Page 19 of Best Year Ever
Landon chuckles and says, “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” under his breath.
“So Landon, you’re dismissed for the day, and Rori, we’ll do one last session with you solo this afternoon.”
Landon pauses and turns to me. “Oh, so will I see you tomorrow here? Everything was so last minute that I didn’t get the exact details on the schedule.”
“No, just you tomorrow,” John answers him instead of waiting for me.
“Rori flies out early tomorrow! For a couple of tournaments in Texas and Mexico,” Nina adds.
Landon looks unsure of what to do with this information, and I’m just as uncertain of what I want him to do.
“Well, I—it was nice to see you again. I’m sure it won’t be too long before we bump into each other at an industry event,” Landon says, his voice becoming more formal as he finishes his sentence.
After one last look at him, I obey the gentle push of the photo assistant’s hand behind my back, as she guides me to my dressing room to get ready for the solo shoot.
Entering the room, I take my phone out right away—plenty of new messages, but even after a few minutes, nothing fromhim, which sends a tinge of disappointment through me briefly.
Rori, I tell myself inside my head.We do not wait around hoping for a guy to message us.
“Hmmm,” I say out loud, realizing that is exactly what I just did.
“Did something happen?” Clara asks as she pulls my hair out of the ponytail.
“No, nothing worth noting,” I reply. I grab a water and set my phone to the side.
“I didn’t realize he was so tall,” Clara observes in a way that feels like she is making conversation to fill the silence.
“Football players,” one of the wardrobe assistants says in response. “They are always taller than you expect!”
She turns to me and says, “You looked incredible together. Did you know him before this?”
“Not really,” I lie.
As if on cue, my phone dings and I pick it back up to read the message.
NEW YEARS: Will you get dinner with me tonight?
I think my cheeks go bright red. Not what I was expecting.
I told him that I would answer his texts now, so I need to decide what I want to do.
CHAPTER 8
Landon
Once I know that Rori isn’t going to be at the shoot tomorrow, I feel weirdly unsettled, which catches me by surprise. I want to be around her. See more of her. We barely had a chance to talk during the shoot. And the thought of saying goodbye in that moment—it sucks.
When have I ever had this kind of response to a woman?
Never. Never, is the answer.
As I make my way to the dressing room, I try to tamp down my reaction.
Shake it off, I say to myself.
And then I remember her smoking body in that tight athletic gear, her gasp when I couldn’t help getting hard looking at her pretty green eyes, the soft touch of her hands against mine. And I tell myself something different.
“Fuck it.”
