Shut Up and Model for Me (33 page)

“So that’s why you did it?” My voice is barely above a whisper. “To make a good picture?”

“Be real, Evan.” His bright eyes are so intense that breaking away from them should be some sort of crime. “I don’t give a damn about Amora Acquisitions and whatever they’re trying to make of this magazine. And to be honest, the money is nice, but when it comes down to it, it’s worth nothing near the few seconds I get to see the look on your face that lets me know I’m making you feel something.” He relaxes and leans back. “And making Britain happy is an added bonus. I like staying on her good side.”

I down the rest of my glass with a single swallow. It’s a shame that I’m drinking an eighty dollar bottle of wine in the midst of such a stressful conversation. Dallas doesn’t ask, he just pours me another glass.

“Then why was leaving you so easy?” I say. It’s the question that’s been on my mind for too long. If he really cared about me, then he wouldn’t have let me walk out of that airport without a fight.

“Because I thought I wouldn’t be seeing you for months. I didn’t think there was a way to prove myself to you.”

“Prove yourself to me?”

He nods. “I didn’t want to just plead with you to make you stay with me, especially if you were so unhappy, then have there be months of not being able to see you, and possibly not being able to call you. You’d be at Harvard wondering if it was really worth it to give me another chance and there would be no way to show you that I desperately needed one, Evan.”

Everything in his expression begs me. And I can’t tell if I want to give him another chance because he’s so goddamn gorgeous, or because I love him back.

“Okay,” I say.

His face softens. Relief. Suddenly I wonder what it would have been like to kiss him if the kiss had been before the foreplay—if it would have been crushing or sweet. Who would have initiated it? How long would it have lasted? A part of me wants to crawl across the table right now just to feel his warm lips on mine.

When our food comes, we don’t talk much. Part of me is grateful, and the other part of me wants to ask more questions. Like what made him decide if he was going to come to Boston for me. Was it before, or after A.J. offered him all of that money?

My stomach twists into a tight knot at the mere thought of it.

“What?”

I glance at Dallas. His eyes are narrowed.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“What were you thinking about?” he asks. “You looked horrified for a second.”

I scrape my food around with my fork until I realize there is no use lying to him. If this is the time to discover if we’re supposed to be together, I can’t go dancing around real problems.

“Did you decide before or after A.J. offered you the advance that you wanted to come and prove how much you loved me?”

His eyes sparkle with something… amusement, curiosity… I can’t tell for sure. He wipes his mouth and smiles down at his plate.

“What’s so damn funny?”

His blue eyes flicker to mine again and the breath is sucked right out of me. “You sure make it difficult to be a romantic, you know that, right?”

I cock my head, relaying my confusion.

He sighs. “I had the entire evening planned. We were going to break into the Bunker Hill Monument, and at the top I was going to tell you—while pressing you to my rock-hard body like the maiden you are—that A.J. never called me.”

I don’t know whether to giggle or gasp. So instead, I stare at him blankly. “He
what
?”

“He never called me, Evan. He never offered me any money to come out here. In fact, I called him and begged him to pay for my plane ticket.”

I snap my mouth shut when I realize my jaw is hanging open. My heart is swelling with so much heat and joy and giddiness that it’s a battle just to keep my cool in front of him.

“The evening is ruined,” I say flatly, taking another sip of wine.

He raises his eyebrow at my reaction, and asks slowly, “What do you propose we do?”

I swirl the rest of the wine in my glass. “Well, since I ruined your surprise.” I hold up my glass. “Why don’t we get another one of these and head back to the Manor?”

^^^^

The rain came pouring down.

Somehow we end up back in Boston because Dallas found these
amazing
cellars on his phone that are open until eleven. Drenched and shivering, we discover the cellar hosts an antipasto bar and there’s live music tonight.

So we get a little drunk. And I end up on his lap.

The music is nothing like I’m used to listening to. It’s a couple of old men playing folk, but they’re really good at it. The crowd is mostly forty-to-sixty somethings looking to have a good time. Dallas and I might even be the youngest ones here.

He holds me tightly around my waist. I crane my neck and lean in, open mouth pressing against his strong, bold jaw, and exhale. Immediately, goose bumps emerge on his neck. He groans at the warmth. Or my mouth. One or the other.

“I think we should head back,” he says.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

The night is freezing, the rain pummeling us, and yet we waste time searching for the train station to take us back instead of paying cab fare. When we arrive at Veda Manor, it’s just past midnight, and the foyer and dining room are empty.

We giggle and trip our way up to Dallas’s room. There’s no way I’m making my lecture tomorrow—thank God I’ve studied well ahead and already know the material.

I peel my jacket off and lay it on the back of one of the leather armchairs. “I’ll have to borrow clothes from Britain tomorrow. That’s going to be one hell of a walk of shame.”

As Dallas grins at me, water drips from the tip of his nose. “Who says that staying the night with me is shameful?”

“I’m just saying she’s going to want dirt is all.” I shiver involuntarily.

Dallas steps toward me, reaching out and toying with the collar of my soaked shirt. Water drips across his full lips and I want nothing more than to push myself on my tiptoes and lick it off.

He traces his thumb along my collarbone and pops my first button. Then my second, and my third. Our eyes stay locked as he undresses me. When my wet shirt falls to the floor, he turns and grabs the throw off the loveseat, shaking it out and tossing it over my shoulders.

I look at him questionably.

“I told you,” he begins, lifting the tip of my chin with his knuckle. “I didn’t come all the way to Boston to seduce you.”

“Even though you want to?” I ask.

He smirks. “Even though I would kill to.”

I slowly work the button of my jeans and slide them past my hips. “Are you going to make me sleep on the couch too?”

He rolls his eyes and walks toward the bed. I’d like to think that it’s because he can’t stand the sight of me undressing when he isn’t going to do anything about it. He even turns off the light before either of us are in bed. I slip beneath the covers as he peels off his clothes, the mattress shifting as he crawls in on the other side. He turns to face me. I reach forward and press my hand squarely against his broad, firm chest, skin still cold from the rain.

We talk about Costa Rica and his research partner, whispering back and forth even though no one else is in the room. Laina doesn’t go a day without hitting on him, which doesn’t surprise me at all. In fact, it was a reason I couldn’t bear to be with Dallas when he was away.

“You
knew
that was going to happen,” he says.

“I didn’t…” I pause. I know what’s about to leave my mouth is insensitive, but I can’t hold it back. “I didn’t want to end up like Trish.”

“Whoa, hey.” His hands find my waist. “Is this what all of this is about? Fuck, Evan. Why didn’t you tell me?”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Anything I say will make it sound like… like…

“You don’t trust me.”

Yes, exactly.

“And I totally deserve that.”

Wait, what?

“What?”

“I should have broken up with Trish
years
ago, not just when I met you. Both of us were unsatisfied and bored. But we were busy and pursuing our careers and our relationship was safe.”

“But
you and I
are both busy and pursuing our careers.”

“The way I feel when I’m with you is never how it was with Tricia. Evan, you are the most gorgeous, sought-after woman I’ve ever known. Any guy who lays eyes on you would kill to be with you, and yet when you’re with me, you act like I’m the only person in the room.”

I giggle. “Jesus, way to sound like Bella Swan.”

“Are you telling me you’re a vampire?”

I make a weird hissing noise, clawing at his shoulder and leaning in to play-bite him on the neck. He chuckles deeply, and I feel the vibration in his throat against my lips. Without thinking, I allow my tongue to dart out and taste him. He moans my name softly.

“Well, just so you know,” I kiss him gently on the throat, “It isn’t because you’re a hot piece of ass. It’s because you’re a hot piece of ass and you’re smart as hell.” I kiss him again, my lips lingering longer. “And you’re the only person other than Britain and my mother who matches my sarcasm.” And again. “And you make me laugh.” Again. “And you don’t look at me like I’m meat.”

“Hot piece of ass, eh?” He pushes back my shoulders and looks me square in the eye. Even though it’s dark, I can tell he’s waiting for another snarky remark from me. Instead, I kiss him.

He rolls me over until I’m on my back, deepening the kiss. His tongue sweeps across my lower lip before he pulls away. “You know, you don’t have to stop listing off great things about me.”

“Hmmm…” I think before uttering in a breathy voice. “Every time you said the phrase ‘homologous chromosome’ when you lectured at East Park, it made me so horny.”

His lips brush against my ear. “Homologous chromosome.”

“Yes, yes, just like that.”

His voice gets deeper, huskier. “Homologous chromosome.”

“Oh, God.”

“Homologous chromosome.”

“Yes.”

“Homologous chromosome.”

“Yes!”

Suddenly, he groans and pushes away from me, and I bust up laughing. “Please don’t tell me…”

“I can’t help it! You were making orgasm noises and it gave me a hard-on.”

I crack up into the pillow, laughing until my sides hurt, until tears are pouring from my eyes. He grabs my face and kisses me hard on the mouth to shut me up, or maybe my laughing gives him a raging hard-on too.

Lying on top of me, his lips move to my jaw, and then to my neck. This time, I let out a very real, very primal moan.

And it’s nice. To not perform with him. To not expect sex by the end of the night. Like we’re going backwards in time, slipping in a moment that should have been there all along.

Britain

Today is like a bad hangover. Minus the dry mouth and the throwing up.

Everyone is rushing all over the manor, hard at work constructing sets while I’m still in the shower. Even my morning moments with Jaime are rushed as he has to be down in makeup by seven. Today, all models are getting a lesson in what’s to be expected of them over the next two days… and the rest of their time as an EPE model.

I’m supposed to be up and following the new photographers around like a kiss-ass, but truthfully, I no longer give a flying fuck.

Which is nice. And liberating. And I’d probably feel liberated if it weren’t for this dreadful sexual hangover.

My pain is momentarily lifted when I step out of Jaime’s room and see Evan leaving Dallas’s. I point a finger in her direction and cry, “YOU!”

Evan’s eyes dart around before she presses a finger to her lips and hushes me. Dallas follows her out of the room and shuts the door behind him.

“After all of that drama,” I hiss, “You two end up boning anyway?”

“We totally didn’t bone,” Evan says flatly before smirking and raising her eyebrow. “But you sure did.”

I flush.

“How do you know she had sex?” Dallas asks.

“Every time a penis touches Britain, I receive a telepathic notification.”

“Oh,” Dallas says with a straight face. “Well, that explains a lot.”

I desperately attempt to change the conversation. “What are you guys still doing up here? You should have been in hair and makeup, like, three hours ago.”

Evan shrugs. “
You’re
not downstairs. And I’m not even scheduled for today. I have class, or was supposed to have class.”

She doesn’t know. “Do you not check your email? A.J. sent everyone messages last night with a revamped schedule and an explanation of the situation.”

I tell her everything.

She pales. “Wait, so A.J. Harrison is conducting mine and Dallas’s shoot today? You know what he’s going to want us to do, right?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Both of you will have to slut it up. I mean, seriously. If Adam and Delilah screwing in missionary position got him sky-high, I don’t even want to imagine what he has in store for the two of you.”

“And if I say no?” she asks meekly.

I shrug. “If you say no, then technically you’re breaking contract and he won’t give you your money.”

Dallas rubs her shoulders, a sympathetic expression on his face. Somehow I find the fact that they look terrified to have sex with each other incredibly amusing.

“Okay,” she sniffs. “Okay.”

“So you’re going to go through with whatever he asks of you?”

“Hell no!” she cries. “I’m not going to give that douchebag what he wants. I’m… I’m going to get you your job back.”

Dallas and I simultaneously raise our eyebrows.

“If Dallas is okay with it, I mean.”

“Okay with what?” he asks slowly. Apparently he’s as confused as I am.

Evan sighs impatiently. “Do I have to spell it out?”

“Yes,” Dallas and I say together.

“Having sex for Britain before our scheduled shoot.”

Dallas looks like he’s been slapped in the face with a frying pan. “Uhh… can I talk to you for a sec?” he asks Evan before shooting me an apologetic look.

They walk a ways down the hall and begin to whisper heatedly to each other. I listen close, hoping to catch some of their conversation, but fail to. To my surprise, Dallas looks pissed, like the last thing that he wants to do is have sex with Evan.