“Does that leave time for anything else?” I wasn’t fishing.
Okay, maybe I was fishing, but I also really wanted to know. I wanted to know what she liked to do now and how she spent her time. I wanted to know everything I could find out about her, and one dinner just wasn’t going to be enough.
Elise’s smile began to make an appearance before she glanced at Ava and quickly brought it under control. “Sure, I mean it’s not like I’m working twenty-four-seven,” she said, bringing her eyes back to mine. “I like to cook, and I’ve gotten really interested in photography.”
This shouldn’t have surprised me, but it had. Or maybe it was the image of Elise behind a camera that caught me off-guard. “Really? That’s cool.” I sounded like a boy of fifteen, not a man almost twice that age. “What do you like to shoot?”
“Well, it started as an inspiration exercise,” Elise said, setting down her fork and turning just slightly toward me in her chair. “I love to walk through the Saint Streets and look for design ideas. So, I’d go for these walks in the morning because the store doesn’t open until ten…”
As she spoke, her face seemed glow from the inside, her eyes glinting under the lights of our wrought copper chandelier.
“…and I’d come home after looking at dewy spiderwebs and morning glories and try to sketch what had appealed to me.” A half-frown dipped between her brows, but one side of her mouth curled up in pleasure. “But sketching from memory is never as good as using the real thing, so I started taking pictures.”
“With a camera or your phone?” I asked.
Elise wrinkled her nose. “With Alberta’s camera or my phone.”
I had a hard time keeping my smile in check. “Why the face?”
Her expression smoothed out at once, and she looked like a kid caught sneaking cookies. That made it even harder to keep from smiling.
“Well, Bertie’s camera isokay,and even though brand-new phones have pretty good cameras, mine’s not brand new,” she said with a little eye roll. “And a kickass camera is not in my budget right now.”
I wanted to buy her a kickass camera. Right then.
But I kept that thought to myself, nodding in understanding instead. “So, morning glories and dewy spiderwebs photograph best with a high-end camera?” I deadpanned.
Elise scoffed, but her lips tugged against her smile. “I shoot other things too,” she defended.
“Like?”
Her shoulders notched back, and her eyes searched the ceiling, seeing beauty I could only imagine. “Like leaf patterns… butterfly wings… birds. Oh!” Her eyes shot to mine. “Tattoos. There’s this tattoo artist in town who is covered in the most amazing bird tattoos. She lets me shoot some of her work for inspiration.”
The question grabbed me by the throat and was out before I could force it back. “Do you have a tattoo?”
Elise’s mouth fell open. “I-I…” Her blush returned full force. She squeezed her eyes shut before opening them and pinning me with her glare. “If you tell Mama, I’ll skin you alive.”
Holy shit. Elise Cormier has a tattoo.
The thought alone sent a power surge of desire straight to my cock.
“Oh, yeah,” Ava chuckled. “Flora would kill you if she knew.”
Elise turned her glare to my sister. “You can’t tell her either.”
Ava crossed her heart. “I swear on my life.” Then she smirked. “So where is it?”
At the same moment, I croaked.“Whatis it?”
Elise’s jaw fell as she looked at both Ava and me in turn. Even though it seemed impossible, her blush deepened, and as I watched her, a rebel’s smile claimed her mouth.
God, she is so beautiful.
“It’s a tiara, okay?” She gave a mini eye roll, but I could tell that even though this embarrassed her, it also made her proud. And that, all by itself, made me happy. Absurdly happy.
“A tiara,” I said under my breath. Even though I said it low, I was pretty sure both women heard my awe and approval. How many sketches of tiaras had I seen in Elise’s room the few times I’d been lucky enough to be there? How many had been doodled into the margins of her homework when she’d sat at our kitchen table. And I was pretty sure there was one in her jewelry-line logo.
Was it the same one? I knew without a doubt I’d be revisiting her website later for a closer look.
