Page 54 of Stolen

Diego pulled his phone back and scrolled through the screen for a few seconds. When he was finished, he showed me his phone again, this time with a photo of Leo and Keith on a beach. Keith was holding Leo in his arms, and Leo had his arm outstretched toward the camera, offering the lens a bright, orange mimosa.

“Do you see what we’re talking about now?” Diego brought his phone back toward him. “You might have the heart, but Keithhas the cash. He can make things feel like love even when they aren’t.”

“I know for a fact that Keith was cheating on Leo the whole time they were in Cabo.” Andrew grimaced. “And yet, it looks like they’re having the time of their lives.”

“Thanks for your concern, guys, but I’m not worried about Keith. Really,” I lied, as a shock of insecurity shot through my system.

Despite all the time we’d been spending together, it wasn’t like Leo had mentioned anything about our relationship being permanent, or something more serious. Even though I knew better than to think that he’d ever go back to Keith, there was still an air of uncertainty about what was happening between us.

Maybe it wasn’t going to be Keith, but was it ever going to be me?

“Jacob! Can you come here for a minute?” Tommy called out. I excused myself from my current conversation before I made my way over to him.

“Hey. Is something up?”

“Take your shirt off.”

“What?”

“I’m trying to prove a point to Leo.” Tommy waved a hand. “He thinks something is up with the lighting in here and that it can’t be fixed in post.”

“Because not everything can be fixed in post, Tommy,” Leo scoffed. “And we’re already operating on borrowed time here?—”

“Is your shirt still not off?” Tommy seemed puzzled as he looked back at me.

“I just don’t understand why you need me to prove a point when we’re surrounded by professionals?—”

“That’s exactly why. Everything we’ve got in the can is good. If we start messing around, trying to get an impossible shot, andthen we find out we have to call things off? Everyone’s going to go into a spiral.”

“Right, but why does that include me?—”

“Because you look like the other guys,” Leo said, with a smirk. “Which makes you the perfect test case.”

“Okay, then.” I still didn’t quite understand the logic of what was happening right now, but I knew that questioning the artistic process was only going to lead to more issues. I slipped my shirt over my head and moved to stand in front of that same bland wall the rest of the guys had stood in front of.

I then noticed Leo’s expression change, his cheeks reddening in a familiar way.

I grinned to myself before I asked, “Does this look okay, Leo? Where I’m standing?”

“Yeah. It looks fine. You look fine.” Leo coughed behind his hand. “We only need a few test shots, so Tommy, you can go ahead and do your thing.”

“Jacob, do whatever comes naturally,” Tommy instructed as he bent down behind his camera.

I tried to remember what the other guys had done during their photoshoots, flexing their muscles, shooting smoky stares at the camera. I didn’t really care if I was doing a great job, only interested in making Leo more and more flustered as he stood next to Tommy. I loved the idea of Leo’s thoughts being flooded with desperate need, dirty images flashing behind his eyes.

I loved the idea of pushing him to the brink of desire, especially in a place where he could never touch me, where he could never beg for me on his knees.

Where he was forced to keep his cool.

“Damn. You’re good at this.” Tommy whistled. “You ever considered a career in modeling?”

“I don’t know. What do you think, Leo?” I changed position, leaning against the wall, my hips pushed out. “You think I could do this professionally?”

“It’s not important what I think,” Leo murmured before he glanced around the room, like he was looking for something.

Just then, it all clicked into place.

He wasn’t looking forsomething. He was looking for someone, looking to see if anyone else was paying attention to our impromptu photoshoot.

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