I laughed and moved to my desk. I pulled open the bottom drawer and then pulled out a giant catalogue from my favorite framer. I could order a frame in the correct size and have it shipped, then mount the photo myself. I sat in the desk chair I’d splurged on. It had been an expensive purchase, but I knew the horror of sitting in an uncomfortable chair while editing photos, and when I opened my own studio, I knew I needed a great chair. It was like sitting on a cloud, only a cloud that had great back support. I loved it. Shelby came to stand behind me, peering over my shoulder at the pages and pages of available frames.
Like two kids in a candy store, we flipped pages, pointing to frames we loved and frames we hated, debating with each other when we didn’t agree. We were so engrossed in our task, neither of us noticed when the door opened, and we both startled at the sound of a deep voice.
“You’re a difficult woman to get ahold of.” The voice was playful and gravelly. Entirely sexy. My eyes snapped toward the door where I saw Nate standing right inside. His frame filled the doorway and my eyes struggled to stay locked on one part of him, roaming over his body, too greedy to focus on one single aspect.
“I’m actually pretty easy to get ahold of. Just a few drinks really…” Shelby said, not missing a single beat. Before I could contain my reaction, I gasped and turned to her, a little mortified that she’d say something so brazen to a complete stranger. I saw the way she was looking at him, her eyes hazy, a lazy but sexy smile on her face. Immediately I was moving.
“Nate, hi,” I said lamely as I stood, walking around my desk. “Wow. You actually came.”
“I said I would. When I say I’m going to do something, I always follow through.”
“Okay,” I said, my voice more breathy than I would have liked, but something about his words had my lungs working overtime. I watched as his eyes left me and started moving around my studio. I looked around, trying to see what he might see, wondering what he would think of my little corner, a studio that meant more to me than brick and mortar should.
“You took all these?” he said as he walked by a wall displaying my work. Usually, I would mentally roll my eyes at this question. Why would I hang someone else’s work in my studio? But when he asked, the question made me nervous, as I desperately needed him to like my photos, to connect with him in that way.
“Yeah.”
He looked at me, with one side of his mouth quirked up, and then looked back to another photo. “They’re amazing.” He stopped as he approached the large print Shelby and I were discussing. He peered down at it and then turned his head to look at me again. “You took this photo?”
I made it all the way around the desk and went to stand next to him, my eyes taking the photo in, wondering again what it might look like to him. “I did. And that’s Shelby in the photo.” I motioned back to Shelby, noticing she was standing behind my desk, still looking at us.
“It looks like something out of a fairy tale,” he remarked, his eyes looking wistful. I turned back to the photo and tilted my head while I contemplated his words. “The way she kind of looks like she’s part of the water, like, rising from it. It’s remarkable.”
Wow. Okay. He got it.
“Thank you,” I managed, turning an obvious and embarrassing shade of red.
“You’re really talented,” he added, facing me.
“It’s a mixture of luck and knowhow.”
“Are you trying to be humble?” he laughed. “It’s cute, but it’s not going to work. You’re really good at what you do. You shouldn’t brush off your abilities like that.”
“Hello there,” I heard from behind us. Turning, I saw Shelby with her hand stretched out toward Nate. “Since Evelyn here is being rude, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Shelby,” she said the words in a playful way, but I could tell she was irritated I’d forgotten about her altogether.
“I’m sorry. Nate, this is Shelby. She’s one of my favorite models and is also a great beautician.”
He smiled a friendly smile as he reached out and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Nate.”
“Are you a friend of Evelyn’s?” Shelby asked, not releasing his hand.
His eyes shot to me and his smile changed to something a little sexier. “Something like that,” he replied.
“He is the one doing the work on Devon’s house. He’s fixing all the water damage.”
“Ah ha,” she said slowly, as if an elusive puzzle piece had just fallen into place. But she still didn’t let go of his hand, she just kept slowly shaking it, her eyes narrowed at him. “Are you single?”
“Shelby!”
“What?” she asked innocently, finally letting go of his hand. He didn’t look rattled by her question, but he did look slightly uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to answer her,” I said to him, quickly shaking my head.
“It’s okay,” he said with a nervous laugh. “I don’t mind. I’m not dating anyone right now.”
I tried to hide the wave of excitement that swept through me at his words, but the wave crashed when I heard Shelby’s next question.
“Ever been married?”
“Oh, my God, really?” I cried, now exasperated by her behavior.
“Never been married,” Nate said, now full on laughing, which also sent excitement shooting through me.
“See?” Shelby said, looking at me. “You’ve got something in common. Discuss amongst yourselves.” She snatched her purse from a chair by the door and made her grand exit, leaving Nate and me in an uncomfortable silence. I gave him an apologetic smile, and he turned back to look at the print.
“That was the model in the photo?”
“Yeah, we took that a couple weeks ago.”
“Is that somewhere up the Gorge?”
“Bridal Veil Falls,” I said. “Have you been there?”
“I used to go hiking quite a bit up there.”
“Ah.”
“Do you hike?”
It shouldn’t have, but his question caught me off guard.
“You mean, like, for fun?”
He laughed loudly and for a long time at my completely serious question, but then answered, “Yes, I mean for fun.”
I shrugged. “Not really,” I started, but when I saw his happy expression fade away, looking a little disappointed, I recovered with, “but, I mean, I’ve always wanted to.” A big fat lie.
“Yeah? I haven’t gone in a while, but your pictures make me want to get out there again. Maybe you’d like to go with me?”
“Hiking?” I swallowed down a lump of nervousness. I wasn’t really an outdoorsy type. I liked taking photos outdoors, loved nature, but hadn’t ever purposefully climbed mountains to get the pictures.
“Yeah,” he said through another laugh. “It’s the perfect time of year. Not super cold, but not too hot, either. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
My pulse sped at the thought of spending time alone with him. It exhilarated me even more to think it would be on purpose, instead of both the times I’d seen him at Devon’s house. This would be the two of us, alone, intentionally. I was scared to say yes, but knew it would be a mistake to turn him down. Some part of me, on a very base level, wanted to go with him, to talk to him, to get to know more about him. So I agreed before I could mentally talk myself out of it.
“Sure. Why not?”
“Well, there’s the answer every guy wants to hear when he asks a woman out on a date.” He laughed again then ran a hand through his soft-looking brown hair, not sounding offended, but more like he was teasing me.
“Sorry.” I smiled, and then tried again. “I’d really like to go hiking with you.”
“How about tomorrow? Do you have any plans?”
“I was going to work…”
“So bring your camera, call it work. I’m sure I’d make a great model.” He said it as a joke, but he wasn’t wrong. He would make a fantastic model. For someone else in another life. I don’t think I could look at him objectively if I tried. No, I would lose focus if I tried to work him into a shot. But, he didn’t have a bad idea. I could bring my camera and that might alleviate some of the guilt I would feel taking a day off completely when I really should be working.