He tried to pull himself together. “Look, I’m begging you here.” A sudden mischievous streak overtook him at his dramatic words, and he stole a page from Starla’s flirt book. Why not get a date out of this girl while he got rid of that picture? He was dying to take out this troublesome little Snow White. “You destroy that picture and I’ll owe you big time.”
That pulled a laugh from her. “No, that’s not necessary.”
She was playing this wrong. He’d teach her. “I’m serious here.”
“Oh really?” Her eyes danced, though it seemed she was still holding back. “What will you do for that picture?”
There it was. She’d caught on that he was flirting, and now it seemed she was enjoying herself. “Well.” He drank in her new confidence. Her smile was genuine now. He was used to teasing Emily like this until she relaxed. “I might be willing to get to know this town with you. Maybe you can show me the… uh, waterfall.”
“The waterfall?” she cried out. “You don’t even know what you’re saying.” She pushed him back. She was right, he had no idea, but he wouldn’t mind finding out. It took everything in him not to catch her hands. The romantic in him adored everything about this moment, but the business man inside desperately needed that photograph. Her eyes twinkled like she could read his mind. “Sorry, I’m not into bad boys,” she said.
“No, no, I’m not like that anymore.” He was at a complete disadvantage here. “I don’t have the best past,” he said. As if she didn’t already know. “I got into a little bit of trouble four months ago… well, uh, my car wrapped around a telephone pole.”
“So then you got a new truck?” she tried to summarize.
“Um… yes, actually, and I’m cleaning up my life.” He’d underestimated how embarrassing having to clarify his situation would be, not with those black eyes on him. “So, you see, I can’t have anything out there that’s compromising.” He realized he was still holding the dark brown bottle in his hand. “I didn’t drink this,” he explained quickly. “See? I’m pouring all of this onto the ground.” She jumped back with a surprised cry when he did just that. The smelly beer splattered everywhere. He hadn’t realized how hard the ground was. He set the bottle on the grass and backed away from it with his hands up. “I’m totally innocent.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” She seemed sympathetic. She drew closer to him, her eyes pooling with pity. No, he’d wanted to be suave when he’d talked to her, not… so horribly himself. How was he going to turn this around? “All I have to do is develop the negative with the rest of this batch,” she said. “Then I’ll just cut if off from the rest of the reel and destroy it. I’m sorry I can’t give you the negative now. I have other pictures in here that I need.”
“Yeah, I saw you taking those.”
Now it was her turn to look embarrassed and she brought her hand up. She let out a muffled laugh behind her fingers. “I’m a paid stalker.”
He lifted her press badge by its lanyard. Being around those other women with no boundaries made him think nothing of touching her, but when his fingers brushed the soft skin at her neck, she startled, definitely shocked. He dropped the badge and smiled in apology. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her fingers fiddled over her camera. Was she nervous? He was too. There was something about her that reminded him of Emily.
He groaned inwardly. Liv was a good girl. River had no business going for a good girl. Knowing that might not stop him. “Did you get some good shots?” he asked.
“Besides the incriminating ones?” A soft dimple showed against the crease of her mouth. Another one appeared in the middle of her cheek. Suddenly he wanted to find out exactly how many of those dimples she was hiding from him. “You looked like you were trying to make the most of your day here,” she said. What did she mean by that? She shrugged at his questioning look. “You were being really nice to those girls.”
He winced.
“No, I mean, you didn’t brush them off,” she said. “You were… kind.”
Did she value that? Her eyes on him turned admiring. His ribcage felt like it was squeezing his chest in half as he fought for breath. She actually thought he was kind? Not some drunk or bad boy player?