Skin (10 page)

T
he next morning
dawned bright and early. Tania woke up with Kane on her mind, which was to be expected, although the dreams had bordered on erotic but in a fantasy way. Not realistic, and that was also to be expected. The man wasn’t for her, and a relationship wasn’t likely to happen, therefore her subconscious had kept it in fantasy. But she could still dream.

Throwing back the covers, she remembered her early morning meeting with Jenna, and damn if she wasn’t going to be late. She threw on clothes and ran.

At the coffee shop, Jenna sat with a pot of tea at her side, an open notebook in front of her and a look of concentration on her face.

Tania almost hated to interrupt.

As if sensing her presence, Jenna lifted her head and caught sight of Tania. A smile broke across her face.

Tania admitted that a smile from her stunning professor was like being brushed by a ray of sunshine. Tania didn’t know Jenna’s story, but somehow she’d arrived at a beautiful place in her life, and it showed.

Tania took a seat at Jenna’s table. “Sorry I’m late.”

Jenna shrugged. “If being late meant you had a good night’s sleep, then there’s no loss. It’s not as if I’ve been waiting long.”

The waiter arrived then, giving Tania a chance to order coffee and something to eat. She had an appetite, she realized with surprise. She’d expected to be so overwrought this morning that food wouldn’t sit well, but instead she felt fine. Great, in fact.

“You look well this morning,” Jenna said, a look of pleased surprise on her face. “Obviously, this week isn’t stressing you out too badly.”

Tania gave her a quirky smile. “Actually, it is, but in ways I hadn’t expected. I also hadn’t expected to feel so upbeat this morning, but there you have it.”

With that, the two women started a discussion of yesterday’s homework. When done, Tania understood a discussion of Kane and the project would likely be next. That sent a tremor through her. She had so much to say, yet she wasn’t ready to say anything.

“How did yesterday afternoon go?”

“It was good.” Tania grinned. “I enjoyed having a camera in my hand again. Kane is a great subject,” she said, warming to the topic. “Some of the pictures are really unique.”

“Excellent.” Jenna smiled as she poured herself a cup of tea. “What have you learned so far?”

“He’s easy to photograph; the camera loves him.” She went into a discussion about trying to capture the different looks she’d seen in his eyes, the control he had and the drive to keep working out even when his muscles trembled with the effort.

“He’s quite a man,” she added soberly. “I don’t know why he’s here, but he’s been very easy to work with.” She added thoughtfully, staring out the window, “Maybe too easy.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I think he sees me as damaged and himself as whole.”

Jenna paused in the act of lifting her teacup to her mouth. “Interesting.”

“He is. It’s like he’s only here on sufferance, but he’s willing to do this if it will help me. But it won’t help him because he doesn’t have stuff. No…” Tania stopped. “More as if he has stuff to deal with, but this workshop isn’t likely to help him deal with it, so he’ll help me out in order to get through the week.”

Jenna’s eyes twinkled. “Another interesting observation.”

Tania grinned. “All I’m doing is observing Kane.”

Jenna stayed suspiciously quiet on that comment. Breakfast was served then, and the topic went to more general topics. Before she’d realized it, Tania was once again seated at the round table in the seminar room, waiting for the other attendees to show up.

And then Kane walked in.

Her spine rippled with awareness. She knew Kane had just walked in, and yet she hadn’t even seen the man yet. She couldn’t help the big smile on her face. She was both happy and excited, loving the feelings that lit her nerve endings along with the awareness of what was. This was all good, just as Jillian had said. It was good to feel this way; it felt right. As if she was finally normal in some way.

“Mind if I sit here?” Kane said, standing beside her. She smiled up at him, “No problem. There might be room.” In fact, the chairs were bunched on the other side of her, leaving an abnormally large space for him.

He winked at her then sat down. Her gaze widened. She straightened up, thankful Jenna appeared just then to start their day off.

By noon, Tania was tired and cranky. There was nothing like listening to others talk about progress in their lives to make her feel like she’d made none. Regardless of how much progress she’d managed to create, it didn’t look like it was enough. They broke for lunch and would resume working on their projects right after. Instead of eating, Tania headed outside for some fresh air. One of the men had several positive, uplifting stories to tell. She’d cheered with him and had fallen silent with the remaining members of the class when Jenna had asked if anyone else had something they wanted to share.

Yes, she wanted to share her news. She wanted to scream it out loud to anyone who’d listen. Her body was reacting like a normally functioning woman. She’d been in lust for her first time, felt that keen edge of a sword blade of attraction across her soul. It was good stuff – great stuff.

But it wasn’t exactly shareable news.

“Not hungry?”

Tania turned. Kane had followed her out. “I just wanted some fresh air.”

“In that case, why don’t you grab your camera and we’ll carry on where we left off and grab a bite to eat later?”

She opened her shoulder bag to show him the contents. “Already got it.”

“Perfect.” He walked down the pathway, and Tania raced to catch up. “Where do you want to go?”

“Out,” came the laconic reply.

“Yeah, well, you’ve accomplished that today.”

“I have. What’s the next goal then? Yesterday, we followed my day. Today, we’ll follow your day.”

“Ha, in that case, we’d be studying all day.”

He winced. “Then we’ll need to find a midpoint between us.”

“It’s beautiful outside. We could just walk.”

“There’s a nice little Chinese restaurant down the boulevard a bit. How about we walk to our lunch?”

Feeling like they were sneaking away on a private lunch, Tania quickly agreed. She stopped just short of calling it a date in her head even though she really wanted to.

“Of course, you’ll need to keep clicking that damn camera.”

“I can walk, talk, and take pictures.”

“Wow, a modern woman.” His voice was teasing.

With light-hearted banter setting the tone, she took several pictures as he walked, having him stop and stand a few times so she could capture him with specific backgrounds. By the time they’d reached the restaurant, they were both arguing comfortably and Tania realized something else. It was the first time she’d spent any time alone in a man’s company, and they’d been talking like old friends.

It was comfortable. Nice.

She didn’t want it to end.

*

“Lunch was good,
but I think I ate too much.” Tania bounced at his side. Given their size difference, she had to almost run to keep up. “You barely ate,” he scoffed.

“Ha, just because I’m not the size of a small mountain doesn’t mean I didn’t eat a lot.”

He rolled his eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that before.”

“Sorry, I’m not used to this type of kibitzing.” Her lips twisted wryly. “I need more practice.”

That’s when it hit him. She wasn’t used to anything male-related. Talking like this, taking pictures, having a meal with a man. He half-suspected she’d never been on a date in her life. What he’d taken for fear had likely been just nervousness of being alone around males in general. She’d relaxed now, comfortable in his company.

Good.

“So, now what?”

“I don’t know. We’re about twenty minutes from the hotel, but you haven’t taken many pictures yet. This means we have more homework to do.”

She grew quiet at his side as they walked.

“What are you thinking?”

“I got a lot of pictures when you were working out, but I didn’t get a couple that I’d been trying for.”

“So you want me to go work out again?” Fine with him. Being around her was sending his libido off the wall. A workout would chase some of it back down to normal levels. Exhaust him so he could sleep at night. For all that he’d slept, his dreams had been heavy with Tinkerbelle content, and not in an innocent way. There had been nothing childish about those dreams.

“I don’t know how often you work out. Maybe you don’t do it every day, in which case, I’ll wait until tomorrow.”

“Except we’re not going to have many days left.”

She winced. “In that case…”

“Right, then back to my room to get my gear on.”

“I’ll meet you in the fitness room.”

He slid her a sideways glance and realized she was trying to avoid being in his room. Too bad. That was starting to be the number one place he wanted her to be.

T
he fitness room
was empty when Tania arrived. She’d been hoping it would be, not sure how she’d handle being watched as she photographed Kane working out.

She hadn’t lied to him when she’d told him she’d missed a few images she’d hoped to have captured. Several of the images she’d kept were close but weren’t good enough in her estimate. He gave so much of himself to his goals that she could do no less in her attempt to capture the same intensity of his expression.

She sat down and systematically went through the contents of her bag, mentally shifting through the options to take the best images. Being inside limited the experience – she’d love to have him swimming in a lake. See the water droplets run off his skin in the moonlight. This set of stills appeared to be all about light and dark. She paused, lifted her head, and considered the homework assignment. That could be the theme. It was certainly the essence showing through the images. When Kane walked into the room ten minutes later, she asked him.

“Light and dark?” he frowned as if considering it.

“Think of the images I showed you last night. And the way light plays on your skin, your muscles as they move. The reflections,” she said encouragingly. “Can’t you see it?”

“Fitness is more like it. I can see that as a theme.”

She paused and slowly repacked her bag as she thought about it. He’d been joking, she’d been sure, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.

“I’m doing mostly legs today,” he warned.

She stared at him then shrugged. “As that means nothing to me, I’ll learn as you work.”

And boy, did she learn.

He did a warm-up that had her aching with sympathy, and then he started doing lunges, squats, and a mess of other exercises she couldn’t begin to understand. In an attempt to anticipate his muscles moving and bunching at the right time to catch with her camera, she bent, crouched, kneeled, and twisted in positions she couldn’t normally get into to catch the right shots.

By the time he shifted to using a huge long bar with weights on either end, he’d settled into a comfortable rhythm and her body was starting to ache.

“How can you do this all the time?”

“I like it. I like to feel my body working at peak performance. It’s a fine-tuned machine and like any machine, it needs to be worked out.”

“I’m sore just from taking pictures,” she muttered.

“Good. Helps you to remember you have muscles.”

“Ha. I do yoga all the time.”

“Good for you. I don’t bend and twist well.”

“Like this?” She put her camera down, stood in front of him, then bent forward from the waist while wrapping her right arm behind her to curl around her waist on the opposite side.

“See, now that’s not normal.” He shook his head but bent forward and tried to imitate her. His huge biceps didn’t allow his arm to move well behind his back, and his palm could only go to his spine.

She grinned. “See those of us that can, do.”

“Smart ass.” Good-naturedly, he squatted to lift his bar.

She marveled at the cords running up and down his neck as he added more and more weights.

“How is this a leg workout?”

“It’s now an all-over exercise, but the legs get a hell of a workout,” he said when he could. “You’ve been taking pictures, which muscles are showing up the most?”