Page 15 of Sparks Like Ours

Gia shook her head, they readjusted and went at it again.Hard-core stares. Serious attitude. It worked for a few clicks, until Elledissolved into giggles. Embarrassed, and unable to stop, she held up a hand.“My fault entirely. This is just not me. I’m usually…happy. It just comes morenaturally.”

“Not today you’re not,” Mallory said. “Because this woman is aboutto take what’s yours. Got it? Rip it the hell away from you.”

Gia raised another eyebrow in appreciation.

What was with all the eyebrow raising and how was she doing it soeffectively? Elle harnessed the outrage, planted her feet, and faced Gia,competitive stare firmly in place. The camera clicked, clicked, clicked as Jakemoved around them, offering encouragement. He was talking, but she wasn’treally listening. Her focus was on Gia, because when told to stare at anotherperson for an extended amount of time, you start to notice things about them.First of all, Gia’s skin was flawless and soft-looking. It almost made Ellewant to reach out and touch her cheek briefly just to find out how soft.Because of their proximity, she could feel the heat coming from Gia’s body. Shetook a breath. And then there were her lips—

“Wow. Perfect. Let’s adjust for look two,” Mallory said,shattering Elle’s concentration and pulling her back into the here and now. Sheblinked hard and forced herself to focus on Mallory. This woman seemed to knowexactly what she wanted and had a warm, yet knowledgeable, way of expressingherself. Elle appreciated her moving them along. After all, she had a date toget to. “Let me just adjust this one strand of hair,” Mallory said to Elle,moving the strand off her forehead. “And we’re a go. Gorgeous.”

The rest of the shoot went surprisingly well. Gia found herstride, and Elle’s individual shoot was a piece of cake. She thanked the hairand makeup staff, Jake, and of course Mallory, who would apparently helpoversee the campaign from New York as they moved forward. Feeling accomplished,if not a little tired, she headed to the parking lot where the sun was settingand the temperatures dropping. She expected to hop in her car, put the topdown, and jam out to some tunes. What she didn’t expect was to find Gia sittingon the curb. Elle passed her a questioning glance.

“Won’t start,” Gia said blandly, and gestured to her black JeepWrangler. Her shoulders drooped and her eyebrows were drawn.

“Do you want me to take a look?” Elle asked, approaching. She wasquick when it came to troubleshooting cars, something her father had made sureshe and her two brothers were adept at.

“You know about cars?” Gia asked. She stood and pushed her handsinto the back pockets of her cutoff shorts.

“Not everything. But enough to help diagnose.”

Gia hesitated, and Elle was confident it was hard for her to askfor help.

“Do you mind?”

“No. That would be…great. Thanks.”

It took her only a few moments to ascertain that the engine on theJeep would crank but not start, narrowing down the problem. “When was the lasttime you had your battery replaced?”

“Maybe three months ago?”

“Then I’m going to guess this is an ignition issue. Unless, of course,you’re out of gas.”

Gia balked. “I’m not out of gas. I’m not a total dumbass.”

Elle placed her hands on her hips. “No, not totally.”

The shot pulled a grin from Gia, who had an amazing smile. A shameshe didn’t employ it more frequently.

“Unfortunately, you’re probably going to have to have it towed tothe shop.”

Gia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Elle exited thedriver’s side of the Jeep. “I was afraid of that. Thanks for the diagnosis.I’ll call it in and see if I can get a friend to pick me up.”

“Cool. Yeah, okay.” Elle wasn’t sure what to do in this moment.Should she just walk away and leave Gia there on the curb, knowing a friendwould come along eventually? Nope. Not her style. Even where Gia was concerned.“I can drop you.”

“I live in Venice.”

Right. There was that little haul to consider. “It’s cool. Ihonestly don’t mind.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I’d appreciate it.”

“Hop in, Malone. I hope you like Bieber.”

Gia paused. “That’s a joke, right?”

Elle stared at her. “I realize you think I’m a vapid Barbie Doll,but give mesomecredit.”

“No, nottotallyvapid.”

Elle laughed. “I see what you did there. Maybe there’s hope foryou after all.”

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