Page 22 of Bitten By Desire
“Okay, I can definitely be your wing-woman. Step one…I need to look like the frumpy best friend.” She pulled her hair up into a high pony. “Give me your ugly sweater.”
I laughed and tossed it to her. She pulled it over her sports bra. Combined with her black leggings and loose ponytail, I was pretty sure she actually made the sweater look chic. It really had just looked baggy and sad on me.
“Do I look appropriately awful?” she asked.
“No. Not at all. You look cute and comfy.”
“Damn it. I was going for hermit.”
I tried not to take offense over all the insults about my sweater.
“Oh, give me a second to take off my lipstick and eyeshadow.” She ran out of the room.
Why had she been wearing lipstick and eyeshadow to work out anyway? She was definitely up to something weird with her clients.
“Answer the door!” came her muffled voice from her room.
I hurried down the stairs and opened the front door.
Bennett was standing there with an easy smile. “You look beautiful, Emma.”
“You too.”
He laughed. “I look beautiful, huh?”
I felt my face turning red. “You know what I meant.”
He shook his head. “No, do tell.”
I shoved his shoulder. “You look good is what I meant.” And he did. He was wearing jeans, even though Zoey had just told me they weren’t appropriate for a first date. But they looked really good on him. And his flannel shirt screamed Fall Festival just as loudly as my dress. I went to move my hand, but somehow ended up letting it trail from his shoulder to his bicep. It hovered there for a beat too long as I stared at him. I quickly dropped my hand.
“Is Zoey still joining us? Or…will it just be the two of us tonight?” He smiled after asking that last part. Like he hoped it would indeed be just the two of us.
“She’ll be down in just a minute.” But standing here staring at him, I kind of wished I’d let Zoey be fake sick. It really had been ages since I’d gone on a date I was excited about. Since every time I closed my eyes I was haunted by Callum’s golden stare.
I looked up at Bennett. Part of me didn’t even trust he was real. And that maybe I’d wake up tomorrow and this would all be some weird dream too. That I’d have no evidence it ever happened, just like with Callum. “Can I take your picture?”
“Um…I guess?”
“Trust me, you’ll get used to it if we start hanging out.” I grabbed my camera out of my purse and snapped his photo. He didn’t try to move out of the shot. Or ask to borrow my camera to delete the photo. I looked back down at my camera’s display, just to make sure the photo was really there. Bennett was smiling back at me on the screen.
“Is photography a hobby or…”
“It’s my job.” I looked up from my display with a laugh. “That made it sound like I don’t enjoy it. It’s a passion and a paying job.”
He smiled.
“I can’t believe we didn’t talk about this the other day. You were probably wondering why I had a camera around my neck.” Zoey would probably be horrified by my accessorizing, but I put my camera back around my neck where it belonged.
“Well, we were a little busy talking about éclairs.”
I was blushing all over again. “What is it that you do?”
“I work at the bank on Main Street.”
“As a teller?”
“No, I manage the branch. I started as a teller back in high school and worked my way up.”
