Page 221 of The Moment We Know

“Did you throw his Sabre-Toothed Squirrel beer in his face?” Kim wanted to know.

“No, because he meant it as a compliment.”

“Are you sure? That’s a terrible compliment.”

Paige smiled. “I’m sure. And he was hot, so …”

“Really?”

“Very.”

“Hmm. That’s weird, because I was picturing a really nerdy guy—and not in a good way—with bad skin and maybe small, soft hands.”

At that extremely unflattering description, David leveled another frown at Kim’s back, this one more intense and making Paige almost laugh. “He wasn’t nerdy, and didn’t have bad skin or small, soft hands.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess. But on the flip side, guys that are hot get away with way too much.”

“What about hot women? Don’t they get away with way too much?” David asked.

“Of course we do, but we’re less entitled about it. Aren’t we, Paige?”

As Paige laughed at that, Kim had Paige extend a leg farther out on the chaise, baring it from mid-thigh down to her foot. “I know, most people think boudoir shots are all about cleavage and a sultry pout, but I think the most sensual parts of women are often the most overlooked. Like a delicate wrist, or an ankle, or even a knee.”

Once Kim was satisfied with everything, David took a few shots, noting that while Paige didn’t seem tense, she didn’t seem relaxed, either. Kim picked up on it, too, and began offering gentle words of encouragement, suggesting Paige think of the person she was having the pictures taken for. It usually worked with other clients, and seemed to work for Paige as well, as she began looking directly at the camera and smiling.

However, some of Kim’s other attempts at encouragement seemed to have the opposite effect, such as when she told Paige she was ‘doing great’, and was ‘a natural’ in front of the camera. Her responses to these compliments were to actually turn away from the camera for a brief moment before looking back, her smile becoming more forced each time.

For David, this was turning out to be the most uncomfortable shoot he’d ever done, and that included the one with the woman who touched his ass when he made the mistake of getting within striking distance. He was hyper-focused on every one of Paige’s facial expressions and movements, looking for anything that would signal something was wrong, and it got to the point that he was only barely paying attention to taking actual pictures.

About halfway through the shoot, Paige decided it was probably time to get a little further out of her comfort zone and show a little more skin. With forced resolve, she loosened the belt and shrugged the robe off her shoulders, exposing her bra straps and most of one bra cup, along with the upper swell of a breast.

“Oh, I like that,” Kim said, jumping in to re-arrange and smooth some of the bunched material to make it lay in a more flattering way.

Even though Paige knew it was David’s assistant touching her and there wasn’t anything sexual or threatening about it, Paigee still felt a wave of anxiety wash over her, bringing with it a sense of acute discomfort. Her heart rate began to accelerate and her muscles started to tighten in a horribly familiar way as she began shrinking into herself, becoming smaller.

She struggled to stay in the moment, but with every second it got harder and harder. It started to feel like a tug-of-war, as part of her tried to remain grounded in the room she was in, while the click of the camera, the lights, and the instructions from Kim on where to look, or how to look, pulled her toward another room, in another time. Neither of which she had any desire to return to.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

“These are great,” Kim gushed, after going back to look at some of the digital pictures David had taken. “The camera really loves you.”

Chapter 87

The words were benign enough, but David saw the second they took Paige somewhere else. Her entire body stilled, and her eyes took on that thousand-yard stare, reminding him of how she’d looked in the picture on the beach with Carter … and the night of the handcuffs when she’d disassociated.

“Oh, fuck,” David muttered, just as Kim moved in to make a final adjustment to Paige’s robe, smoothing the material along her arm, and that’s when the photo shoot took a hard left.

Without warning, Paige slapped at Kim. “Get your fucking hands off me!”

Kim pulled back in shock. Rendered completely speechless from both the slap and the words—which had been delivered with deep, venomous hatred—all she could do was stare at Paige as she pulled her robe together and drew her knees up to her chest and tucked her head down.

Knowing this was the moment he’d been dreading, David quickly side-stepped around the tripod, pushing his assistant aside in order to get to the chaise as quickly as possible. “Paige!”

“What’s going on?” Kim asked, finding her voice.

David barely heard her because his focus was on Paige, so much that he ignored the voice in his head telling him to act with caution. He took her face in his hands, tilting her head so they were facing one another, hoping she would see him and come back, but instead, she shoved at his chest with unexpected strength, dislodging him.

“Get the fuck off me!” This time, her words were a wail, sounding terrified, broken, and angry, all at the same time.

---