She managed to get a few shots of the world’s most perfect couple, earned herself a familial wink from Tom, and then took a few random shots of everyone else before setting the camera down and finding herself a drink
“Taryn?” Sophie suddenly called in her fake-sweet voice. “The sun is hitting me perfectly right now. Can you get a shot of it?”
Taryn gave Mal a look that made her clamp down on her lips hard. “Sure, Soph,” Taryn called back casually, tossing her braid over one shoulder. “Lemme change lenses real quick.”
She turned and pretended to shuffle things around in her bag.
“What lens are you looking for?” Mal asked out of the corner of her mouth, knowing she had the right one on at the moment.
“Something that highlights and emphasizes all-natural ugly,” Taryn replied. “Got one of those?”
Lucas and Dan snorted behind them.
“Sadly, no,” Mal told her with a click of her tongue. “But play nice. She bites.”
Taryn snarled. “So do I.” She quirked her brows as she picked up the camera again and left.
Mal watched for a long moment, chewing her lip absently. Sophie stared back, expression disapproving and superior. How did someone get that way?
“I can throw water on her and see if she melts,” Lucas offered.
Mal laughed and squeezed the back of her neck. “Not sure what would happen there. She might explode into a burst of steam.”
“There’s an image,” Dan muttered. “Might end up killing you, man.”
“Eh,” Lucas said with a shrug. “Least I can do after she tried hitting on me the other day.”
“Did she really?” Mal asked, turning to look at him.
He shuddered. “Yep. I’ve had nightmares ever since.”
Mal gave him a look. “Why would she hit on you?”
He returned it with a cocky half smile. “I’m really very pretty, Mal-Mal. But I don’t like gold-digging snobs with an inflated sense of self-importance.” He winced. “She didn’t like my refusal.”
“She doesn’t like much, it seems.” Mal sighed. “Except Taryn.”
Dan laughed once in disbelief. “She doesn’t like Taryn,” he told her. “She just hates you.”
“I know, but why?”
Lucas coughed and gestured surreptitiously. “One guess, darlin’.”
Mal followed his finger and saw Hunter staring blatantly at her, looking like a GQ model that belonged on a poster in her bedroom. He leaned on the boat railing, arms folded, which happened to highlight his perfect physique, and a breeze tousled his hair as if spreading fingers through it with the same loving motion she suddenly wanted to. She swallowed hastily, and her cousin laughed.
“Go for the win, Mal,” Lucas urged softly. “If for no other reason than to be able to shove it in Sophie’s face.”
Mal smiled softly, but not at Lucas.
At Hunter.
And he smiled back.
Maybe neither of them were very good at public after all.
ChapterEleven
Mal’s phone buzzed on the nightstand next to her, and she pried her eyes open blearily to get it. It couldn’t be the alarm for her sunrise shoot; it was way too dark in the room for it to be that time. One look at the clock told her it was indeed that time, which meant that—