“Has Nathan seen you? He’s going to faint when he does,” he jokes.
“Shut it,” I say, rolling my eyes.
I bring Maggie out to the pasture we’re shooting in, and I see that the photography assistants have set out a few barrels, jars of dried flowers, and even a round bale of hay.
“Hi,” a man with dark curly hair says to me. “I’m the photographer. Call me Mick.”
“I’m Candice. And just so you know, I’m not very good at modeling or whatever so you can, you know…”
“Give you as much direction as possible? Got it.” Mick smiles warmly at me and I feel my nerves ease a bit. I can do this. I might not be a model, but they only want a few shots of me anyways.
“Thank you. This is Maggie,” I say.
To Mick’s credit, he reaches his hand out, lets Maggie sniff him, and then gives her a scratch.
“I’ve photographed a lot of horses over the years,” he explains. “They’re my specialty.”
Mick positions me and Maggie by the bale of hay, and starts taking some shots. He talks me through each pose and gives me pointers, telling me how to move my face and where to put my hands. Maggie is perfectly behaved, but probably only because I keep bribing her with treats.
“Beautiful,” Mick says, snapping a photo of me and Maggie facing one another. “Now let’s try a couple with you in the saddle.”
I use the fence to mount up, my dress flying behind me as I do. I hear the shutter go a few more times, and know that Mick’s got the entire thing on camera. I just pray that my ass is covered in those shots. I walk Maggie over to the hay bale and pose by it with her, trying my best to look poised and like I know what the hell I’m doing.
The feel of the saddle against my bare legs reminds me of riding as a kid—streaking through the fields in the summer on the back of one of our horses, wearing nothing but a dress or shorts, feeling completely and utterly free, thinking of nothing but the world unfurling ahead of me.
The memory must show itself on my face because the shutter clicks and Mick says, “That’s perfect, Candice. I can’t wait to get some of you and Nathan together.”
My heart races at the thought of posing with Nathan—of being that close to him again. Is that something I can handle right now?
I’m supposed to be letting Nathan go, not getting more and more wrapped up in him.
36
NATHAN
It’s really fuckingdifficult to concentrate on posing, smiling, and looking at the camera, when Candice is right next to me, looking likethat. She’s always gorgeous, but today is the first time I’ve seen her in a dress, and it’s making me salivate. Every glimpse of her bare legs through the slits in the white dress has me craving more, and as Mick babbles on about the lighting, all I can think about is getting her alone, bending her over, and seeing exactly what she has on underneath that dress.
“Nathan!” Candice hisses.
“What?”
“Mick wants us to stand a bit closer.”
“Oh, right, okay.” I inch closer to her, afraid that if we actually make contact I’ll end up with a hard on.
We dutifully pose the way he wants us to, back-to-back, each looking off into the distance. On instinct, I interlace my fingers through Candice’s, and lock our hands together.
“You’re cold,” I whisper.
“It’s freezing out and I’m wearing a dress,” she grumbles back, as a gust of wind swirls around us.
“I could think of a few ways to warm you up…”
“What a line, Nathan.”
“Stop smiling so much!” Mick yells at us. “That’s not the vibe.”
“Sorry!” we say together.
