Page 83 of Laws of Love
Knox had always had a rule about being left alone with a stylist while doing photoshoots if the area was private. Not that he thought all people were inherently bad and would start random untrue rumors. It was that he knew it could happen, and he’d rather have himself covered. Especially when he’d been at the height of his career.
There was a steady stream of conversation that Knox mainly listened to. It consisted primarily of Calvin asking Ezra about several of his clients. The younger man seemed excited. It was nice to have a career you genuinely enjoyed, and Calvin seemed like he did.
“The looks are numbered,” Calvin informed Knox when Chloe finished. “We’ll give you some privacy to change. When you’re ready, come out and we can get started.”
Knox thanked him as the three left him alone. He went to the rack and pulled out the first item. A pair of slate gray boxers. They were soft, something he could see himself wearing in his everyday life.
When he changed, he exited the room and was immediately ushered into the master bedroom. Knox wasn’t surprised. It was sleepwear, so of course one setting would be a bedroom. The photographer introduced themselves and then instructed Knox on how he wanted him. They took several photos in and around the bed before he was sent off to change.
He exited the bedroom for the second time in a pair of black lounge pants and was ushered over to the kitchen. The table was made up for breakfast, with a newspaper beside a plate. Knox didn’t know too many people who still read a physical newspaper aside from his parents, but he supposed it would give the effect they were going for.
Knox followed the photographer’s instructions as they took the photos, more than half of them with him holding the newspaper before he was sent off to get into look number three. This one was a deep green set, and while he rarely wore sets to bed, he knew there were people who did.
When he came out, they directed him to the wall of windows that overlooked the city. Calvin handed him a coffee cup, and Knox glanced down at it.
“It’s tea. Ezra said you didn’t drink coffee,” Calvin informed.
“I don’t, and thank you,” Knox responded.
After pictures at the window with his tea, which tasted pretty good, they moved to another pair of lounge pants with the backdrop of the master bathroom.
The rest of the shoot went in the same fashion, and Lily had not been kidding when she said they would do one look after another. There were only brief pauses for Chloe to do minor things to his hair now and then, before spraying it and his chest for the last round of pictures in a pair of boxers and a robe.
When they wrapped, it was a few minutes before one, and Knox went to change. Emerging from the bedroom, dressed in his own clothes, Ezra signaled him over to where he and the photographer were going through the pictures. Knox joined them.
“I’ll have some of these sent to me so we can start dropping breadcrumbs and build buzz. I’ll send them to you so you know which ones I chose,” Ezra told him.
Knox wasn’t worried about it. Ezra had always chosen the pictures or behind the scene footage because Knox had never really wanted to be bothered with it. However, he could send them to Aiva once his friend sent them to him, so he nodded in agreement before thanking everyone, signing a few autographs and taking a couple of pictures, accepting the bags of sleepwear he’d modeled, and leaving.
He stopped to grab lunch before heading home, and he wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find when he entered his condo, but Yasmine shrieking in laughter as Molly tickled her was not it. They were on the rug, his daughter trying to pry Molly’s fingers from her sides.
Molly looked over as the door closed. She gave Yasmine a few more tickles before helping her up. His daughter’s cheeks were flush from laughing as she skipped to him.
“We had a tickle war,” Yasmine announced. “I lost,” she finished with a smile, and Knox got the feeling losing was her objective.
“I am the reigning tickle champion,” Molly announced, sweeping Yasmine up and spinning her around, which set off another bout of laughter.
“Well, reigning tickle champion and tickle competitor. I brought lunch,” Knox announced, taking the food to the table.
“Daddy, am I still going over for my sleepover at Ms. Aiva’s with Kaley tomorrow?” Yasmine asked as they ate.
“You sure are.”
“Awesome! Can I call Mommy afterward and tell her about it?”
“If you want to,” Knox responded, though he knew it would likely have Mia calling to gripe at him about it. However, Knox had decided to let Yasmine go, and when he’d tried to call Mia to talk to her about it, she hadn’t answered the phone. Even though he didn’t need her permission, he thought it was at least the right thing to let her know. If he didn’t trust Aiva with Yasmine, then he wouldn’t have his daughter around her. Hell, Knox wouldn’t be with her.
“Are you excited about your sleepover?” Molly asked Yasmine, dragging Knox back from his thoughts.
For the next half hour, he listened to the two talk before he paid Molly and she left. The sitter was barely out of the door before Yasmine pulled him down the hall to help her pack for the following day.
“Aiva, when is Yasmine going to get here?”
Aiva looked over at her little sister, who was between the curtains of the window instead of opening them as she stared out at the street. She couldn’t help but smile fondly at the little girl’s antics before glancing at the time on her phone.
“They’ll be here in a few minutes,” Aiva responded. Kandice had dropped Kaley off an hour earlier to save Aiva a trip since she was running errands. “Now, get out of the curtains before someone driving by sees you and thinks you’re a ghost,” Aiva teased.
“Ghosts don’t come out during the day,” Kaley responded, removing herself from the curtains.
