figures on the screen blurred together and I got up to pace. I finally forced myself into the head of one of the characters I’d been creating. It took a while, but after what felt like a hundred circuits across the living room, I finally felt centered.
Returning to the desk, I sat down and told myself I wouldn't even look at my phone for at least an hour. Putting it all out of my head, I got a little more work done on the research my boss was torturing me with. A glance at the clock had me thinking I just might get it done before ten. At nine-twenty, the phone rang.
I grabbed it, certain it was Edward.
It wasn't.
“Tennessee.” Flynn’s voice was low, smooth and did bad, bad things to my mental state.
Immediately, my mind flashed back yesterday and how I'd seen his hands running over that woman’s body. He’d stroked one hand up her spine and tangled it in her hair, using it to tug her head up and back as he'd pounded into her. I could too clearly recall how he'd been so insanely silent, even as she made low, almost delirious sounds of pleasure as he'd driven inside her.
“What do you want?” The question came out sharper than I'd intended. I rubbed my temples and pushed back from the kitchen table I had turned into a makeshift desk for the morning. I sighed. “Sorry. Rough night. What do you need, Flynn?’
“Oh, a lot of things. But that’s not why I’m calling. I’m calling to tell you that your photo shoot was a total success. The client loved the pictures I sent her. She ended up buying a couple of different prints. I’m glad we ended up changing out your wardrobe a few times.”
I was still stuck back on the total success part of his comments.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Your photo shoot. You kicked ass, Tennessee.”
“That’s…” I stood, pressing a hand to my belly. It was jumping around like crazy. At least this time it was good crazy stuff. Well, good and completely nerve-wracking. “That’s what I thought you said.”
Flynn’s chuckles made my already wobbly knees feel a little weaker. “So my client ended up with two prints: one for an upcoming book and one for the one she’s planning next.”
The disbelief was giving away to excitement. “You’re serious.”
“Yeah. Yeah, really.”
I could hear the smile in his voice and it was contagious. Spinning away from the table, I shoved a hand through my hair and started to pace. I'd never in a million years thought someone would want the photos. No matter what Flynn had said, I'd never truly believed that I was model material.
He continued. “If you’re open to the idea, I can do some magic and edit the other images. Some I kept aside so she wouldn’t choose them and then I’ve got the ones she wasn’t interested in. It’s a decent enough selection. I can put them up on my gallery and offer them as stock photos.”
“Ah…stock photos?” I stopped.
“Yeah. And I’ll pay you for them. If anybody wants exclusive rights, then that’s an extra fee.” He was quiet for just a moment and then he came back with a figure that I was sure I'd misheard.
“What’s that for?” I rubbed my chest. I was finding it hard to breathe.
“For putting them up on the stock website. If anybody buys exclusive rights, then you get another cut. What do you think?”
What did I think ? “I don’t know. Um…yeah. Sure.” The extra money would be more breathing room, right? “I mean, you’ve cropped my face out, right?”
“Sure thing, baby.” There was nothing but swaggering confidence in his voice. “I’ll have to get a new contract out to you. Okay, now that we’ve done that, the other reason I called, how about setting up another session?”
Another session? “What?”
“Look, you and Cody are great together. You’ve got natural curves on you and the book world is looking for that right now. I’ve got a stable of models I usually stick with and I’ve been needing some new blood—you’re it. Come on,