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Exhale, one… two… three… four.
Soft whispers echo across the room, but I can’t quite make out what’s said, which is followed by thunderous footsteps that make me jump in my skin. There’s more than one set of feet traveling in my direction, several of which sound like heavy boots.
This is where I die, for sure. I know it. Chopped up in little pieces and saved for later.
“Remember to breathe, Ms. Scarlett.” The photographer’s voice at my ear startles me, has me jerking in that direction to see where he’s come from except I can’t. A light hand brushes over my bare shoulder, startling me again. “Won’t be long now, dear.”
The thump of boots gets closer. More words are hushed to someone else, a male voice that isn’t the photographer. A second male voice. More steps, closer to me than I like without being able to fricking see.
“Perfect, now …” The photographer trails off as the boots shuffle and heat warms my back. Someone is close, but not close enough to touch. I hear the faint shutter of a camera, a distinct sound that reminds me of my sister.
The reason I’m here.
My lungs release, and my heart swells with pride at her for the woman she’s become and the work she’s accomplished. That momentum instills strength in me to embrace this damn moment and fill my lungs with oxygen.
“Remove the blinds, my dear.” I reach up and peek under the darkness. My eyes take a second to adjust, but confusion settles in. There’s nothing but the wall in front of me. “Now turn.”
Dropping my arm, the tie dangling from my grasp, I spin.
And stop.
Dead.
Hair flips into my mouth from the momentum, my breath leaving me in a whoosh, like I’ve just been sucker punched.
The eyes that stare back at me drink me in hauntingly, curiously, as they sweep from my head to the heels on my feet. The odd mix of green and blue in his gaze blazes its trail back up my body to settle on my breasts for a beat, then land back on my face. “Holy shit.”
I flush. His voice is deeper than anything I’ve heard in person, his tone genuinely amazed.
Amused?
His whole person is nothing like anyone I’ve ever met.
The kind you see in movies and on the TV. Not in real life.
I gulp, my throat working to swallow down the intensity I feel.
Tattoos … So many tattoos color his skin exposed by the crisp white button down that screams anything but professional. It’s unkempt and wrinkled on purpose, several buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to his thick forearms. Only the front is tucked into the jeans I’m certain he had made for him with the way the dark denim hugs his thick thighs and …
Holy shit is right.
The bulge suggests either he’s hung like a mother fucker or already liking what he sees.
My breath hitches in my throat, my eyes unable to willingly look elsewhere, my breathing coming in short pants like a fucking dog in heat. That is until his hand blocks the view and not so inconspicuously points an index finger upward.
“Oh, fuck.” I’m redder than the thong I wear, self-consciousness settling in thick and quick as the sounds of a shudder clicking registers in my brain. My head whips to the sound, guilt and embarrassment bulging my eyes out of my head.
I’m caught looking at his junk. Just put me out of my misery now.
“No worries, babe.” His low, but warm, tone brings my attention back to his smirking face. “I like what I see, too.”
I’ve never melted before at just the sight or the sound of another person. But I’m fairly certain that’s what’s happening right now. Warmth pools all over my body, but especially between my legs, as I take a step forward.
“So much hair.” Oh,my God. Just take me out now.It’s all the words I can muster at the moment as I focus beyond the gorgeous set of eyes and see the tendrils and locks of curls falling from the crown of his head. A dark blond on the verge of brown, the curls silhouette his face in massive amounts.
Then there’s that grin. Set under a crooked nose. And hot damn do I wanna do bad things right now.
Another step forward and I can feel the heat radiating from him, the pull of him drawing me in. His amusement feathers across my face with a minty freshness.
