‘They better had. Otherwise I’ll start making plans of my own.’
She smiled as his lips met hers. ‘Fine. I’m sure I can make room for you, if you insist.’
‘Oh, I absolutely insist.’
It was only as she felt her body relax into his that she remembered that last time she’d been this close to him they had been interrupted and if they didn’t get on with taking these bloody pictures then Lara would be interrupting them again. If there was one thing that she was sure about her plans it was that there was no space for Lara in them anywhere.
‘We need to get through this list. I know Lara, and she will start cracking the whip if we don’t get on with it.’
‘Fine, I’m sure you’re right,’ he said, releasing her and reaching for where his phone had dropped to the floor.
‘Well, we can’t do the food today,’ he said. ‘The turkey will take four or five hours in the oven. But we can crack through the flat-lays.’
Jess scrolled through the list again, which had grown since the last time she looked. She was sure that Lara was trolling her, because since they’d last spoken there seemed to be a lot more call for pictures that involved her on a bed, with rumpled-up blankets, cable-knit socks and a tray of props beside her. And she knew that Lara knew it was impossible to get these kinds of shots without help. Lara had once drowned an iPhone in a full cup of coffee trying to get the perfect bird’s-eye shot by sticking her phone to the ceiling. No, Lara knew that this would mean recruiting Rufus to photograph her lounging in bed, and if that wasn’t such a deliciously enticing thought then she would definitely have been mad at Lara for meddling.
‘Pictures in bed?’ Rufus asked, raising an eyebrow. Her cheeks heated again, wondering if she and Rufus were having matching fantasies.
‘Not like that,’ Jess said, tapping the Instagram icon and pulling up a few pics from Lara’s feed to show him what she meant. Rufus scrolled through, looking thoughtful.
‘This is what she wants?’
‘As close as we can get it.’
‘Do I hang from the ceiling to get that angle?’
She thought of the afternoon she had spent in Lara’s flat clambering on the bed frame, grabbing hold of ceiling lights, trying to get the perfect angle and lighting while keeping her feet and her shadow out of the fr
ame.
That first time they’d ended up collapsing in a giggling heap in the middle of the bed once the iPhone-meets-coffee-cup disaster had been cleared up.
‘There is generally climbing, yes.’
‘And you’re okay with this? Pictures of you in bed?’
She shrugged. ‘There’s nothing sexy about it. The more layers of knitwear the better, as far as Lara’s Instagram is concerned. She’s usually up to her ears in cables and cashmere.’
‘Then I guess we should make a start. What do we need?’
Jess reeled off a list of things they would need from the kitchen, from a tray of tea and snacks to a roll of foil for a reflector. Thankfully the snow outside was bouncing around plenty of natural light, so they shouldn’t need too much editing. She was gathering blankets and cushions, considering colours and textures, when she heard footsteps behind her and Rufus shouldered open the door.
‘This looks intense,’ he said, taking in the piles of textiles she had gathered up as she walked through the house. He left the tray on the sideboard and came to stand beside her. ‘This one lived on my bed,’ he said, pulling a soft quilt from the pile.
‘You didn’t want to take it with you when you moved out?’
‘It wouldn’t look right in my flat. It’s always been here. It would be weird to see it in a new place.’
She realised she hadn’t actually considered where Rufus lived now. He was so much a part of the house, the house was so much a part of him, that she couldn’t imagine him anywhere else.
‘Where do you live?’ she asked, and the surprise on his face made her wonder whether he’d forgotten too. Whether he was as caught up in this fantasy as she was.
‘Oh, I share a flat in Upton with my brother. The village. I need to be close to the manor house for maintenance stuff.’
‘I can’t imagine you living anywhere but here.’
He shrugged. ‘I moved out years before Mum and Dad had to leave. I was so focused on my career. I’d set myself a goal, and sacrificed everything trying to achieve it. I never expected to spend my whole life here but...’
‘But you expected to come back. One day.’