Free Hope Breaks: A New Adult Romantic Comedy by Alice Bello, Stephanie T. Lott Page B

kind of passion in their faces.
    “Let’s take a break, okay?”
    They both sagged in relief, and I turned and headed for the kitchen.  I needed more coffee… and a freaking miracle.
    Maybe if Billy the tow truck driver could get his best buddy’s girlfriend to come and pose…
    No… I needed these pics yesterday.  I needed something hot and original pronto, and I was not going to let these two go until I got the image I needed.
    I poured some coffee into my mug, added the creamer and sugar, and had started to walk back out of the kitchen… when I saw the empty pizza box from last night sitting on top of my kitchen trashcan.
    The most delicious heat flared deep inside me and rushed up my spine, making my back arch.  I could remember how it felt when Jake had pulled me to him, his hand on the small of my back.
    My knees went weak, so I set my coffee down before I dropped it.  God, I wanted him here with me right now.  Screw the shoot and the job.  The man I was daydreaming about was so amazing.
    But you don’t really know anymore about him than you did.
    Except he’s a great kisser.
    Except for that.  And that you need this job or you’re going to have to get a new one, that doesn’t pay nearly as well, where you’ll probably have to wear an embarrassing uniform and get carpel tunnel syndrome. 
    Probably more than one of those jobs.
    Okay, okay… you’re right… I mean, I’m right.  I need to get in there and light a hormonal fire under their perky little asses, and quick.
    I picked up my coffee, gulped down about half of it and headed into the studio.  Right away I knew there was something up.
    It was just too quiet.  Oh, and Drew and Darla were nowhere to be found. 
    Shiiit…
    The lovebirds had flown the coop.
    Had they just left and decided to blow off the shoot all together?
    I saw their shirts still on the straight chair in the corner, so that was a probably no.
    Oh no…
    Two partially naked teenagers left alone in a strange house…
    Survey says: bedroom.
    I went up stairs and peeked into my room—blessedly they weren’t in there.  But I heard giggling and a few deep sighs from the guest room down the hall.
    I stepped into the doorway, hoping to hell I wasn’t going to find them in an R or X rated moment.  They were on the bed, but they still had their jeans on, and Darla still wore her bra, even though one of the straps was off over her shoulder.
    But the pose they were in was pure frolic. 
    Drew was lying on his stomach, and Darla was fastened onto his back, her dimple d face leaning over his shoulder, her lips brushing his ear.
    That was it…
    It was the shot I wanted.
    Shit, I left my camera… wait… I’d left my Nikon hanging around my neck.
    I raised the camera and took the picture.  At the flash Darla looked up at me, her piercing baby blues at sex kitten half-mast.  I took another picture.
    “Sorry,” Drew said from under Darla.  “This little vixen got bored and pulled me in here.”
    “That’s okay,” I said and took another shot.
    Drew leaned his head down on the mattress and sighed.  “You’re gonna have to get off me, Pebbles.”  Pebbles?   “She needs us—”
    “Right where you are ,” I said.  
    Drew got this look on his face like he was thinking, and “Pebbles” froze again.
    Okay, so I had four good shots.  But that couldn’t be all I got.  I needed a bunch of shots and poses to choose from.  I needed these two to go back to whatever naughty mindset they’d just been in.
    “So why’d you drag him in here, Darla?”
    Darla blushed beautifully, and crammed her face down into Drew’s meaty back.  I snapped a shot of that and waited.
    “She’s got this thing,” Drew said, “ where she likes doing it in weird places.”
    “I do not!” she shot back.
    “Okay, okay… she’s right.  We don’t do it in weird places—she’s an in-the-bedroom girl—but she does like to make out in the weirdest places.”
    “Drew!”
    “Well, you