“No? What about Shane Mason?”
What!?
My heart shook and my eyes snapped up to her. Did she know? Had she somehow seen us kissing when she came out of the bathroom? Had she followed me when I left the apartment for our secret photo shoot?
Fuck…
But just as I was starting to freak out, Janice laughed. “Relax, Jane. I’m only joking.”
She waved her hand in the air and took another sip of her wine, but she did it in a way that made me feel like she was completely dismissing the notion as though it were impossible—as though someone like Shane would never be interested in me, the frumpy friend sidekick. And that pissed me off.
“Yeah? Why is that a joke?” I asked. “You think Shane wouldn’t think I’m cute?”
“Oh, honey,” Janice replied. “I didn’t mean it that way. I saw how he was looking at you, and I’m sure you did too, but don’t let that fool you. He looks at every girl that way. He’s a photographer, ya know? It’s just automatic to him. If any other normal guy gave you that look, like in a bar or something, it would be because he wanted to fuck you. But when Shane does it, he’s just doing his photographer thing. He’s looked at me like that a million times, but he doesn’t cross that professional line. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
What!? A pang of jealousy hit me like a knife to the chest. Janice had tried to get with Shane?
“You—you did?” I asked nervously.
“Mmmhmmm,” she nodded. “It was a semi-nude shoot, bottoms only, and when we were done, I just didn’t put my top back on and sort of went over to him while he was checking out the images on his computer and hugged him, making sure I pressed my tits against his back.”
You little bitch…
If I had had a set of fangs I would have sunk them into her neck. I was irrationally possessive, but I couldn’t help it. Even picturing her with her half-naked body on my man had me steaming.
My man? Did I just think that?
I did my best to remain calm.
“And so…what did he do?”
Janice shrugged and rolled her eyes. “He made up some excuse about needing to pee or something and walked away. Eventually I just got dressed and left.”
Phew…
Shane already felt like my territory, and just knowing that Janice had spied him and tried to fuck him, no doubt to advance her career, had me fuming. I almost wanted to spill the whole story to her right then and there. But Shane had asked me several times to keep my mouth shut, so that’s what I did. Just then, my phone vibrated. Another Instagram DM.
It’s him…
Come back. We need to finish things…
My heart leapt. Talk about being pulled in every direction! It was almost midnight, but did I care? Not one fucking bit.
The only problem was Janice. How was I going to make up another story about leaving so late at night when I’d just told her I wasn’t going to see my make-believe Tinder date again? Thankfully, the world seemed to be on my side and presented a solution.
“Well, I’m going to bed,” she said, setting her wine aside. “Another shoot tomorrow and I should at least try to make the make-up girl’s job easy by not looking like complete shit. Night, babe!”
“Night!” I called after her. I waited on the couch for at least ten minutes, then grabbed my purse and slipped out as quietly as possible. With any luck, the red wine had her in a nice deep sleep and she wouldn’t be asking me any questions when I came home.
It didn’t take long to get back to the studio, and I was practically jumping up and down as I rode the elevator up. This time I’d ditched my jeans and t-shirt and instead was wearing a simple black jersey dress with absolutely nothing underneath. Easy access. And when the elevator doors opened and I saw him standing there, standing in the soft glow of the modeling lamp, I melted yet again.
“You came,” he smiled as I stepped into the studio.
“You said we
had some things to finish,” I replied.
“We do.”