Istood off to the side, watching Kimi Forsberg’s long, toned legs eat up the runway. Chin up, shoulders back, one foot in front of the other as she strode to the end, turned and headed back. One of the highest-paid models in the world, she was confident, fierce, and the epitome of professionalism.
I, on the other hand, had been distracted throughout the entire trip. It was fashion week in Milan and while it was usually one of my favorite weeks of the year, I’d found it nearly impossible to concentrate. A fact that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Korey.
He’d shown up at my house bright and early the morning after the swap party with an egg white veggie omelet for me and a bacon and egg breakfast croissant for himself. I’d narrowed my eyes as he bit into his food, hating him just a little for being able to eat whatever he wanted.
We’d gone over my schedule, which included the trip to Milan as well as several photo shoots and a red-carpet appearance at the Emmy Awards ceremony. I watched in silence as each and every day of my planner was filled in with work-related obligations. The relaxed feeling I’d experienced since the night before vanished, replaced by tense shoulders and a feeling of dread. A headache formed at the base of my neck, throbbing its way upward and settling just behind my eyes.
Finally, I’d had enough, and I put my foot down. “I can’t keep doing this, not at this rate anyway,” I told him.
Korey looked at me as if he didn’t understand a word I’d said. “What are you talking about?”
“This!” I exclaimed, pointing down at my tablet. “You have every minute of my life mapped out. When am I supposed to have any fun? How will I ever meet someone?”
“You meet plenty of people,” he argued.
“Not people I want to date,” I explained. “It’s not even just that, either. I don’t want to burn out, but I can feel myself heading in that direction. I want more time to myself in between jobs.” Korey opened his mouth like he was going to argue, but the look on my face must’ve told him how serious I was.
“How much time are we talking?” he asked. I did my best to hide my smile, but inside, I was dancing.
“Not much. Just a few weekends here and there when we’re not traveling.”
“Fine. I suppose I can try to rearrange a few things,” he sighed.
I jumped up from my chair and threw my arms around his neck. He seemed startled at first, but then he laughed, patting my back awkwardly.
“Okay, okay. That’s enough,” he said, pushing me back into my chair. “I’ll switch around what I can and free up a couple of weekends, but you may have to do a couple of evening shoots to make up for that time. We can’t lose focus and we can’t lose momentum,” he said sternly, pointing a finger at my chest.
I could’ve argued with him about that, but I decided to let it go for the time being. I’d won that round, and even though I could tell he wasn’t happy about it, I was finally going to have more time to myself. I ate the rest of my breakfast with a smile as we discussed the magazine layout I’d be working on that week.
“Oliver, you’re up,” a young woman said, pulling me from my thoughts. She was wearing a headset and holding a clipboard in one hand and I recognized her as one of the show’s coordinators. I’d met her earlier in the day but couldn’t remember her name, so I simply nodded instead.
Pulling my shoulders back, I took a deep breath then stepped out on the runway. Lights flashed all around me as I sauntered down to the halfway mark, turned and jutted my hip out, eyeing the crowd as they looked over the new designs I was wearing. I started walking again, sharing a playful wink as I passed the other model sharing the stage.
I reached the end of the runway and made a complete circle before turning to make my way back. My steps faltered though as a man with thick, ebony hair, sitting in the front row caught my eye and my thoughts immediately flew to another man with hair like that. Hair I longed to run my fingers through.
Samuel.
I’d thought of little else since the swap party, and I blamed Samuel for my inability to focus. To say the events of that night had taken me by surprise would be a massive understatement, but it had been a good surprise. A very good surprise.
From the second he’d walked through the door, I’d been unable to take my eyes off of him. He was gorgeous, of course, and I caught more than one pair of eyes lingering over his broad shoulders and toned arms, his trim waist, and perfectly sculpted ass. He was older than me by more than just a few years, but he obviously took very good care of himself.
When he finally broke away from the woman he was with, I’d taken the opportunity to follow him to the bar and introduce myself. He was even better-looking up close, with a few streaks of gray running through the hair at his temples and the tiniest little creases just beginning to develop in the soft skin at the corners of his eyes. As I stepped closer, I caught a whiff of his cologne. It smelled woodsy and spicy and I took a deep, pulling the heady scent into my lungs.
There was something about the way he carried himself, the way he blushed when I flirted with him, that was so sweet and almost innocent. With my job, I was constantly surrounded by beautiful people. The difference between them and Samuel was, they all knew how attractive they were. The fact that Samuel seemed surprised that someone would take an interest in him was refreshing, to say the least, and it immediately sparked my curiosity.
He admitted that it was his first swap party and he looked a little uneasy about it, which made me wonder what had tempted him to go to a party like that in the first place. I was intrigued by him and I’d hoped I could spend more time getting to know him, but of course that wasn’t how things turned out.
I was pleased to see I’d ended up with Jared though. He and I had fucked at a party once before and I knew he was a nice guy. I also knew that he was happily married, and he and his wife came to those parties as a sort of foreplay for themselves. They liked to watch each other having sex with other people and it gave Jared, who was bisexual, a chance to fuck other men. The fact that he wanted his wife and her partner for the evening to watch what we were doing played into my love of voyeurism, so all in all, we had a perfect setup that left everyone extremely satisfied.
As he led me through the house and up the stairs, he told me that his wife would be watching from outside by the pool. It wasn’t until I stepped into the darkened room that I saw who she was paired up with. My heart took off, pounding a crazy, erratic beat in anticipation of what was about to happen, and I was more than ready when Jared flipped on the lights and began kissing me.
I put on the show of a lifetime, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if I’d pushed Samuel too far. I knew I ran the risk of running him off and never seeing him again, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Relief mixed with excitement flooded my veins when I peered over my shoulder and found his eyes on me. The intense look he gave me told me that he wouldn’t be walking away anytime soon.
The rest of the evening went by in a blaze of passion like I’d never felt before. He held my stare, neither of us looking away until Jared and his wife, and even the distance between us, ceased to exist. Every moan, every smell, every thrust deep inside my body felt as if it was coming from Samuel and the intensity of his gaze left me shaken to my core.
Reality came crashing in, right on the heels of the most powerful orgasm I’d ever had. I’d seen the ring on his finger as he’d shaken my hand earlier and I’d seen the beautiful woman he’d come to the party with. Samuel had come to play, but that was all it would ever be for him. It figured that the first time I met someone I was genuinely interested in, he was already taken.
I’d gathered my clothes and quickly put them on, barely tossing a goodbye to Jared over my shoulder as I raced from the room, down the stairs and out to my car. I’d chastised myself the entire ride home. I didn’t know why I continued going to those parties. The men I met there were either already involved in a relationship or they were only interested in playing games. I couldn’t blame them; swap parties had served their purpose for the past several years when all I wanted was a fun way to explore. But now, I was starting to want more, and I was crazy if I thought I’d find it there.
