Page 74 of Love Puck

Christ.

The excitement in her eyes—and written all over her face—was contagious.

I nodded and turned around. “Sounds good. I’ll set up the lighting. The salesperson might have sold me a new system for you.”

Hearing Jillian’s squeal of delight made me chuckle as I walked toward the table. I’d left one of the bags on the floor beside it. After I lifted the bag and set it on the table—I felt Jillian’s arms wrap around me from behind.

“Thanks, Cash,” was all she said with a quick squeeze before letting me go and rushing down the hallway.

It didn’t take me long to put the lights together. And Jillian came out and arranged the table. She completely transformed it, just like she always did.

I had the tripod up and we’d done about a dozen test shots until everything was just right. Jillian was meticulous about how her videos looked.

Finally, I was allowed to start shooting for real.

If there was one thing I loved—it was how quickly Jillian changed into “star mode.” One second, she’d be all frazzled. And the next, she’d turn it on.

I couldn’t even explain exactly what it was.

But whatever it was—whatever Jillian had—it was magnetic. She pulled you in through the lens and made you want to stay awhile. I was completely captivated and found myself grinning like a fool as she applied several various types of nail polish.

The next step was to brush on some kind of quick drying polish on top. And then wait for the allotted amount of time.

You wouldn’t think literally—watching paint dry was a fun activity. But somehow, Jillian made it that way. The way she explained everything definitely made me a semi-expert on nail polish and the quick drying gloopy stuff.

She gave me the signal to stop recording, so I click off.

“Darn, I should have done this when I had a bunch of nail polish removers to test, too. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?” Jillian shook her head, appearing to be disappointed in herself. Which was insane.

“You did a great job. In fact, I have half a mind to get you to paint my nails.” I winked at her, then went about transferring the video to her new computer.

She giggled.

And that sound.

Fuck.

It hit me right in the chest.

And ran straight to my dick.

“I’m serious, Jillian. That was great. I don’t think we’ll even have to do much editing.” I took a few deep breaths and tried to get some blood flow back to my brain.

Her eyes stayed on me. “Cash, you don’t have to stay to edit. You’ve done way too much already.” She looked down at her multi-colored nails with a frown.

“I can help,” I said and cleared my throat. Then I sat down with her at the table and started doing just that. “If you want to do another one or two videos, I’ll stay.”

Her eyes grew brighter, even at this time of the night.

Or more like morning.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded and kept clicking and typing on the computer. She didn’t waste any time at all getting up and rushing to the bathroom. When she came back, I saw a bottle of nail polish remover in her hand and a long bag with the words “makeup rounds” on it.

She sat down and started removing the nail polish she’d just taken great pains to paint on. All of this also fascinated me. I loved watching her do anything. And obviously I wasn’t alone—Jillian had many fans who shared my point of view.

After a few minutes, she huffed and puffed. “Crap.”

---