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Chapter Seventeen
Jasper fiddled with the tripod in the video room that was meant to hold smartphones, but he couldn’t get the thing to clamp the right way. The tripod tipped over, bringing his phone with it. “Oh come on, you piece of sh—”
A light knock from behind him had him cutting off his invective and turning his head. Emily had poked her head in the doorway, her black ponytail swinging sideways. “Need some help?”
Jasper frowned as he rescued his phone from the floor. “That obvious?”
Emily pinched her thumb and forefinger together. “Just a little.” She stepped inside, her heels going quiet on the carpet. “What are you trying to do? An improv video?”
“Sort of.” Jasper righted the tripod as Emily stopped next to him, hands on her hips, the crisp scent of her perfume filling the room. “Hollyn and I are working on a little project.”
“You and Hollyn.” She gave him a skeptical look. “Doing a project together?”
He felt his hackles rise. “Yeah. Why?”
“Nothing. Just the first time I saw you two in the same room, she hauled ass in the other direction. Here, let me.” Emily put her hand out for his phone, demanding more than asking. He gave it to her, and she went about securing it in the tripod with a practiced ease that said she could do it in her sleep. “I thought she didn’t like you. Or, you know, anyone.”
Jasper tried to pay attention to what Emily was doing so he could do it for himself next time. “It was a misread. She’s just quiet. She’s actually pretty cool once you get to know her.”
“Huh.” Emily angled the phone just so and then tapped her fingers against her lips, pondering the area to be filmed. “Go stand over there for a sec. Be my model.”
Jasper walked over and stood in front of the white wall.
“Do you have any particular background in mind?” she asked, adjusting the phone again. “They have a green screen you can use. You can superimpose any background onto it.”
“Nah. This is just practice so we don’t need any effects.”
“Okay, just good lighting then.” Emily went to the wall and flipped a few switches. A bright ring light glowed to life. Jasper squinted in the white light as she walked back to the tripod and looked at his phone screen. “Smile pretty.”
Jasper obliged, amused by Emily’s no-nonsense instructions, and he pretended to flip his hair and bat his eyelashes. “I’m ready for my close-up.”
“Very nice. You look good on-screen. That light makes your eyes stand out,” she said with a tone a doctor would use to declare he’d passed his physical. She adjusted something on his phone screen and frowned. “You know, I have a real camera. You can borrow it if you want—as long as I can set it up, because if you break it, then I’d have to murder you.”
Jasper laughed. “Thanks but I won’t risk death. I actually bought a DSLR recently, but today’s supposed to be a quick test run. For what we’re doing, the phone is fine.”
He wasn’t even sure he and Hollyn were going to hit the record button today. Hollyn had done well a few nights ago when they’d run scenes at Fitz’s, but he suspected the post-orgasm relaxation effect had something to do with that. When he’d told her he wanted to try some camera stuff today, she’d sounded less than enthused. He smiled. Maybe he’d just have to get creative to help her loosen up again…
“Is it just going to be you two in here today?” Emily asked.
The question startled Jasper out of his dirty thoughts. “Huh?”
“Is it just going to be you and Hollyn in here?” she asked again as she futzed with the lights, her eyes narrowing each time she adjusted something.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, sensing there was a question within the question. Maybe she’d sensed his R-rated thoughts about what he and Hollyncoulddo in here with a locked door. “Why?”
She glanced over at him and shrugged. “No reason. I just see you chatting with Fitz McLane all the time. I didn’t know if he was part of this project.”
“Oh, no, not part of this,” Jasper said, watching her as she plugged a wire on the tripod into something that made the camera view come up on a computer monitor. “But we’re old friends, and I’m staying at his place.”
“Wait.” Her attention jumped his way, her ponytail whipping around. “You’re his roommate?”
Jasper’s eyebrows lifted at her breathless tone.Oh.He hid a smile. “Yeah, why?”
She bit her lip and then straightened as if remembering her normally perfect posture. “No reason. I was just…curious.”
He folded his arms. “Curious.”
“I mean,” she said, pushing a stray hair away from her face, clearly flustered. “I was only wondering because I’d like to interview him for my vlog. You know, he’s gotten so much accomplished so young, and I know he’s probably got a ton of productivity hacks to share.”
