Page 28 of Daring the Bad Boy

She kept the sheet tight, trying not to trip, as he led her down the stairs. But the nerves still kicked in. She didn’t want to disappoint him, once he got her into his studio and looked at her through the lens of his camera. But while she was scared he wouldn’t find what he was looking for, she was even more terrified that he would.

Chapter Nine

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“Rosie, relax.” Cal lowered the camera, the heavy telephoto lens reassuring him. Holding it had steadied him as soon as they’d arrived in the studio. As it always did, his work put everything into perspective.

But Rosie was stiff as a board. Hugging the sheet to her breasts as if it were the last line of defense in a war. And while the shots he was taking still looked amazing, because her face was so damn expressive, every emotion shining through like a beacon – even fear – he didn’t want this to be an ordeal for her. But for some reason it seemed to be. He hadn’t asked her to undress further, had decided to let her keep the sheet. However much he might want to photograph her without it.

But even so, where had the boldness gone? That effortless sensuality that had captivated him in her office. And while they ate supper. The camera could be the cause, but he didn’t think so. It was more than that.

Approaching her, he tucked one wild curl behind her ear, let his finger caress the line of her cheekbone, the tight muscle in her jaw. “Is there anything I can do to help you relax? Because you look like you’re about to get lockjaw.”

“Am I doing it wrong?”

“There’s no right or wrong way with this. Whatever you do, the shots are going to be awesome,” he said, wondering again why she was so unsure of herself. “We can stop, any time. You know that right?”

“But I don’t want to stop.”

He lifted the camera, caught the defiant angle of her chin, the determination in her eyes. He carried on shooting, but he could see her seizing up again. “Rosie, you’re tensing again.”

“Could we talk while you work? I think the silence is spooking me.”

He stopped shooting, frowning at the quiet request. And then felt like a dumbass. At the realization he had been so focused on getting the shots he wanted, he hadn’t filled the silence with conversation. He’d worked with models before. All of them amateurs, because he wasn’t interested in pretty, or perfect, but in capturing emotions. And he knew how to relax the subjects. Usually. “What do you want to talk about?”

“You.”

His finger froze on the shutter button. “I’m not great on that subject. Makes me feel kind of self-conscious.”

Her bottom lip took on a mutinous tilt, that was mighty close to a pout. “That’s rich, seeing as you’re not the naked one.”

He grinned, the shot of her expression, that heady contrast of sweetness and sarcasm, just what he was looking for. “True.” He carried on firing off shots.

Shit, he’d have to give her something, even though he hated answering questions about himself.

He saw her flinch slightly as he pulled the focus.

Then again, why not get something in return? He knew next to nothing about her. And he wanted to know more. It would give the work more context, he thought. Neatly qualifying his curiosity.

“How about a game of Truth or Dare, to relax us both?” he said.

“Okay,” she said.

“Ladies first?”

“Truth, then, I suppose,” she said. “A dare already got me into this predicament.”

He smiled, knowing exactly what he wanted to ask, because it had been bugging him since yesterday in the bar. “Tell me why you’re allergic to Valentine’s Day?”

The pretty pink blush spread across her chest but as he photographed it, he realized his attention wasn’t on the shots as much as her reply. Especially when she hesitated.

“Why do you want to know that?”

“No stalling, that’s not how the game works,” he said, because it suddenly seemed vitally important he get an answer.

She sighed. “It’s an extremely boring and predictable story.”

Given how reluctant she was to tell him, and how nothing about her had been predictable so far, he doubted that.

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