Page 151 of Whirlwind

“Thank you.” Her head in her hand, she glanced at me.

“There’s going to be a lot of commotion around this because of Beck, because of Tag, because it’s a great photo and it’s fucking hot. But this is all yours, Violet. All yours.”

I gave her a full-on grin, swiping at the tip of her nose.

“You have a good eye and good ideas,” Lars continued. “Your work needs to be seen—yeah, without someone going behind your back. But nonetheless, this image is plain ol’ beautiful. And it’s also very powerful because there’s real emotion there, real need in the dark.”

Yes yes exactly.I squeezed Violet’s arm.

“Alessio loved it,” she said. “His bracelet shows, he was over the moon, and he wants to discuss more projects with me.”

He laughed. “I’ll bet he does. You hang in there. You need anything from me, you call.”

“Thank you, Lars.”

“Bye, man,” I said, clicking off. “How do you feel now that you heard a more objective, and professional opinion?”

“Like I’m on the edge of my life looking over.” Her voice was a ragged whisper.

“What do you see over that edge, babe? A pit of thorns and snakes? Or a turquoise blue lagoon you’ve always wanted to dive into?”

A chime erupted from her phone, and her attention went to her screen. “Holy crap! Alessio just deposited a pretty penny into my PayPal account.”

“It’s official—a professional photograph for a promotional campaign, and a deposit in good faith for a future project. There’s your answer, babe. Your work. A career you’ve been working toward for a long time now.”

Her hands tugged through her hair, pulling it to the side. I kissed her cheek, my lips stroking a gentle trail to her mouth. “How about I make you come, so you can relax?”

“Nooooo.” She jerked her head away from me, pushing at my chest. “Do not distract me with hot Beck sex.”

I let out a laugh.

“You don’t understand.” Her voice remained serious, and she blew out a huff of air. “Your family wouldn’t blink twice at this sort of thing, but not mine. Mine are born and bred small town conservatives, they’re not Eric and Lenore.”

“You’re worried your parents and grandparents are going think you’re trashy now? That photo is racy, but it isn’t some raunchy sex video of you and some mistake.” I searched her eyes. “Your family doesn’t know that we’re here together, do they?”

“Mom and Gigi know. My dad only knows I took off for a vacation somewhere.”

“And Ladd? Does he know?”

Another loud ping, her gaze riveted to her phone, a dry laugh. “It’s Gigi—she commented: “Hottest adventure ever! My girl living large!”

“I love your grandmother.”

A ring tone blared from her phone and her face darkened, her grip tightening on the device. “I have to take this,” she mumbled and went outside to the veranda.

Dammit, now what?

58

Violet

Ladd was callingme

Had he seen the photo? He didn’t have an Instagram account, he was all Facebook all the time, but still. He’d taken off for Mexico and had no idea I was on a trip. No idea I was with Beck again.

I had to take the chance and play it cool. I hit the green button. “Hello.”

“Did you know?” Ladd’s irritation filled my ear.

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