Page 81 of His to Protect

Chapter 18

Trina

Had to get to the restaurant for deliveries.

Don’t leave the house or unlock the door for anyone.

Call me when you wake up.

Last night was perfect.

~D

I pressed the flimsy, wrinkled receipt to my chest and sighed.

His commands and bossiness would bother me if I didn’t know they came from a place of concern and caring, instead of a desire to rule over me.

At my feet, Boomer curled up on his side and sighed.

I did the same thing, burrowing back under Declan’s covers, but reached for the cellphone.

I had an order to follow.

And I had learned last night, that while he gave me a semblance of control with our bodies but still continually told me what to do and how good it felt once I did it, when Declan ordered to me do something, there was always pleasure at the end of it for me.

—

“I hope the photos turn out well,” I said, turning toward Jorge Rivera, the photographer Camden had talked into doing the fireman-calendar photo shoot on short notice.

He was a five-foot-five-inch gay man whose partner worked at a small accounting firm with Camden. He worked at an investment firm, but was trying to begin his own photography business, so he was hoping this calendar brought him attention and clients.

He had even volunteered to do the shoot for free in order to build his portfolio.

When I met him earlier and asked if he was certain he didn’t want to be paid, he placed his hand on my shoulder, grinned, and said, “Honey, please. I get to look at wet, half-naked men all day. That alone is payment enough.”

And really…he was right.

Because the day had been full of wet, half-naked men draped all over one of their smaller engines, which was parked in front of the restaurant. Traffic on Main Street had been slowed down for hours.

Fireside Grill hadn’t received a single complaint.

They had, though, had a lot of people coming in, after stopping by to watch the shoot. Inside, we had half-off appetizers and beer, and it surprised me how many women had taken a look at the attraction outside, then headed inside to cool off with a beer and a side of potato skins.

Apparently staring at half-naked men made women thirsty as well as hungry.

“These photos will be spectacular,” Jorge said, looking through the viewing lens on one of the three different cameras he used for the shots. Before the restaurant opened, he had even gotten a bunch of photos inside Fireside Grill, which made the servers giggle with amusement. It also made Declan scowl, every time he caught me looking.

It was business.

Mostly.

Some of the men were attractive.

But none could hold a candle to Declan and his body, which I’d become very accustomed to over the last week.

“How long until you can get through edits on them?” I turned to face Jorge, forcing myself to stop looking at the firefighters as they threw T-shirts on over their rippled muscles.

He clicked through a few more photos, smiling wider with every click. “By the end of next week.” He turned to me and smirked. “Something tells me I won’t be able to stop thinking of these men…err, photos…once I get started.”

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