Page 76 of By A Thread

“You’re wearingthaton a date?” I hated myself for wanting her to feel insecure. Wanting her to change her mind so she wouldn’t go.

She looked down, not remotely concerned with my opinion. “What’s wrong with it? Linus approved.”

Everything was wrong with it.

My chest felt tight, and why the hell was it so hot in this damn room?

“Depends. What kind of date is it?” To torture myself, I leaned back, changing the angle of my view. It was just a glimpse, and then I was averting my eyes. But it was long enough for me to know she was wearing underwear that matched that damn dress.

She raised an eyebrow at me. Like a silent challenge.Go ahead and look. Tell me you’re not interested. Lie to my beautiful, cocky face.

Goddammit. I shouldn’t have messed with her by wearing the vest yesterday. She’d outgunned me.

“First date. Drinks,” she said.

“Drinks? That’s it?” I was offended on her behalf. Nothing said “hook-up” like just drinks. Not that I wanted her landing in a long-term relationship with someone. I also didn’t want her enjoying a hook-up.

I was not a good man, but as long as I wasn’t dragging Ally down to the floor and fucking her, I was still better than my father.

“That’s all I’m mentally prepared for at this point. I’m so rusty I feel bad for my next sex partner,” she confessed.

Somewhere along the line, she’d started talking to me like we werefriends. As if that moment of honesty in the bar, those emails exchanged, had somehow made us friendly. And while I craved her next confession, I also couldn’t handle the intimacy. I was ripped down the middle. Torn between wanting to know everything there was to know about this woman and wanting to forget she existed.

Something caught her eye, and she slid off my desk, wandering across the room.

I hated it when she walked away from me. It always felt like she took the light and heat with her.

I added that to my Hate List.

Unable to help myself, I got up and followed her to the lightboard, where she studied the series of shots for an inside spread. I’d pulled two that I thought might work with the intent of dragging Linus in here to tell me which one made the most sense to show my mother.

“These are fun. I love that dress,” she mused and pointed to a model in a gold silk gown. “Do you have one with her in motion?”

She scanned the subsequent shots, and I leaned in with her, just wanting to be closer to her. There was something about her that lured me in like a siren yet made me feel… safe. Comfortable. Fucking hard.

I tapped a shot that I’d pulled to the side. It had initially caught my eye, but the point of the shoot had been twofold: To showcase the vibrant red Galliano front and center and to subtly include a transgender model. The woman in gold.

“Oh, now that’s a shot,” she said, plucking it from the board and studying it.

The model in the gold gown twirled off to the side, the breeze from the fan had caught her hair and the skirt, lifting them both. She was the only one in motion. The red was still front and center, the model on the first rung of a ladder. The others were in varying traditional poses that in real life looked painful and contorted but through the lens showcased cuts and fabrics and colors.

“How did you meet?” I asked.Please, for the love of my sanity, say a church group promoting abstinence.

“Who?” she asked, rearranging the photos leading with the twirl.

“Your date.”

“Oh. On a dating app,” she said cheerfully.

Fuck.

“Here. Look at these. Now they tell a story. You’re giving the eye an anchor point with the red. It’ll land there, but it needs a secondary focus. You can’t miss her, gold, twirl, smile. Her red lip plays off the focal dress and makes the whole piece visually satisfying. Headline goes here.”

What she was saying made good sense, and I could have visualized it if I hadn’t been so busy picturing her on some fuck buddy app shopping for a one-night stand.

“What kind of dating app?” I demanded.

She turned away from the lightboard and rolled her eyes. “I know. I know. Gola insisted on setting up a profile for me. By the way, from my sex to yours, a dick pic isnotthe right way to start a conversation.”