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There was a black tarp over the car positioned in the center of the room. Lights were already set up to capture it from every angle, though, and I heard low voices coming from the other side of the room. As we entered, they hushed, and I felt all eyes turn to us.
I saw several shadows shift, and then the photographer came into the light, followed by his assistant, the stylist, and three other people in business attire.
“Wait,” Shaw murmured, stopping me when I met the clear blue gaze of the man in an expensive tailored suit with a grin on his all too handsome face. “Is that…?”
“Remington,” I squealed and launched myself into his arms.
Laughing, he swung me around twice. “You have no idea how hard it was not to let it slip that I was going to be seeing you today when we talked the last time.”
Over the years, Remington and I had kept up with regular calls and texts. He’d moved around several more times during that period, and a few months before, he’d called me when his grandfather passed away. Since it was just the two of them, he had to step into his grandfather’s shoes within their company, and our phone chats became fewer and fewer because he was so busy, but we still texted at least once a week.
“You are WAR-SAW Global?” Shaw asked with a lift of her brows as she waited for him to put me on my feet.
“That would be me. Warner-Sawyer used to be Warner, but my grandfather changed it when my mother married my father because he knew I would one day own it and didn’t want to chance me completely taking his name out of the company. Which was exactly what I would have done if given the chance.” He gave her a quick one-armed hug before stepping away and putting his hand at the small of my back.
It was so natural an action, and I found myself leaning into him, feeling like I was starving for the skin-on-skin contact when his finger grazed over my flesh as he lifted my T-shirt.
With his other hand, he indicated the car still under the tarp, as if he didn’t realize he was making my body react to his caressing fingertips. “Before Grandfather died, we were about to unveil this beauty. It’s our first time in the motor industry, but he was proud as hell of this project. With his death, things were delayed a little longer than expected, but once we finally got to the marketing stage, I knew exactly whose face I wanted to represent us.”
“You only wanted me because you knew you would get Violet in the bargain,” Shaw said with a grin, making me blush instantly.
I felt Remington’s fingers shift lower to my hip, and I had to fight back a moan when he gave a firm squeeze. When he looked down at me, his eyes were full of a hunger I’d only ever seen in them the night we almost kissed. “She sees right through everything, doesn’t she, Stevenson?”
“A-always,” I murmured, feeling breathless.
I felt his thumb caress over my back along the small patch of skin he’d exposed between my shirt and jeans. Goose bumps popped up along my spine, and I couldn’t help shivering. No one had touched me like that in a long, long time, and my body began to heat at the contact.
Clearing his throat, Remington focused back on the others around us. I realized the woman behind him was his personal assistant, because every time he gave an order, she instantly wrote something in the ledger she carried or typed something into her phone. The other guy was WAR-SAW Global’s marketing director, and he and Remington were both calling the shots for the photo shoot.
We stood off to the side, watching Shaw work her magic in front of the camera, while the photographer and his assistant rushed around, capturing every moment from every angle. It took hours because they were trying to reach multiple demographics. Shaw went from the elegant evening gown, to casual jeans and T-shirt with her hair in a ponytail, to a bikini and barefoot and sitting on the hood of the car for the last hour of the shoot.
During that time, Remington stayed beside me, splitting his focus between the work at hand and me. I enjoyed having his attention, laughing with him, flirting. But I liked just watching him too. Seeing his brain work as he called out suggestions throughout the entire afternoon and observing the results come to life on the computer where the pictures the photographer was taking instantly popped up for us to view.
As the last picture appeared on the screen, Shaw let out a pained groan. “Surrender,” she cried. “Surely you have enough to work with. If not, let me eat, and then we can start back up. But this girl is starving.”
Remington laughed. “We’re good. I’ve already decided on which pictures we’re using first. Go change, and I’ll take you and Stevenson to dinner.”
I glanced down at my plain jeans and T-shirt. “Maybe we should go back to the hotel so I can change if we’re going somewhere nice.”
I felt his eyes skim over me like a physical caress. “You look beautiful. Like always.” He caught my hand in his and lifted it to his lips. My breath caught in my throat when he pressed a kiss to my fingertips before releasing me. “But if you want to change, that’s your choice.”
I found myself leaning into him, and he lowered his head. “Remi…” I didn’t know if I was trying to stop him or begging him to devour my mouth. All I could do was look up at him and hope he didn’t make me decide which one I really wanted from him just yet.
“I like it when you call me that.” His breath brushed over my lips, but he only kissed my cheek before pulling back. “Go help Shaw change before I kiss you right here in front of all these assholes.”
Heart racing, I practically ran after my best friend. When I got to the room where she was already changing into the clothes she’d arrived in, I had to wave a hand in front of my face to try to cool it down.
Holy hell. I’d only felt this way about Luca, except that one night at Remington’s when Jagger had interrupted.
Shaw laughed softly when she saw me. “That guy has always been half in love with you. I’m starting to wonder if maybe he was full-blown head over heels for you all this time and just waiting for you to come back into his life.”
I gasped. “No way. He couldn’t possibly…”
“I said the same thing about Lyric finding the love of his life at a club in New York and then following her across the country to make her fall in love with him.” She lifted her phone and waved it at me. “And yet here he is, sending out texts saying he’s getting married.”
“What?” I exclaimed and pulled out my own phone from my back jeans pocket. I’d had it on silent for the shoot, and I’d been having so much fun just being with Remington all afternoon that I hadn’t pulled it out once to check for messages or missed calls.
Sure enough, I had a text from Lyric. There was a picture of him and the girl he’d told me all about when I’d visited him over the summer. She was beautiful, with jet-black hair and gray eyes. But it was the way she was looking at Lyric that made me smile. He’d been so worried that he was the only one who felt the connection between the two of them, but I could see just from this picture how much she loved him.
