Love and Deceit - Jade C. Jamison Page 0,1
grow on my face as my inner flirt revved up, but I had to behave. This was business, which meant no goofing around. And Greg took care of that anyway. “Got your paperwork over here, guys.” We followed him to a small table. Glancing over it, I saw that the contract was the usual—an agreement that he could use and sell my images and today’s pay would be my only compensation, et cetera, et cetera. Shane spent a little more time on the contract but signed shortly after I did.
“Daylight’s burning, guys. Let’s go.” Greg already had a camera and tripod in hand and stood next to the doorway. Shane held out a hand, suggesting that I go first, and we followed Greg outside. The sun seemed bright after only a couple of minutes in the back of his studio, so I blinked a couple of times as my eyes adjusted. We walked around to the side of the building where the sidewalk was now in partial shade, so Greg’s shots would benefit from indirect sunlight.
Greg never told models exactly what shot he was looking for—if, in fact, he or the author had something very specific in mind—but he always wound up getting what he wanted. Sometimes, it felt like he was doing “warmup” shots, just having us do a few less intimidating ones while we models grew more comfortable with each other. Once in a while, I might have wanted to ask him to get on with it already, but since I was paid by the hour and not the shot, who was I to tell him how to spend that time?
He took a few pictures of us in typical poses with standard facial expressions, but he wasn’t quite happy with the way the photos were turning out. While he was fiddling with the camera and we were at his mercy waiting, I decided to break the ice with my fellow model. This guy I was posing with was so damned hot, it had taken every last bit of will power for me to act cool and calm. Getting to know him as a person would take the pressure off. Besides, I never knew which models I might work with again, so it didn’t hurt to be friendly. “So what do you do when you’re not gracing the cover of a book, Shane?”
He flashed his white teeth, safe for the moment, because Greg was immersed in his camera. “I’m an account manager.” I nodded with a slight smile and raised my eyebrows, letting him know I was impressed. “A junior account manager. And I hate every minute of it.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Nah, don’t be. What do you do?”
“Okay, guys, I need you to move just a few inches to the right.”
Shitty timing, Greg.
Whether I liked it or not, the shoot was back underway as Greg began taking more pictures. I wanted to answer Shane’s question, but I also knew my face—my lips and my eyes—wouldn’t look right if I were animated and talking about myself…and the last thing I wanted was for Greg to be pissed that I’d ruined a day of shooting just because I couldn’t stop making small talk. Another quick expression let my partner know my mouth would be shut for a while.
A few minutes later, though, and Greg had us move a few feet so we were in front of the garage door that seemed so out of place on the building but worked well as a background. Greg had told me once that he’d considered painting it a cream color to match the rest of the exterior and changed his mind when he realized it could be a great backdrop. Nowadays, his main concern was keeping the graffiti off. As he adjusted the camera, I asked Shane, “So, junior or not, account manager sounds pretty important.”
“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? It’s not, though. But I’m committed for a while.”
Greg started giving directions again and we got back into “character.” “Shane, can you lose the jacket for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.” The tall man next to me did as asked, dropping his leather jacket to the sidewalk behind him. And if I’d thought I’d been smitten before, I was just getting started. Noticing how half of his biceps peeked out of the sleeves of that gray shirt, I felt my throat constrict. To say the guy did a good job maintaining his body would have been like saying Everest was a big mountain. Both statements were true but