Ryder stood next to Eva and Will at the edge of the group of volunteers. He recognized a few firefighters and deputies from the local police station. Chief Larabee stood with his arms crossed and a big grin on his face as he stared down at a bouncing chihuahua with a yellow bow around its neck.
Greta made her way to the front of the group and climbed up on a crate. “Okay, everyone! Thank you all for coming. This isgoing to take long enough, so let’s get started, huh? If you don’t know already, I’m Greta and this is Lucas, the photographer. Don’t make his job harder than it needs to be, please. We’re all here for the same purpose.
“All calendar sales will go toward both care for the dogs and cats we take in, hopefully expansion, and your various departments’ operations. We have so many more rescues than we have space for, and the last thing we want is to be forced to turn them over to the city pound.” She looked around the group and spread her hands out. “If we can’t expand, we’ll have to start saying no to animals we’d normally take in. I don’t think any of us want to make those calls. We’re all in the business of saving lives here, right?”
She said a few more words, but Ryder’s attention turned to Lucas, who bent over a folding table and fiddled with a camera. He glanced back. Their eyes locked together for a moment until Lucas cracked a smile and turned back to his equipment. Ryder couldn’t help but smile, too.
“All right,” Greta said as she circulated through the small crowd. “We’re doing casual, relaxed shots today, mostly for some promotional material. Please see Mike or Lauryl here before you leave to schedule your actual calendar shoot in the upcoming weeks.” She waved a hand at the other volunteers, then spun around and smiled at Lucas. “All yours!”
Lucas, one hand resting lightly on a huge camera hanging from a strap around his neck, lifted the other in a small wave. “Okay. Who wants to go first? We’re going to start with Missy here.” Mike stepped forward leading a wiggly white Pitbull.
“Oh, man. She’s the cutest.” A hulking firefighter with a bright red buzz cut and massive mustache stepped forward. “I’m Rodney,” he said. He bent down to rub Missy’s jowly cheeks. “You and me, girl. What do you say?” He looked up at Lucas. “How do you want us?”
Over the next hour, Lucas snapped tons of casually posed shots and then circulated through the crowd afterward grabbing candid ones. The mood stayed lively and loud with dogs barking, people laughing, and Lucas’s voice ringing out to request a different angle or action.
He worked the space easily, teasing and coaxing smiles. He got Will to hold a fluffy orange cat like a football. He flirted a bit with one firefighter, telling him he matched the Doberman better than the tiny Maltese. This resulted in a hilarious shot of all three of them romping around on the ground together.
Ryder watched it all from across the yard, hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets. A little knot twisted low in his stomach. It wasn’t like he had any claim on Lucas, but still.
When the sexy photographer turned that bright smile on one of the cops, Ryder found himself scowling down at the black lab at his side. “Are you seeing this?” he muttered to the dog, but they just looked bewildered before wandering off. Ritz would’ve understood.
It was stupid. It was nothing. Yet, when Lucas made his way around the group and stopped at Ryder’s side, the EMT smoothed his beard and straightened his shoulders. He wasn’t the jealous type. He never had an issue before seeing men he’d hooked up with flirting with someone else at the club, but seeing Lucas smile at someone else made him want to do something stupid. Something like grabbing him and kissing that smile off his face.
“Hey,” Lucas said, turning that brilliant smile in his direction. “It’s going pretty good, right? Everyone looks like they’re having fun.” He watched the crowd for a moment before scanning Ryder from head to toe and back again. “I think we need another couple of pictures of you, though.”
He fought a grin. “You already took three or four.”
Lucas laughed. “You’re too handsome to waste. Let’s find you a kitten to hold.”
Rolling his eyes, Ryder never-the-less fell into step beside the man. He’d hold a dozen kittens, roll in the grass with a poodle, and even hide hamsters in his beard if it meant keeping Lucas’s attention just a little longer. Ridiculous, but he couldn’t deny it anymore. If Ryder’s cheeks hurt and a hot ball of molten want formed in his chest, well, that was no business but his own.
Chapter 7
Lucas
Lucas adjusted the strap of his bag as he walked through the icy gloom toward the main building at Willowbrook Community College. Dusk settled over the town like a soft gray blanket. The parking lot was a quarter full. Photography wasn’t the only continuing education class they ran in the winter evenings.
The heat in the classrooms was hit-or-miss, so he kept his coat on as he pushed inside and nodded at a few students lingering by the coffee carafe by the office. He’d brought his own cocoa in his favorite travel mug.
Room 207 already buzzed with upbeat conversation when he arrived. A dozen people milled around or sat in theuncomfortable classroom chairs. They sipped from their own mugs, scrolled on their phones, or shucked their coats. The heat appeared to be on full blast for once.
“Hey, Lucas,” a woman in her fifties with a helmet of graying curls waved as he came in. “I worked on that photo you mentioned last time, the one from the train station? You were right, the framing was all off. Cropped my own elbow out of it.”
“That’s the spirit,” Lucas said, grinning. He set his bag and mug of cocoa on the desk and hung his coat over the back of the chair. “Intentional elbow cropping is for professionals only.”
That earned a chuckle from a few people nearby. The chatting clusters broke up as everyone found their seats. Lucas didn’t hurry them. These folks weren’t there for grades or degrees. They were retirees trying something new, parents making time for a hobby, or twenty-somethings figuring themselves out. It was the best kind of teaching, low stakes but full of moments that mattered.
“All right, welcome back everybody. Week three, and you haven’t given up on me yet. I must be doing something right.”
“Or you’re just nice to look at,” a voice said from the back, and the class erupted in laughter. The woman flashed him a smile and wiggled her eyebrows at him.
Lucas shook his head and grinned. “Okay, flattery will get you slightly better critique on your photos.”
“Oh, good, because I have this issue with the lighting, and you are a very smart young man.” Vikram, the older gent who wanted to take better pictures of his grandchildren, waved a hand to call Lucas over.
So, the class began. Half of it was Lucas standing at the front going over technical stuff and giving suggestions. The other half had him walking around the room and pointing out things to improve in the students’ collections. Some had talent. Others improved steadily. A couple seemed to have no clue whatbalance or symmetry actually meant. He still tried to make sure they had a good time.
In the first class with just Lucas, he’d been more nervous than he expected. They’d like their old teacher, and he had big shoes to fill. The second had been easier. He knew what he was doing, and they seemed to respond to his friendly methods.
