Page 116 of Camera Shy

I’m beautiful to the core. I’m worthy of my own approval. I’m Finn’s…

Or at least I want to be.

“Queen, we’re out of film,” Finn says softly, pulling me from the haze of my hedonic power trip. “We’ve been at it for over an hour.”

“Really?”

“Time flies when you’re—”

“Naked in front of a man you desperately want to have sex with?”

Finn’s lips twitch into a cocky smile. Crossing the room, he sets down his camera carefully and returns to me on the bed. I’m sprawled out, with the white sheet strategically draped across my hips. I watch his light blue eyes darken as he crawls onto the bed. I half expect him to rip the sheet away and throw my legs over his shoulder, but instead, he rolls me onto my side and spoons me from behind. I’m slightly perturbed because I can’t see his handsome face. When I try to roll over, he grips my hip, hard. I wince more out of surprise.

“Don’t look, just listen,” he grumbles into my ear. “You did a fantastic job. The camera loves you.”

“Thank you.” I say it genuinely because for some reason, I actually believe him. I felt like the camera loved me for the first time in my life.

He pulls my earlobe between his lips and tugs. “Can I photograph you again?”

“Yes,” I respond without hesitation.

“I’m serious. With clothes, without. You’re so beautiful, Avery. My heart is sore from pounding so hard for you.”

I giggle, but it seems inappropriate because Finn doesn’t chuckle back. Is he not being playful? “Are you trying to sweet talk me into sex? Because I’m already there, buddy.” I try to turn around to face him, but again he puts pressure on my hip, keeping me locked in place.

“No, I’m trying to tell you how I feel. If you were to move here, to Vegas. We could call this what it actually is.”

“What is it?” My reply is knee-jerk. I know what he’s getting at, but I want to hear the sound of his voice when he says it.

Finn brushes my hair away from my neck and plants a tender kiss behind my ear. He releases the death grip on my hip and runs his strong hand over the dip of my waist and pulls me against him even closer. His voice is low and deep in my ear. “We make each other happy. We make each other feel secure. It’s easy, just be with me.”

I know he can feel my heart thudding out of control, and I don’t care. He deserves to know how I feel. He calls me Queen, but he’s the one who acts like royalty. Finn is the textbook definition of a fantasy man, and it’s a little hard to believe this is my fairy tale.

“You’d want me to move here to be with you or move in with you?”

He must take my question as validation because I feel him smile into my neck as he grips my bare breast. “I don’t care,” he murmurs between kisses. “I’m open to anything except long-distance. A couple should be together when they decide to be together.”

Personally, I don’t mind long-distance, but maybe that’s because I never felt as desperate for Mason as I do for Finn. But his aversion is understandable. His father’s entire career was on the road and worked as a cover-up for leading several other lives. It makes sense that he’d want the opposite of what his parents had. I have a feeling Finn wouldn’t be too keen if I were to tell him I was thinking of pursuing a life as a commercial pilot, either.

“That’s a big step.” I blow out a sharp breath and invite my deepest insecurity into the bed with us.

What if you end up staying with me out of guilt? What if you feel trapped because you don’t want to look like the villain who asked a girl to start a life with you and then felt jilted when the spell was finally broken?

“What if you regret it?” I ask.

Now he rolls me over to face him. He shakes his head at me, his eyes narrowed. “Not a chance. Don’t even go there.”

“Finn, there are a lot of loose ends—”

“I know,” he says. “We’re not on a time limit. Why don’t you figure out what’s going on with Legacy Resorts first? You make that decision based on what’s best for you. And then when you know where you’re going to be, we can figure out us.”

“You’ll wait for me to get things settled first?”

He flashes me his charming, million-dollar smile. “Of course. Where would I go, Queen? I’m completely hooked on you.”

Confidence is a daring vixen and when she’s feeling particularly full of self-love, acceptance, and the deepest kind of connection, she just can’t wait.

“Thank you. Now, I’ve been naked in front of you for over an hour. Are you planning on doing something about it? Because it’s been a while since we’ve been together, and I’d really like to have sex now.”

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