by Tori Brooks
This was the woman Paul slept with most of the year, the same who shared his bed last night with passionate enthusiasm. Paul barely recognized Kayley now, and recalled Lexi’s description of how some photographers and models viewed themselves. Is this how Lexi thought Kayley saw herself as a model? Was it how Kayley saw herself? He chanced a glance at the woman on his lap. Her profile showed she was startled but pleased with the representation.
Kayley turned to meet Paul’s searching eyes. She had a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Not quite. There was something else in her eyes, something he hadn’t noticed before. Paul felt his eyes widen slightly as he recognized the haughtiness the picture alluded to.
“Can I put that one in your office?”
Kayley’s question allowed Paul to push the revelation to the back of his mind. Unlike other questions Kayley asked, this one was actually asking permission. Paul suddenly realized how rare that was. It didn’t bother him. Kayley knew him well enough to know what his answer usually would be to any question she asked. This time she wanted to show some of his associates a different side of her. To suppress their assumption that, as Paul’s mistress, she was somehow inferior.
“However impressive your bare breasts are, I think they might offend some of my clients. How about my study? I’m sure I can coax most of my associates in there at some time or another.”
Kayley smiled at the compromise, but Paul could tell she wasn’t satisfied. He filed that away with his new insight into Kayley’s character.
The slides moved on, ignorant of the emotional impact of the presentation. Lexi was an artist, Paul admitted to himself. He knew Kayley, knew she was beautiful. Also that she was bright, mischievous, devious, and demanding. Yet he still saw new sides of her portrayed here. Nothing else as dramatic as Kayley on the throne, but he could see how each picture would make the viewer stop and appreciate a specific aspect of her character, not just her beauty. He wondered how Lexi could pull out particular personality traits and display them so prominently while leaving others in the background when she’d only just met Kayley. Paul’s curiosity and passing interest in Lexi became a crucial need to know her.
The main slide show ended and Paul moved on to the originals. These were unmodified and the presentation went faster than the artistic views. The haughtiness of Kayley on the throne was still there, even untouched. The originals were good. Good enough to be displayed as they were, but Lexi’s polished versions were preferable.
They both forgot about the extra photo Lexi’s note referred to until the site took them back to the main page. Paul hesitated and Kayley looked to him, bewildered.
“I’m trying to imagine what she could have done ‘because she couldn’t help it’ given what we’ve already seen.”
“One way to find out,” Kayley reached forward and clicked the appropriate link. She grinned, then started laughing as she saw the Christmas picture.
Paul laughed as well. “Can we put this one on our Christmas cards this year?”
“You’re kidding.” Kayley’s blue eyes were wide as she looked at Paul in surprise.
“She’s amazing, don’t you think?”
Kayley smiled tolerantly, and Paul’s enjoyment of the moment faded as he realized she was scrutinizing him. He met her eyes evenly. He had nothing to hide from her.
“Your appreciation of Lexi Frost is somewhat different from mine, I suspect,” Kayley said. There was no disapproval or negativity in her tone, it was only an observation.
“We’ll see. You have to admit she is an artist.”
“She is,” Kayley agreed, looking back at the Christmas scene. “She’s also hiding something.”
“I know.”
“Do you know what?”
“No. Not yet. Do you?”
“I have a suspicion.” Kayley smiled at Paul and ran her fingers through his hair. He knew that smile, he knew that twinkle in her eyes. She was taunting him. Paul smiled back. He knew this game.
Paul put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, but just far enough away to maintain the temptation.
“Oh really?” Paul whispered.
“Just a hunch.”
“Tell me.”
“About another woman?” Kayley pulled away and stood up with an inviting smile. “Drag it out of me.”
He accepted the invitation.
Paul stayed up all night reviewing Lexi’s work again. Instead of seeing Kayley in the pictures, he remembered Lexi taking them. The way Lexi moved quickly and gracefully from one task to the next, her face smiling and animated with her lively chatter, and her hair reflecting just glints of auburn in the darkness as it softly framed her face. Paul had a good memory and this time he even surprised himself how much he remembered. Earlier he sent an email to Lexi thanking her and complimenting her achievement while Kayley dressed for dinner. He wanted to say more, but forced himself to wait.
After dinner, Paul received an email from Tim with pictures attached to it. He glanced at it then, but waited until Kayley fell asleep to read it more carefully.
Ever resourceful, Tim deduced Lexi Frost started her career in the same old building her studio now occupied. That space used to belong to the photography magazine that still took up the other half of the floor. The magazine was having financial trouble and had to cut back their offices, renting the half of the space to Lexi Frost. Tim looked at why the originally successful magazine suddenly took a downward turn.
The untimely death of the owner and chief editor easily explained it. Tim found information on Allen Giles, and then on his wife, Teri. Teri was an amateur photographer before her husband’s death, focusing on slightly suggestive stills and landscapes. Photographs cleverly arranged so that a puritanical grandmother wouldn’t see anything offensive, but that members of a more sexually enlightened generation would find amusing. There were no pictures of Lexi Frost available for comparison, so Tim sent several of Teri to Paul for confirmation.
Paul didn’t need multiple pictures; he recognized the smiling heart-shaped face immediately. He replied to Tim, and alternately scrutinized the pictures and read the information Tim provided. He spent most of his time looking at one picture, now five years old, of Teri, Allen, and their two children standing in front of a totem pole with pine trees behind them.
Teri and Allen made an interesting pair. Allen was tall and thin to the point of looking unnaturally stretched-out. Teri, in contrast, was shorter and amply proportioned. She barely came to Allen’s shoulder, and it took her high-heeled boots to get her that far. He shifted his attention to Teri’s kids: Cassandra and Devin, then eleven and nine, meaning Teri was now alone with a sixteen and fourteen-year-old. Paul’s three kids were grown, but he was familiar with teenagers and how hard it was to raise them alone.
Kayley stirred in bed beside him and Paul smiled. She predicted Lexi had kids. Kayley wasn’t trying to dissuade him, she wasn’t like that. She knew Paul’s relationship with his adult children was shaky at best. More often it degraded to downright hostility on their part. Kayley just wanted to prepare him for the possibility, and she thought there might be something else. She was right on the money there too.
That Lexi had children didn’t bother him. No, Teri had children, Paul corrected himself. It meant he had to approach her another way perhaps. He originally wanted to call her and invite her to dinner, but that had changed. Not because Teri had children, but because she lived a double life to protect them.
No, Paul decided reluctantly, more research was in order. He hoped Kayley continued to be a good sport about this. He was probably going to need her help again.
The next morning, Paul and Kayley were on a flight back to New York.
Teri breathed a sigh of relief when the courier left the studio with the last of Paul Lovett’s order. Other than the normal post-session ordering interaction, nothing eventful happened to rock the boat.
“What?” Nicholas asked warily as Teri walked through the magazine’s offices and to his desk.
“No unusual Paul Lovett contact. If you were right about his interest, Kayley changed his mind. Good girl,” Teri nodded approvingly.
Nicholas sat at his desk smiling like a cat waiting to pounce; it made Teri nervous.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing.”
Teri tried again, enunciating each word carefully and slowly. “What-are-you-smiling-about?”
“How would you feel about being wrong?”
“What? He hasn’t called. Just normal business emails.”
“Paul Lovett is used to getting his way. It’s possible he changed his mind. He already has Kayley. What more could he want? She’s beautiful. You’re not bad, good really for a mother of two, but Kayley . . .”
“I get the point,” Teri snapped.
“I’m not betting on that one,” Nicholas grinned again. “In the meantime, lunch?”
“You’re buying.”
“I’ll write it off on my expense account.”
“So I’m buying.” Teri tossed Nicholas her keys.
“You know, maybe you should start allowing more on-site shoots. Travel some. Get out a little. Maybe have a life,” Nicholas said.
“Then I wouldn’t have time for the kids.”
“They’re growing up. They don’t need you there all the time anymore.”
“It’s the growing-up part that means I need to be there.”
“They’re good kids.”
“I know, but . . . I’m a mom, Nicholas. I can’t help worrying.”
“Thinking about the band’s influence on your little boy?”
Teri nodded. Cassie was a good girl. She only double-dated with her best friend, Tiffany, because they both had their sights set on college.
Any concern Teri was spared by Cassie got more than used by her brother. It was that way since Dev was little; he was too smart. Smart enough to learn how to do things, like light lighters and pick locks, before he was old enough to learn why he shouldn’t. Years ago Teri lived in amazement nothing serious had happened yet. Also in fear that next time she’d be too late. There was never a question there would be a next time.
The latest headache started a year ago with Dev’s inclusion into a band. When Cassie caught Jess’s eye, he convinced his little garage band to replace a missing member with Dev just to have a reason to be close to Cassie. Teri was grateful Cassie was too smart to fall for Jess’s smooth lines or good looks, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
Since Cassie and Tiffany were inseparable, Teri already felt like she was raising three teens instead of two. With the band adopting Dev, she inherited three more.
A few weeks ago, Teri learned Kenny and Jess had been sleeping in the back of Kenny’s van for the last couple months. As much as the band made Teri want to scream, the boys had been a good influence on Dev. He fought less with his sister now, and the boys were at her house all the time anyway. In truth, she was just rationalizing her maternal instincts. Teri invited them to move in.
“Don’t stress about it,” Nicholas counseled after a moment. “You’ll drive yourself nuts.”
“Speaking of nuts,” Teri was happy to push her ongoing drama about having a house full of teens aside and move on to happier, or less insane, subjects. “Did you see that email about the proposed underwater shoot? Underwater, Nicholas! I don’t have a camera for that.”
“Quit complaining and expand your horizons. Get a camera for it, let her be a mermaid.”
Chapter Three
Days after Teri mailed off the prints to Paul Lovett, Nicholas arrived at the office to find a bouquet of red roses waiting for her. Teri ignored them, so later that week white roses arrived, then pink.
Nicholas was secretly rooting for Paul to break Teri out of her ‘I’m a widow, my life is over, I’ll be forever single’ mentality. Unfortunately, Teri wasn’t having it and Paul needed a hand. Nicholas sent an email to tell him Teri preferred daffodils. When daffodils arrived the next day, Teri paled and started shaking. Concerned she was going to have a breakdown, Nicholas admitted he told Paul, and in her fury she didn’t talk to him for nearly a week. Nicholas sent Paul one last email detailing Teri’s reaction and informing him he was minding his own business. Since then, Paul was a sensitive subject and they avoided discussing him by unspoken agreement.
Teri still seemed unnerved, so Nicholas started considering options to distract her as soon as she finished the mermaid shoot. That was enough of a fiasco to warrant a vacation in its own right. The clients were happy, but listening to Teri rant about kelp floating wrong or bubbles showing in her shots was enough to make Nicholas want to pull his hair out. Only his own upcoming project saved his sanity.
In Like Flynn was a big name in the music industry and Nicholas was beside himself to be able to interview a photographer during a photo shoot of the band in Miami. Speaking to Troy Burnett alone should help magazine sales, but he was also hoping to get to speak to members of the band about their perspective on dealing with a variety of photographers. If he could swing that, he could get the teen crowd to buy that issue and easily keep them in the black for a couple of months.
It wasn’t hard for Nicholas to convince Teri to come along. He knew her well enough to know what buttons to push. Nicholas reminded Teri of her photography interests prior to becoming Lexi Frost. Plus the kids were out of school for the summer. Not only did she buy into his second sales pitch, she changed the reservations to arrive a day early.
Teri was still in play mode when they arrived at the beach. Nicholas talked with Troy while the photographer set up for the band’s arrival. Teri wandered off snapping shots of palm trees and waves breaking on the sea wall. Finally Nicholas wrote her off as irrevocably distracted and proceeded with the interview on his own. When the band arrived, Nicholas stepped back to let Troy do his work. He noted his observations diligently, taking occasional pictures of Troy in action with the band in the background. Nicholas hoped he wouldn’t have to crop them out.
“He’s not really good about working with them.”
Nicholas jumped as Teri’s voice came from behind him.
“What makes you say that?” he asked, camera up to his face again as he covertly took some pictures of the band. The lead singer, Flynn Peterson, was threatening to strangle Drew Little, the drummer.
“They’re putting on a good show, but the smiles aren’t real. They’re not having fun.”
Nicholas turned to question Teri further, but she was already walking away, taking a picture of a seagull sitting on the roof of the band’s limo. Nicholas dismissed her criticism and returned his attention to the shoot in progress.
Watching the band, Nicholas realized Teri was right. Flynn and Drew frequently fooled around for the cameras, but this time they were just going through the motions. Troy wasn’t encouraging playful behavior either. He kept putting them back into structured arrangements, which were good, but the band was restless and wouldn’t maintain their poses or positions.
With a sigh, Nicholas went to go sit on a bench where he could watch and wait for the session to end. A warm breeze blew a page of newspaper to him. Nicholas bent to pick it up, intent on putting it in the garbage. It was a page from the entertainment section and the headline caught his eye: Friction between Flynn’s guitarists. Rumors of breakup abound.
Nicholas looked back to the band. Sure enough, Zane Burkin, lead guitar, and Charlie Vostra, bass, were sitting quietly with weak smiles painted on their faces while Flynn and Drew ensured the attention was focused on them.
Teri sat down beside him. Nicholas showed her the headline and pointed to the band. “Not Troy’s fault,” he said smugly.
Taking the paper, Teri scanned it briefly and handed it back. “That was from two weeks ago. Although they really don’t look happy, do they? He should distract them. Try something different to wake them up. These guys can do a photo shoot in their sleep and it looks like they are.”
“Troy Burnett is a professional photograph
er. Do you really think you can do better?” A voice behind them interrupted their casual observations of the shoot.
Teri and Nicholas turned to look at the man the voice belonged to. He was deeply tanned with sun-kissed hair. If he were in a swimsuit, he’d look like most of the bystanders who’d stopped to watch the photo shoot.
“Ah, Mr. Daley, you’re here to interview Mr. Burnett. I would have thought you’d be more impressed with your subject.” The man focused on Nicholas.
“He is. I’m the one with reservations. I’ve seen Troy’s work. He’s good. Maybe he’s having an off day. But he’s not getting the most from the band.”
“And who are you?” The man’s snide attitude made Nicholas cringe. He noticed Teri bristle and knew what was coming.
“Lexi Frost. I’m more of a specialist than Troy is, but I’ve made a small name for myself.” Teri smiled as the man’s face betrayed recognition of her alias. “And you are?”
“Chris McKenzie.” He held out his hand and Teri stood to shake it. “I’m Flynn’s manager.”
“Well, I stand by my observation: they’re faking it.”
“And your professional suggestion would be?” Chris prompted.
Teri shrugged. “Call a time out, let them decompress. Or explode. Either way has to be better than this.”
“I’ll do that,” Chris nodded, motioning for a red-headed young woman to join him.
Nicholas eyed the woman apprehensively. He was sure she was a natural redhead. No one would deliberately choose that shade. Her designer dress bared her shoulders and chest to the Florida sun that would soon burn her fair complexion. Once she left the sidewalk, her strappy stiletto heels made walking in the sand difficult. She grimaced as she struggled to Chris to see what he wanted.
“Tell Troy to call a break. Let the guys wind down a bit and get drinks,” Chris instructed. He turned his back on her as she tried to make her way to Troy as gracefully as she could.