Page 51 of Bitten By Desire
“Do you have any photos of yourself?”
“Um…no, not really. I rarely take selfies.”
“I mean where you’re the subject. I think a good photographer must also be able to be a good model. To understand both sides of it.”
I took occasional pictures with friends and family. But I’d only ever done one photoshoot where I wasn’t behind the camera. With him. Was he asking to see the nude pictures he’d taken of me? I swallowed hard. That couldn’t be what he was asking. That was basically a confession of who he was.
I didn’t look up at him. But I knew he’d drawn closer to see my screen. “I don’t have anything like that.”
“Are you sure? I just want to see something raw,” he said. His breath tickled my ear. “Something real. Something that shows you exposed.”
My heart started racing even faster. He was definitely trying to find our photoshoot. He wanted to see me naked on his couch. My legs spread for him. Him deep inside of me.
“Show me what I want and the job is yours, Emma.”
Chapter 15
Sunday
I was not going to show Theo illicit pictures to get a job I didn’t need. “Houses and furniture don’t have feelings. So I don’t need to be one with them to capture them properly. And all the photos I take show plenty of passion.”
“So you don’t mind if I take a closer look then?” He reached for the touchpad on my computer without permission. He hit the back button and slowly started scrolling through the folders.
I grabbed his hand to stop him before he reached the photo album he’d helped create. The one titledA Night with Callum Walsh. “Stop.”
He looked down at our joined hands. “You know, Emma, you resisting really makes it seem like I’ve almost reached something pretty great.”
“No…it’s…there’s nothing there.”
“Oh, I don’t know. If I recall correctly, when we ran into each other in the maze, you said that some guy that looked like me took pictures of you. That you stripped for the photos.”
Crap, I had told him that. It didn’t prove anything about his past that he knew there were illicit pictures on my laptop. I could feel my face turning red. I never should have told him that.
“If you’re embarrassed about it, maybe you shouldn’t have done it.”
Screw you.I glared at him. As much of a mistake that night had been, I didn’t regret it. Because he’d completely captivated me. And I hadn’t felt that way since. “And maybe you should get a manual on sexual harassment in the workplace.”
“Last time I checked, you’re not my employee. Yet.” His tone was clipped. “I’m just curious about the photos because we’re at a standstill, you and I. You’re still convinced I’m someone else and I swear I’m not. But maybe if you show me the pictures I can prove I wasn’t there.…”
“No. I deleted them.” I hadn’t. I would never. And he didn’t need to see the pictures to know he wasn’t in them. He’d deleted anything with him or his old portrait in it.
“What a shame.” He folded his arms and leaned against the desk.
I just stared back at him. It did feel like we were in a standstill. And I didn’t know what to say. I cleared my throat, but still nothing came to mind.
For just a second his eyes fell to my neck. He immediately met my gaze again. “Is this job really all you want from me, Emma?”
“That’s the only reason I’m here.” Actually, I didn’t know why I was here. I didn’t even want this stupid job.
“Is it the only reason? I thought maybe you came to snoop around. To look for clues about mysecret identity.” There was humor in eyes. His fake brown eyes.
Honestly I had planned on doing some snooping if given the chance. But that wasn’t proving to be a possibility tonight. Since he was literally towering over me. If I wanted to look around, I needed to be left on my own. And even though he’d been happy to do that for tenyears, he wasn’t letting me out of his sight now. “I was also promised dinner.”
“Ah, yes. You were. What would you prefer to eat?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine.”
“Unlike your boyfriend, I’m not one for sharing.” His eyes trailed down my body.
