wearing that day was kind of daring a guy to look.”
She scoffed, affronted. “I had just changed. I was on my way out to go . . . dancing.”
Well, not really dancing, per se. Not vertically at least. Jace and Andre had sent over a box with a brand-new outfit and a note to leave the panties at home. The V-neck blouse, snug little leather skirt, and matching boots had definitely been a step out of her comfort zone. But driving over to their place, knowing she was bare beneath, had gotten her heart racing and her thighs damp by the time she’d stepped out of her car. The three of them had barely made it out of the foyer before the guys had bent her over the back of the couch, skirt shoved around her hips.
A little flutter of heat tickled her sex at the memory. Finn’s eyebrows disappeared beneath his shaggy bangs. “Must’ve been some night out. You’ve gone all blushy.”
She automatically lifted her hands to her cheeks, feeling the burn beneath her fingertips. “What? No. I—I’m a little embarrassed that Brandon checked me out. Cal’s really gone on him. I want it to work out for her.”
“I think it’s fine. He’s a little stiff, but it seems like the guy is treating her well.” Finn lifted the flash drive. “Mind if I work on some of these at home? If you don’t like my edits, the originals are still on your hard drive.”
“Sure. Just make sure to guard the files. The pictures are private. No working on it with your classmates or anything.”
He grinned and tucked the drive into his pocket. “No worries. I’ll guard them with my life.”
A sharp rapping on the main door made them both jump. Evan looked toward the front, but she’d closed the blinds on the front door when Callie had left and couldn’t see who was on the other side. Weird. No one would be looking for a photographer at eight at night. It was probably the homeless guy on the corner wanting a bathroom. Or maybe Cal had forgotten something. “Let me go see what that’s about.”