Roman chuckled. “That’s your answer toeverything. It might not work for Preston.”
Eli shook his head. “Oh no, that will fixjust about anything.”
Again, I hated to agree with Eli, but hemight be right. But just in this one case.
Not wanting to overshare about Preston, Iturned the topic back to work. “Have you guys got everything worked out withthe clothes?”
Eli had to have been excited about the new pieces,because his mind quickly changed gears. “Yes, the rest of the stuff we werewaiting for came in, and they look great. Come here. Let me show you.”
Eli grabbed my hand and started tugging metoward the racks of lingerie. I gave Wilder a questioning look but he justsmiled and nodded. “I know you were supposed to be working. I’m just going towatch. Ignore me if that’s easier.”
“I’ll never be able to ignore you.” It cameout sappier than I’d intended, but I could see emotion welling up in Wilder.
Eli snorted. “Come on, lovebird. Let’s get youdressed up for your man.”
Wilder chuckled as Eli pulled me away. Itwas clear he liked the idea of seeing me dressed up. Nothing seemed to fazehim.
Not catching Eli and Roman nearly going atit.
Not having a conversation when Eli wasnearly naked.
Not the idea that shortly I was going to benearly naked.
And I was going to have to give Wilder afabulous reward later for being able to make consistent eye contact with Eliinstead of looking at his erection. That was an amazing skill. I wouldn’t havebeen upset if he’d gotten distracted, though. Hell, I found Eli distractingmost days.
And I’d worked with him for years.
Roman and Wilder stood there talkingquietly as Eli and I started browsing through the racks. I couldn’t hear whatthey were saying, but the conversation seemed to be going well. Wilder wasnodding and smiling, occasionally glancing around the room. Were they talkingabout photography? Maybe something about the art of it?
“It’s a good thing we got you here early. Otherwise,you’d be too distracted to function.” Eli chuckled, clearly finding himselfhilarious.
“Just a little bit. It’s not that bad.” Itwas that bad.
It was also a good thing I had time to getused to it before everyone else showed up. I was always professional at workand did my best to do a good job. The idea of everyone watching me obsessivelyfawning over my boyfriend was embarrassing.
Eli shrugged. “I think it’s pretty normal.I’d worry if you weren’t nervous about him seeing you work for the first time.”
He had my attention. “Why?”
“Because being nervous means that he’simportant to you.” He said it very matter-of-factly like I was stupid for notrealizing.
There was also something else in hisexpression that made it clear I wasn’t connecting all the dots. Finally, hesighed. “He’s nervous about the whole thing too. So that means you’re importantto him.”
“He is? I am?” I sounded like an idiot. “Imean, you think he’s nervous? I know I’m important to him.”
I was just starting to get an idea ofhowimportant I was to him.
Eli nodded like it should have beenobvious. “Oh yeah, the other day when he invited himself, he was fiddling withyour hair and touching you and was shifting from one foot to the other like akid who needed to pee.”
“Eli.” That was aterribledescription.
Wilder was just always careful aboutpushing me too far. “He just doesn’t want to go too fast.”
Eli rolled his eyes. “Sure.”
Then he started focusing on the clothesagain and his eyes lit up. “Roman thought we should do this toward the end ofthe shoot, but I think it would be perfect now.” Eli pulled out two matchingnightgowns. They were sheer with delicate spaghetti straps and had lace aroundthe bottom that made them look feminine and sexy, not just erotic and nearly see-through.
“What did he have in mind?”
