by Lily Harlem
“What does he do?”
“He’s an architect. He’s got his own business which he runs from home, but it means he needs to keep on top of current projects when we’re away. He can’t completely forget about his clients.”
“No absolutely.”
“It only takes him a couple of hours a day, though, and it suits me to go for a swim and laze in the sun reading. If he doesn’t do it he only worries and gets crabby.”
“I understand what that’s like. When I have an assignment I like to just get on with it.”
“What is it you do exactly?”
“I’m a freelance photographer.” I nodded at the camera by my side. “Sometimes I work to a specific request my agent has negotiated, other times I just snap away and sell what looks good.”
“Wow, that’s a pretty impressive way to earn a living.”
“Yes, it’s fun, but to be honest I could do with selling a few more pictures. Though if I don’t, it wouldn’t stop me being a photographer. I love what I do. Capturing an image, a moment in time, it makes me feel like I’m a documenter of history.”
He grinned, flashing neat white teeth and sending small lines darting from the sides of his eyes. “So what are your favorite types of shots?”
I thought for a second. “Hard to say. I like taking ones like I have been today. On a beach, everyone having fun, great light to play with, not much to tell you what decade it is except for the style of beachwear. Then other times I like to really concentrate on the detail, close ups, nature particularly, flowers, bugs, cobwebs on a frosty morning, that sort of thing.”
“Nice.” He took a sip of his beer. When he took the rim of the bottle from his lips they were coated with moisture. A small dot of white froth sat in the central bow of his top lip.
“You ever do portraits?” he asked, apparently oblivious of my intense scrutiny of his mouth, and luckily none the wiser to the fact that I was imagining what it would be like to be that speck of beer froth.
“Er, yes, I have in the past. It usually pays well, and if the subject is…” I paused, searching for the right words as I kicked my brain into gear again. On the tip of my tongue was a comment about being physically perfect and how that made portrait work so much easier, but I couldn’t say that without blushing, for surely Josh knew how physically perfect he was. Surely he was aware he was having an effect on me despite the fact he’d been honest in telling me not only was he gay but also married.
He licked his top lip and tipped his head, as if urging me to go on.
I sighed, and once again quashed that sludgy feeling of regret. “If the portrait subject is relaxed it makes it so much easier,” I said. “Plus if they have an idea what kind of mood they’re going for in the final shot it helps to get us both on the same wavelength.”
Josh smiled, nodded, then glanced over at Nick. “Looks like he’s finished. I’d best go and get him a drink.”
He stood and once again, I let my gaze travel down his body. He was honed and toned in all the right places. His swim shorts were fitted and I could make out an impressive bulge behind them; long and thick and dressed to the left.
Taking another sip of my drink, I willed myself not to stare.
It was impossible not to.
What a waste.
“Would you like to join us for dinner tonight, Laura? I guess you’re eating alone.”
A wave of surprise washed through me, and I looked back up at his face. “Dinner?”
He grinned. “Yeah. I’d love to hear more about your work and I’m sure Nick would too.”
“Well…er…”
“We have a reservation at the top floor restaurant at eight. I could easily call and change it to a table for three.”
“Well, if you’re sure. I don’t want to intrude or anything.”
“You won’t be intruding. We’d love your company.”
To keep reading please purchase The Glass Knot – available from all good ebook retailers including Amazon. If you enjoy Lily Harlem’s novels be sweet and leave a review and tell all of your friends.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Back Cover Information
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
About the Author
The Glass Knot – bonus chapters