Danny (Models On Top #1) (33 page)

The residue is barely seen, but it’s there. She rubs her nose on her shirt. “All clear?”

“All clear. You didn’t have that while shooting did you?”

“No.” She reaches down and flashes open her purse. The vial looks empty for the most part. I’m glad she’s out.

“Do you need it to work?”

“I need it to survive.”

I pull on my shirt and grab my jacket from the top of the screen. “When did it get that bad?”

“The first time I tried it.”

“When was that?” I ask, though I should probably let it go.

“I was sixteen, and on a shoot in Italy. The photographer wanted to ‘help’ get me in the mood.”

Trying to keep things casual, I start to feel sick as I bend down and put on my socks and shoes. “What happened?” I ask because there is always more to a story that starts like that. I’ve heard it a hundred times—models get taken advantage of all the time. They’re young, desperate to hit it big. I imagine modeling is a lot like acting in that way, both professions full of people who want to be the next star, the next one “discovered.”

I stand in front of her, both of us fully dressed behind a screen in the middle of Manhattan on a cloudy day. She lowers her voice and says, “I took the drugs and gave him what he wanted.”

Our eyes meet, a desperate sadness in hers that never seems to dissipate. I’m hesitant to say more, but do it anyway. “The photos turned out?”

“We never took any pictures. At least none for the campaign I was shooting.”

My stomach rolls. “He raped you?”

“He would say I agreed.”

“What would you say?”

“I don’t say anything at all.”

There’s something so vulnerable about her, despite the hard and edgy that got her to the level she’s at. But beneath the surface is something youthful and naïve. This woman has a damaged side that will never heal. She’s stunted in an action that formed who she is now.

I hug her.

She hugs me back.

There’s nothing sexual, no ulterior motives, no judgment. Just two people who are trying to survive in the middle of the chaos that’s raised them.

Becs asks, “You guys ready? The crew is packed.”

I wait for Claudia to answer. “Yes.” She walks by me as if the conversation we just had never happened. She leaves the roof and hopefully a little of her pain behind.

When I come out, Becs folds the portable dressing screens. I take them from her, she grabs her rack, and we leave like the rest.

In the back of the Suburban, Becs says, “She’s very pretty.”

Turning my attention from the passing people outside the vehicle to the one next to me, I agree. “Claudia nailed it this morning.”

“I wasn’t talking about Claudia.”

Smiling, I reply, “I should have known.”

“Any update or are you going to keep me in suspense forever?”

I lower my voice so the driver and the makeup artist don’t hear me. “What would you like to know?”

“I’m a romantic at heart. Tell me everything.”

I chuckle. “I should probably leave out some of the sordid details. I could be arrested in at least two states if word got out.”

“Damn, those are the best details.
Do not
leave those out.”

I sound more serious than intended, but maybe that’s because my heart is speaking for me. “I’m in deep.”

A soft, but proud smile enters her expression. Leaning over, she wraps an arm around me. “Awwww, you’ll be okay. It’s just new right now. Once you get off set and spend quality time together I would wager that this is the one.”

“Why do you say that?”

“From watching the two of you.” She sits back on her side of the seat and reflects. “There’s something about the way you move when you’re together, as if your bodies can’t stand the distance. I see her when you’re not looking. I see you when she’s not watching you. You’re one in the same. I’m afraid when it comes to your stubbornness as well.”

“I’m not stubborn, Becs.”

“You’re set in your ways and that way isn’t working for you anymore. You need to be honest with yourself and Reese. The rest of us don’t matter.”

“I’ve been honest with her. She knows how I feel. She’s just caught up in the side effects of dating me.” I drop my head back. “I don’t want to lose her again, but I don’t know how to hold on to her either.”

“Love doesn’t need to be held. It’s in our veins, flowing through us like blood. It’s essential to our makeup. So don’t let your need to hold something tangible make you miss what’s inside.”

“Stop being so damn insightful,” I tease.

“Eh, it’s a gift.”

I lean over and kiss her on the head. “You’re a gift.”

When she looks at me, her eyes are wide. “That’s the same as calling me awesome, right?”

“Better than awesome. See? I’m not so stubborn.”

With a roll of her eyes, we’re back to being playful. The emotions Reese and I are feeling for each other will stay tucked away until we deal with it later. I have a good three hours work ahead of me and need to get in the right frame of mind. Then later, we have that seven-hour flight to Paris to get through. How I’m supposed to be near her for that long and not touch her, not kiss or make love to her? That is going to be the longest seven hours of my life.

THE PHOTO SHOOT
had such promise.

But as I look at Reese’s ex, and current boss, lying on the ground in front of me, I realized it the second he walked in. None of us stood a chance.

“LOOK AT ME,
Danny,” Bryker directs. “I want intense. I want lust. I want power. I want controlled.”

I stare straight into the camera. My jaw tenses as I hold my breath to give him all that he asked for and more. When I release, I look down and then back up. The camera hasn’t moved, but I do, shifting to give him something new. He backs away, going for a wide angle. King of the world, endless three-sixty views of Manhattan backs me as I sit back in the desk chair. Claudia comes around and with her hands on my shoulders, she massages. The boss-and-secretary scene plays out until she stops to pose.

“This is good. Danny, look out over your playground. You own this city. Devour the views, then Claudia.” I turn my back to the lens, only my head and arms in view as I stare ahead. Claudia faces the camera, then directs her attention to me. I grab her, pulling her into my lap. Her legs go up as I spin back around, the scene playful until I see Reese and her ex standing in the doorway of the room. He has his arms crossed as he glares at me disapprovingly.

Worry creases Reese’s face, her bottom lip tucked under her top teeth. I turn my gaze back to Claudia when she cups my jaw and redirects me. “Look at me, Danny,” she whispers, “only me.”

Taking my hand, she runs it over her bare leg and higher under the hem of her skirt. “Only me,” she repeats seductively.

I lick my lips and even though I want to look at Reese—want to touch Reese this way—I redirect the wants onto the model I’m paid to desire. She leans in and kisses me. My eyes close to block Reese out, but the blackness behind my lids are filled with images of her—her face as she looks back at me while I fuck her, the way her lip gets tugged under and released the moment she comes, her eyes as they take me in while taking me into her mouth.

Fuck!

My eyes flash open. Claudia is staring at me, and asks, “Where’d you go?”

I stand abruptly, setting her on her feet. “I need five.”

Bryker sways his arm in the air. “Everyone take five.”

I head right for Reese, keeping my eyes locked on hers. She does the minutest of headshakes and I walk right past and head to wardrobe, which is set up in the other room.

Becs questions, “Danny?”

I keep moving out the door, needing air, the apartment air is stale in my lungs. At the elevators, I punch the lobby button. When the doors open, I rush to the back and turn around. Reese is there. She steps inside and pushes the button to close the doors.

As soon as they do, she’s against me, chest to chest. Her hands are running through the back of my hair as I hold her by the shoulders, kissing her. Kissing her so hard, as if she might be taken away. The floors tick by and we don’t waste a second. I grab her perfect tits in my hands and squeeze, causing her to moan into my mouth.

The lobby floor dings and we fly to opposite sides of the elevator car. Our breathing matches each other’s—erratic and heavy. Her lips are parted and swollen from my lips.
My fucking lips.
I own hers. That fucker can go fuck himself if he thinks he’s ever going to touch her again.

She walks out and I follow in silence, both of us headed to the front doors of the lobby. It’s been raining since we’ve been upstairs, the ground wet. A few umbrellas still above heads as the sidewalk remains crowded in spite of the foul weather.

Reese stops and I stand beside her. She says, “Don’t.”

“What?”

“You know what. Don’t do what you’re doing. If I can see it, the camera can read it.”

I turn to her. “What am I doing, Reese?”

“You’re imagining the worst.”

“I’m imagining your life before me.”

“Keaton and I broke up over a year ago. He wasn’t like this, like how he is now. He wasn’t possessive.”

“I am.”

“It’s not the same. He’s become obsessive. He lost me. I’m only a prize to him now.”

“You broke up with him?”

“I did. I think I’m the first, so he’s not handling it well.”

“If it’s been over a year, why does he think he still has a chance?”

She moves back out of the pedestrian traffic, under the cover of the large forest-green awning that fronts the entrance to the building. “He doesn’t. Trust me.”

“You throw trust around as if it will make this turmoil I feel inside go away, but don’t you see I do trust you? But that fucker—no way will I ever trust him.”

My declaration brings a smile to her face. “I feel the same way.” She checks her watch. I take a deep breath. Actually, the few moments with Reese
are
my deep breath. My calm. “We should get back. As they say, time is money.”

Riding up the elevator, we stand next to each other, our eyes on the other. There isn’t a frenzied make-out session. The early crazed kissing came from an uncertainty that needed to be claimed. I’ve claimed her and she’s claimed me. Our feelings established.

The elevator doors open on the forty-second floor and I come face to face with him. He has the nerve to call Reese over to him. “I’ve been wondering where you went. We’re going to be late for our meeting.” His eyes hit me, and he says, “We have private business to discuss, so you should probably put on more
makeup
and get primped to get your picture taken.”

Reese asks, “What business?”

He whispers in her ear, his hand wrapped around her shoulders as if he has a right to hold her, much less touch her. She moves out from under his arm and keeps walking. “Have you forgotten already? You’re on Klein time. I was thinking we could grab drinks down in the Village. I know how you like it down there with that eclectic crowd.”

Waving him off, she says, “Go ahead. I have things to do here.”

“What would be the point of me going alone?” he asks, following her around. “And what business do you have here?”

The three of us enter the office again, my hands fisted at my side while the pestering gnat circles Reese. Bryker is walking with the light meter when he sees me. “Stand right here, Danny. I think this will be a good shot without washing you out from the sunlight coming in.”

Keaton mocks me. “Yes, Danny, do as you’re told and let’s get this shoot wrapped. I have a date that seems to refuse to leave until this shoot is finished.”

Poke.

He nudges Reese who’s not laughing, and says, “Funny, right? Seems he wants to pla—”

“Shut up, Keaton,” she cuts him off.

Becs appears uncomfortable and Bryker attempts to ignore the tension building off set. Claudia sets her phone down and looks up.

While I stand where Bryker wants me, I watch as Keaton takes Reese by the arm. “It’s time to go.”

Jerking free, she warns him, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Somebody has to.”

When he takes her by the arm again, I say, “Let her go.”