Rescuing Her Seal(20)

Well. The solution was so blinking obvious, he was kind of shocked she hadn’t brought it up before now. “Take pictures of me.”





Fitz was reading her mind. Obviously. Which meant he could probably tell that she’d been trying to work her way up to asking him to let her photograph him. And that she was still thinking about how great of a kisser he was. Plus how scary this whole situation should be but wasn’t.

They were stranded with no way to reach civilization, and her only thought at the moment was, thank you God.

Lilah shut her eyes for a moment, but when she opened them, the man lounging by the fire watching her hadn’t disappeared. Neither had the riot of emotions bursting in her chest like fireworks that she couldn’t stop him from setting off.

“I’m serious,” he insisted. “I’ll pose for you. Where do you want me to be?”

“Um… there is fine.”

So they were going to do this. Apparently. A camera in her hands would be phenomenal right now and then maybe he wouldn’t realize her stupid hands were shaking. Where was her bag? There. She pulled the strap and hoisted it into her lap, yanking her camera case from the depths. The Canon DSLR was her second best, but it would do.

“Hey,” he said. She glanced up. “It’s not fine. Tell me what you want. I’m ready, willing, and able to fulfill all your photographic fantasies.”

Two beers sloshed through her blood, and they were seriously impairing her judgment because his deliberate choice of words loosened some ideas in her mind that were so very not safe.

They were dangerous, wicked, wild thoughts. Things she’d like to ask him to do, but if she did, he’d freak out. Wouldn’t he?

But this was Fitz. Who’d encouraged her to have experiences, who’d told her in no uncertain terms not to apologize for getting caught up in the moment. He was a spontaneous, easygoing, gorgeous man who had instructed her to say what she wanted.

She wanted it all.

Eyes narrowed, she evaluated him. By firelight, he was even more ethereal than he was by sunlight, even more beautiful, with an edge that she desperately wanted to capture. So she could understand it and thereby better understand what was going on behind his hazel eyes. For example, was he feeling this electricity between them too?

“I see what your problem is,” he declared with a nod. “You’re afraid. Stop. It’s just me. Same guy you’ve spent all day with. Tell me what you want, Lilah. Name it. Say the words. Your wish is my command.”

“Take off your shirt.” Her pulse zigzagged. She’d really said it. And the sand hadn’t opened up to swallow her.

He grinned. “Now you’re getting the idea.”

Oh, yeah. She had all sorts of ideas. Her imagination wasn’t the problem.

And then he whipped his shirt off over his head, and her breath caught because oh, my God. Her imagination was most definitely a problem—it sucked. The thousand or so images she’d conjured up in her head while she’d been touching him earlier hadn’t even been close to the reality of his naked torso. Lean. Honed. Muscular, with so many ridges and valleys.

The camera thunked into the sand. Cheeks on fire, she picked it up with nearly nerveless fingers.

“Lay back,” she stuttered hoarsely. “Put your hands behind your head and look up at the sky.”

He did instantly, his biceps bunching up, and he glanced at her. “Like this?”

It was a clichéd pose. So trite and ridiculous but her brain had practically deserted her.

She nodded and crawled to lean over him, framing the shot. But she couldn’t press the shutter. This was the first photograph she’d take of him, and she’d only ever get one first time. Was it so wrong to savor it?

And if she was using the pause as an excuse to gather her scattered wits, he didn’t have to know.

“Take the picture, Lilah,” he murmured, but his eyes were saying something else that flushed across her skin.

Click. That was it. Exactly what she wanted to capture. A heaviness in his gaze, something she couldn’t describe, but it put heat between her legs because it meant that he was turned on. That he wanted her. That’s what she had to understand.

Why her? Boring Lilah Rose Houston interested a man like this? It was insane.

“Take another one.” His voice slid through her like a hot knife. “Feel when it’s right, Lilah. You’ll know deep inside when to hit the button. Trust your body.”

Click. Click. Suddenly she couldn’t get enough shots, and the more she took, the more she wanted to see. But she had no idea how to get to the next level. These shots were good; she could feel it in her bones even without benefit of poring over them later in search of the best.