“No more than most, I guess. How about you?”
“I was your standard Goody Two-shoes. I lived in a little town with little ideas and parents who fit right in.”
“Small towns can be nice.”
“Not to me. I couldn’t wait for college.”
“To go wild?”
“Exactly.” But she laughed. “Only it didn’t work that way. I met a guy and before long you’d never know I’d left Copper Corners. All we did was study and watch TV.” Spending time with Barry had been no more exciting than League Night at the Copper Corners Bowl-A-Rama, but she’d let herself get sucked into living life his way for too long.
“No more, though,” she said. “I’m not letting life trickle through my fingers. I intend to splash around, make big, messy waves that practically drown me.”
She realized Rick was watching her closely. Almost as if he were taking mental notes on her. Unnerving. And flattering, too. “What kind of waves are you interested in making?” he asked.
Sexy waves that peaked and crashed and climaxed, of course, but she couldn’t say that. “With my work, for one thing. And my personal life, too.”
“If your personal life’s anything like your work…wow.” His moss-green eyes heated to a sparkling emerald. He was hinting, but she couldn’t quite read his intentions.
How should she respond? Yeah, baby, I wear out my men like paper plates. Wanna be next? But that was way over the falls.
“Yeah. Well…these things take time. I only started taking boudoir shots six months ago.”
“Sure.” He paused, taking in her answer. “So how’d you get into that?”
She was relieved he was going with chitchat. “Boudoir work? Or photography? I always loved taking pictures. Begged for a thirty-five-millimeter for Christmas when I was seven and after that spent all my allowance on film and developing. Puzzled the hell out of my parents.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“They thought getting in people’s faces was too pushy. When I won awards in high school, they were impressed, but bewildered.” It had broken her heart that they were so lukewarm about her passion. “How about you? How’d you get started?”
“I was young, too. When my pop would go hunting, I’d tag along to shoot pictures. He thought it was peculiar, but he liked the company when my older brother was too busy.” He was quiet for a minute and crushed the boxes he’d emptied, sending his wintry scent to her on a puff of air.
“So when did you go professional?” she asked, hanging up a black satin underwear set.
“I fell into it. Needed money, saw an ad in a magazine. Put myself out there and assignments came my way. How about you?”
“It was a hobby until late in college.” She put a white satin ensemble on the rack. “I thought I’d be a psychologist or social worker, until I took this portrait-photography class on a lark and it was like lightning and thunder striking at the same time. It was a way to combine my curiosity about people with my interest in art. I was absolutely electrified by the idea. I never looked back.”
“I can see that.” I see you. He had an unnerving way of pulling her in tight. Nice, really, and it made her feel like they’d known each other longer than the couple of hours that had passed since he’d shown up at her counter. “Photography can take hold of you for sure,” he added.
“You love it, too, huh?”
“Half the time when I was freelancing, I’d forget to bill the magazine.” He smiled wistfully.
“It shows. Your work is remarkable. That vulture shot…”
“Yeah. I waited all day for that one.”
“All day? That would kill me.”
“That’s how it is with wildlife. You have to be patient. You have to know the animal’s habits and you have to be willing to wait.”
“That’s positively brutal. And unpredictable. I like to plan out a shot, get everything just so, full control.”
“But what about the surprise factor? You know the shot at Canyon de Chelly?”
“With the surreal blue sky and gold light?”
“Yeah. For that my batteries were almost drained and I had one frame, but the scene stopped me dead. That one ran in Arizona Highways.”
“I’m not surprised.”
He gave her an unguarded grin of pride. “I was lucky.”
“No. When you’re good, you make your luck.”
They looked at each other, connected by the shared love of taking pictures. She’d never dated a photographer before. Interesting….
You can’t date him. You hired him.
“So, how did you get into sex shots?” This question came out a little hard and startled her.