Page 2 of Breaking the Habit

“Yeah, the rest of the league thinks so, too.” Levi cocked a grin, pure haughtiness and pride. “But he only wantedme.”

“Dude’s about to smash the records in the WFC,” Lex said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder toward Levi. “Wait and see.”

“Smashin’ faces, smashin’ records,” Levi said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Riley died internally—she could have watched him all day, just observing his mere existence. Like teeny boppers could have watched Nick Jonas blink dully at a television for five hours and think it was the most exciting thing in the world. Levi inspired the same sort of fanaticism, but Riley knew better than to fall prey to such things.

She was born and raised in Los Angeles—Hollywood, specifically—and had rubbed elbows with enough famous people to know looks often meant nothing, and true beauty had nothing to do with prettiness.

But still, it was hard to look away when drowning in testosterone.

“I have everything ready here,” she said, sweeping toward the large open space where they’d take the portraits. She had several backdrops prepared, based on her conversations with Travis. This was standard stuff—head shots for ads, Travis’s website, league promo. All she had to do was grab a few pictures of the men in their track suits and then slowly get them to remove the layers.

Her gaze moved to Levi as he tucked chestnut tresses behind his ears, a shit-eating grin on his face as he listened to whatever Cobra and Lex were joking about.

Maybe MMA portraiture wasn’tsobad.

“Let’s start with group shots.” Riley needed to hyper-focus on the task at hand. She should be used to beautiful men by now, living in this city, but something about Levi threw her off. He’d barely said ten words, but already she felt like sheknewhim. Knew his type. The way he probably scanned women for fuckability as opposed to personality. Walking through life like a proud cock solely because he knew how to beat someone up and had a face like his. The throngs of women he probably touted on each arm, telling each and every one of them a different story. A different version of the same lie.

She really did need the T-shirt that said BITTER AF.

After her last boyfriend had created the cheating scandal of the century, with the whole world gasping and pointing, she could start her own damn clothing line.

“I want to get a few of you in the track suits,” she said, eyeing up the shot as the men collected in front of the white screen. She popped off a few test shots to test the color balance, and then realized something was missing. “Hang on.”

She set her camera down and scurried toward her front desk. She hopped belly-first over the desk to reach behind her laptop and flick on her playlist. One of the many she used during photo shoots in the studio. Today’s selection included everything from the Talking Heads to Esso.

As smooth chords filled the space, the four fighters smiled, relaxing a little. This was what she needed. Pliable, happy models.

From here, she could work her magic.

“One last thing,” she said, flicking a lighter to the tip of an incense stick.

“Trying to get us in the mood?” Lex cracked.

“Um, excuse me, miss.” Levi propped a hand on his hip. “The sign here says, ‘No Smoking,’ but you areclearlysmokin’.”

She smirked, trying to fight the laugh that threatened to pop out of her. “That was dorky.”

“He’s the king of dorky jokes,” Cobra said. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Hey,” Levi said, feigning insult. “These jokes aren’t dorky; they’rethe coolest.”

Travis shook his head, faking a jab at his face. “I’d pop you if you didn’t need to look pretty.”

Riley grabbed her camera, sweeping back toward the guys. She made quick work of snapping shots while the guys ribbed Levi about his jokes. They looked like coworkers, models, and family all at the same time. Once she’d gotten enough of the group, she called for individuals.

“Who wants to start?”

Levi’s hand shot up.

Travis smirked. “Yeah, hot shot needs to go first.”

Cobra, Lex, and Travis drifted away from the screen as Levi turned his cocky gaze toward Riley. He flicked his zipper back and forth.

“So this is the part where I take my clothes off, right?”

Riley fought the urge to snap back with,You wish.“Correct.” She swung back to address Travis. “You want progressive or just in the shorts?” She couldn’t look at Levi for too long, or she’d lose her cool.

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