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“Or… you could let me draw you how I really want to.”
My heart picks up, beating faster, pounding in my chest with nerves while butterflies swirl in my stomach. “H-how’s that?”
“Not here with a tablet covering half your face,” he grumbles.
“Well, sorry. I wasn’t aware I was supposed to be modeling.”
“I didn’t mean…”
“It’s fine. I’m only playing with you.” I smile.
“Maybe another time,” he says, closing his sketch pad, sounding frustrated. Embarrassed maybe?
I nod nervously, wanting to know and also wondering if I’m taking this too far. “Yeah. Sure.”
“I’ll, uh, see you next week then maybe?” he asks, and I think he is feeling embarrassed and almost shy.
I find it endearing, my smile softening as I reach out and place a hand on his arm. An instinct to calm him. Maybe a motherly one, I don’t know. But it doesn’t feel motherly the way my heart beats faster and I feel a zap of electricity spark from where I touch him.
Looking into his eyes, I lick my lips nervously. “I’ll see you next week,” I respond quietly.
With a head nod and a returned small smile of his own, he leaves the Burned Bean. My smile widens as I watch him leave.
Tucking my chin to my chest, I think about how he chose to draw me today, and my smile grows even more.
* * *
JAMES
Well, shit. I just felt like a schoolboy in Catholic school getting caught by the nuns for drawing nudies. I’m such an idiot. I don’t know why I got all flustered and nervous and embarrassed when she saw that I drew her.
I guess it was because I haven’t done it in a long time. When I was younger, I used to sit in cafés or parks or whatever and watch people, sketching and drawing them in their natural state. Some I’d give to the people if I finished before they left; others I’d keep for myself. It was always a way for me to get out of my head and relax, but I haven’t done it in years.
It felt good to pick up a pencil again, pressing it to paper and letting the beauty of my surroundings come to life before me. It was almost cathartic to sketch her. It rejuvenated me in a way I wasn’t expecting.
But I couldn’t help it. I had the itch to draw again, to draw her, since the first time I sat at the table across from her as she tried to pretend she didn’t see me from behind her tablet. I’ve watched her, itching to showcase her beauty.
I didn’t miss the way disappointment ran over her face when I didn’t sit with her today. I had to smother a laugh when she tried to pretend like she didn’t see me and wasn’t upset with me.
Sitting away from her gave me the best vantage point to see all of her though. From her wavy blonde hair to her soft pink lips, diamond studs in her ears, down to her tattered jeans and beat-up Converse shoes. She looked like a perfect contradiction.
Now, back at my office, I can’t stop thinking about her. Ray. She’s sexy without knowing it. Even her name is laced with sexuality just from the sound of it.
Pulling out my sketch pad, I flip to my drawing of her. It’s not as good as I’d like it to be. I wish I’d had more time and better lighting. Hell, I wish I could draw her lying down on a bed, relaxed and sated, looking beautiful on top of crumpled-up sheets.
Another time maybe.
Or, at least, I hope.
Chapter Six
STELLA
“Holy shit, traffic was insane!” Grace sighs exhaustedly as she throws her bag on the counter.
“You good?” I ask through a chuckle.
“Yeah. I’m good. Wait. Why do you look so nice?” she asks while her eyes scan me.
