Authors: Lauren Fraser
TooHot (2 page)
* * * * *
Reaching over her head, Josie stretched out her back. The
group shot this morning had been so easy, she’d stupidly expected the rest of
the day to be just as smooth. Now here she was several hours in and only
halfway done with the shoot.
“Where do you want me?”
Josie turned around at the sound of that rich, gravelly
voice.
Mmm, Mr. Sexy.
Her camera shook visibly in her hand.
So much for that relaxed feeling she had going. She’d been in the zone with the
other men, a couple of minutes of wow, but overall completely professional. But
just looking at the man in front of her made her feel like a twelve-year-old
girl meeting Justin Bieber. She clamped her palm down on the camera to stop her
nerves and took a deep breath.
Be cool, Jos.
“Marco, right?” Josie asked the gorgeous man in front of
her.
He nodded and grinned. “That’s me.” He ran his hands through
his thick, dark-brown hair and pushed it off his forehead. “I have to admit,
I’m a little out of my element here.”
Yeah right.
The camera was going to eat him up.
“No problem, that’s what I’m here for, to help make things
easier for you.”
“So you going to hold my hand and walk me through all this?”
he asked, a slight smile curved the corners of his mouth, drawing her eye to
his full bottom lip. A lip she wanted to sink her teeth into.
Okay, so in theory working around sexy men all day was
fantastic but in reality she felt as if she was all hands and the man in front
of her was sexier than most. To say he was potent was like saying bees didn’t
mind honey, just a little bit of an understatement.
“I don’t think you have anything to be nervous about,” she
told him.
“No?” He flashed that sexy smile again.
Crap, could she be any more obvious about her attraction to
him? She could do this. He was a client, she could be professional. Her gaze
landed on the patch of skin peeking through his jacket. Okay maybe she couldn’t
be professional but she could fake it.
“So how do you want me?”
Umm, naked in my bed.
Heat rushed across her cheeks
at the errant thought. So much for being professional. She grimaced.
“You any good with the hose?”
He snorted in laughter.
Mortified, she closed her eyes. “Damn, that did not come out
at all like I had intended. What I meant was, are you comfortable holding the
hose?”
He sputtered as he held in a laugh.
Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Perfect, the first guy
she’d been really attracted to in months and she had to go and act like a
bumbling idiot.
“I-I meant…” she stammered.
“Don’t worry about it. I know what you meant. You just look
so cute all flustered like that I couldn’t help teasing you a little, Red.”
She’d been called Red before but hearing it said in that
deep, husky voice made her melt. Heat dipped across her chest, but this time it
wasn’t from being embarrassed. She tucked her hair behind her ear and peeked up
at him. He stared back, watching.
“Right. Okay.” She fiddled with her hair again then took a
breath to steady her nerves. She was not going to blow this shoot by lusting
after one of the models. “So lose the jacket and grab that hose,” she said,
indicating the coiled white hose on the floor.
Marco dropped his jacket, the muscles in his chest and
biceps flexed as he hoisted the fire hose and threw it over his left shoulder.
Shaking the lust from her eyes, Josie chewed on her inner cheek, trying to
focus on the task at hand and getting the best possible picture for this
calendar.
She took a few steps past Marco to assess him from a
different angle. Josie picked up her camera and looked at him through the lens.
There was no question the guy was photogenic. “Can you pull your pants down?”
“Pardon?” he replied, his eyebrow rising as he stared at
her.
Why was it around this man everything that fell out of her
mouth sounded so sexual? “Sorry, can you just lower your pants a little bit so
I can see your hipbones?”
He raised his brow. “My hipbones?”
She nodded. “Yeah, you don’t need to lower them tons, we
aren’t going for that yo’ homie look, but just low enough that your hipbones
stick out.”
He shifted the hose so it rested on his shoulder without
being held then gripped his pants with both hands and shifted the waist. “How’s
that?” he asked.
Day-um.
Josie nibbled on her lower lip as she stared
at the sexy display in front of her. “Perfect,” she sighed.
He laughed and shook his head. “I can honestly say I will
never understand exactly what it is women find sexy… My hipbones? Really?”
She nodded. “Really.”
Marco shifted his pants a bit farther. “All right then.”
Josie looked through her camera and wrinkled her nose. The
shot wasn’t right. Marco looked sexy, there was no way he couldn’t, but somehow
it just wasn’t what she’d hoped for.
She glanced around the warehouse and her eyes were drawn to
the engine out front. Natural light, that’s what she needed. “Let’s head
outside,” she told him and scooped her bag up.
“Leave the jacket and bring the hose?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
Marco fell in beside her as they walked across the huge
warehouse.
“So, Red, I don’t see a ring on your finger. Does that mean
you’re unattached?”
She was so far from attached it wasn’t even funny.
“Definitely unattached,” she scoffed.
“Good.”
She looked over at him to make sure she’d heard him right,
he flashed that killer smile of his, and her damn stomach flipped again. The
thing had a mind of its own around this guy.
“So what are you picturing besides my hipbones?” he asked,
his eyes twinkling with amusement as he looked at her.
“I’m not sure.” She stopped beside the engine and looked
around. “I want to try a couple of different positions with you and see which
one works best.”
“Honey, I’m willing to try any position you want.”
She titled her head to look at him and his stare roamed over
her body and lingered on her breasts. Her nipples beaded so tightly she was
sure they were visible even through her bra. When he raised his eyes to her
face, his tongue brushed his lower lip before a cocky smile curved the edges of
his mouth.
“You got a preference for which position you want to try
first?” he asked. Laced with innuendo, his voice dipped even lower and melted
over her, turning her insides mushy. God, she could close her eyes and listen
to him talk all day but then she wouldn’t get to look at him and that would be
a crime.
Meeting his heated stare, Josie’s chest tightened and she
inhaled deeply. There wasn’t a position she didn’t want to try. They continued
to stare at each other until Josie heard a throat clearing behind her. Marco
scowled at the person behind her.
Josie breathed a sigh of relief at the interruption. She was
not nearly experienced enough to play games with a man as potent as Marco.
“Hey, Scott, what’s up?” she asked the newcomer.
Scott grinned at Josie then nodded toward Marco. “You want
me to take the fire hose to him, Jos? It might make a great shot. I hear the
ladies like a half-naked, wet man.”
Josie groaned at the mental picture that conjured. She
didn’t think her libido could handle seeing Marco wet, she was hanging on by a
thread as it was. But Scott was right, it would make a damn good shot, just not
with Marco. It would not be the least bit professional to have the photographer
swimming in a pool of drool.
“Good idea, Scott, but we’ll save that for your turn.” She
flashed him a sassy smile and picked up her camera. Before she took the shot she
flicked a glance over her shoulder at Scott. “Don’t go anywhere since you’re up
next.”
She turned back and Marco met her eyes and gave her an
amused smile. Okay, she was a big chicken, so shoot her. Josie shrugged. With
Scott as a guardian, maybe she could keep her hormones in check and actually
get some work done.
Chapter Two
Thursday morning, Josie picked up her cell phone. One missed
call. She punched the button to listen to her voicemail.
“Josie, hey, it’s Marco.” His rough, husky voice slid through
the phone and her body instantly went on alert. Her nipples beaded as a shiver
raced through her core.
“A bunch of us are going to check out this band tonight at
The Underground and I thought you might be interested in coming. We’ll have
dinner, listen to some music. It should be fun. Give me a call.”
She could feel the huge grin that was splitting her mouth.
She couldn’t believe he’d called her. How had he gotten her number? Did it
really matter? He’d called.
She danced on the spot and squealed. She hit replay on her
phone so she could hear that delicious voice again.
Her excitement dampened as she listened to it for a second
time. He wasn’t actually asking her out, he just wanted her to tag along on a
group activity. That really wasn’t the same thing at all. What should she do?
If she went and he was thinking of her as a buddy she’d feel like an idiot, but
what if he was interested in more? If he wanted to even just hook up for the
night she’d be an idiot to pass that up. This might be the only opportunity
she’d ever get to be with a guy as gorgeous as Marco.
Her phone vibrated in her palm. Glancing at the caller ID,
Uncle Jack’s name popped up on the display. “Hey, Uncle Jack, what’s up?”
“Just wanted to see if you could swing by the station and
give me a little sneak peek at the pictures. The boys are a bit anxious and
keep asking me if I’ve seen anything. A few of them are a little nervous.” He
laughed.
“Sure, I’ll stop by. I was just about to head out and grab a
bite to eat, why don’t I pick you up something and bring the pictures by?”
“Sounds great. Make sure you bring me something good, not
that healthy crap.”
* * * * *
Half an hour later, Josie wandered into the firehouse with a
bag of takeout Thai. She knocked on her uncle’s office door and waited for him
to wave her in. “Hey, stranger,” she said as she set the bag on his desk.
She handed him a memory stick to view the photos on the
computer. He pulled up the first photo and smiled. “That’s perfect,” he said,
shifting his glance toward her. “You were right about the group shot, Josie,
this is fantastic.”
He clicked the next photo of James on the ladder and nodded.
When he got to Marco’s photo, Josie couldn’t help the sigh that slipped past
her lips. That was one sexy picture.
Her uncle flashed her a look then flipped to the next photo
from the shoot. When he’d made it through them all he turned to her. “You have
a real gift, Josie. I don’t think we could have found a better photographer
than you. I always knew you were good but these pictures are better than I
could have imagined.”
Heat raced across her cheeks and her uncle laughed.
“You never were very good at taking a compliment,” he told
her.
Damn fair skin, she couldn’t hide a bloody thing with it.
“Thank you,” she told him. “So you don’t think the guys will
be upset about the way they look?”
“Not at all. They are going to eat this shit up.” He shook
his head. “Damn, and I thought these guys had egos before. They’re going to be
unbearable once this thing gets printed and women start fawning all over them.”
Josie slid around behind her uncle and looked over his
shoulder at the pictures. A sense of pride flowed through her as he scrolled
through each shot. She’d done a good job. It helped that she’d had photogenic
subjects, but screw it, she was taking full credit for how well the shots
turned out.
Swinging back around to the other side of the oak desk, she
picked up her takeout container, flipped the lid off the pad Thai and inhaled
deeply. She shoveled the first mouthful in. Damn that was good.
Her eyes popped open at the sound of her uncle’s laughter.
“Been one of those days, hey? Guess I know better than to ask you to save me
some,” he joked.
Heat raced across her skin again. “Don’t be silly, I can
share if you want some.”
He raised his palms. “Nope, I’m smarter than that. You’re
too much like your aunt and your mother, and I learned the hard way not to get
between a woman and her drug of choice. Besides, I know you, kiddo, some women
go for chocolate, you always went for Thai food when you were in a mood.”
She glanced down at her hips and sighed. “Too bad I couldn’t
convince my body that an apple would do the trick.”
Uncle Jack’s eyebrows knit together in a frown. “What are
you talking about?”
“Come on, Uncle Jack, look at me. It’s not as if I couldn’t afford
to miss a meal or two.”
He rolled his eyes. “Josie, you have always had a warped
view of your body. You look fine. You seem to think you’d look better if you
were skin and bones, like you used to be, and you just wouldn’t.” He scowled.
“Hell, I nearly had to pound on a couple of my best guys at the shoot for
ogling you, which let me tell you, I was none too happy about.”
She snorted. “I’m pretty sure they were just doing that to
get a rise out of you.”
He glanced at her and shook his head sadly. “Honey, do you
really believe that?”
“I know that,” she replied. She took a deep breath. “Can we
not have this discussion please?”
Her uncle continued to stare at her. “Fine, but on one
condition, you finish your lunch.”
She glanced up at her uncle and the knowing smile on his
face. He knew her too well. She’d had no intention of eating her meal and he
knew it.
He continued to stare her down until she dug her fork into
her food. “Fine,” she mumbled and shoved the bite into her mouth.
As they finished their lunch, they talked about the upcoming
fundraiser evening for the fire department. The calendars needed to be finished
by then since that night always garnered them huge sales, and they didn’t want
to miss the opportunity.
