Chapter Three
She-Hulk
After transforming me into a playboy pinup, something she’s been wanting to do since forever, Gia left to pick up Andre. I sat in my living room listening to the sound of the ocean, hoping it would calm the small cyclone of nerves in my tummy.
Ronnie, of course, showed up on time, but Theo made us wait an extra fifteen minutes until he graced us with his personality. He walked into my house, stopped, and looked around at all the things that I loved. Walls the color of water drops. Large jars filled to the top with various shells of all shades, shapes, and sizes, collected from beaches all over the world. Abstract pictures of the waves and the ocean. Tranquil and calming. My little slice of home away from heaven.
The smell of those rotten berries permeated the living room, the stench making me gag. I stood up from my couch, resisting the urge to plug my nose, and my gaze found its way to the glowing red arrow on his chest.
“Beautiful place.” That was the first non-dick-for-brains thing he had said to me.
“Thanks.” I led them through the mudroom before he ruined the moment with some lewd suggestion, and to the line of surfboards hanging on the wall. “Is there a particular one you would like me to use?”
He took in my outfit and then pointed to a solid black board with edges that looked like mother of pearl, the board my dad bought me for my first competition. It was old and dinged and loved dearly. “I prefer the look and shine of that one. The color blends with your wetsuit, and nothing will pull focus from your face in the shots.”
Grabbing the board, I headed into my yard and through the gate that separated my house from the beach. The waves were almost nonexistent, but he didn’t want actual pictures of me surfing, he just wanted pictures of me looking sexy on a surf board.
“Left,” he barked, like a wounded seal from his spot on the beach.
“Would you like me to turn to the left or move to the left?”
One hand on his hip, the other holding his camera, and a whole lot of don’t-give- me-shit written all over his face. “I would like you to move to the left.”
“Then ask. Don’t demand. I’m not a dog.”
“Alicia…” Ronnie started to scold from the sidelines.
Theo held up his hand to cut her off. “That’s okay. I get it. Little Miss Model here wants to be treated with respect.” He pulled out a cloth and cleaned his camera lens. “Would you please move over to the left?” His words weren’t just dripping in sarcasm, they were soaked in it.
I resisted flipping him off and moved to the left. “Does this make you happy?”
“Ecstatic.”
Ronnie was pacing, and I knew her blood pressure had spiked. Tonight would be a three-martini night.
“Now, just act natural, do what you would normally do when you’re getting ready to catch a wave…please.”
“Good boy, you can be taught.”
He didn’t resist the urge to flip me off.
I stopped worrying about the annoying man and my close-to-a-heart-attack agent on the beach, and found my zen. My zone. The happy place that kept me going every day, even when I felt like giving up.
The water splashed around my knees, and my boiling blood cooled. I pretended like I knew what I was doing, posing instead of surfing, but I had never been comfortable with the modeling aspect of my career. Too many eyes forced me to be the center of attention in a world I didn’t understand, and never really wanted to be a part of.
With a glance at the beach, and the knowledge that Theo was scrutinizing me from behind the lens, I tried to block out the discomfort that crept into my subconscious and concentrated on what I loved to do. Play in the water, hang out on my board, imagine a life where I could make my own romantic choices. Hell, having any romantic choices would be nice.
It worked. What must have been forty-five minutes later, Theo yelled, “We’re done. I’ve got what I need.” Then he started putting his equipment back in his bag.
I joined them on the beach, and Ronnie moved closer to me. “Oh my god, I thought he was going to walk before you even got started.”
“And if he did?” I still didn’t understand why it was so important that Theo be involved in my career.
“Alicia, we need him. You need him.”
Maybe I was being dense, but I still didn’t get it. “Why? What will Theo Castas do for me that we can’t do ourselves?”
She smacked her forehead. “How about the cover of Sports Illustrated.” When I gave her the hairy eyeball she quickly added, “And not the swimsuit edition. A cover of you surfing.”
Damn the Holy Grail.
I spied a quick peek over at the man, who had he acted anything like the man from my dreams, I would have been salivating over him like a hungry dog, but since his personality lacked any sort of redeeming qualities, I didn’t find him appealing in the slightest.
“You’re the boss.” I grabbed my towel from off the sand and started blotting the water out of my hair.
Theo joined our little pow wow. “You sure know what you’re doing out there.” Wow, second compliment in one day.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Ronnie answered for me. “This girl is a goddess. They call her the Mozart of the Waves.”
My face heated at her compliment. “Surfing is the only thing I’m any good at.”
“Well. I need to get back to my office and go through what we took today.” He looked at Ronnie. “I’ll let you know if she’s worth my time.”
Anger zinged through my whole body. “You arrogant prick.”
Ronnie’s hand instantly covered my mouth. “She didn’t mean that.”
Theo looked at me, brown eyes ablaze, eyes that I had spent every night staring into since my dream man first appeared. “I think she did. You really did, didn’t you?”
Not one to hold back, I pulled Ronnie’s hand from my mouth, closed the space between us, and got right in his too-perfect face. “I sure as hell did.” He didn’t back down, but I wouldn’t either. “Seriously, what makes you think that you’re god’s gift? Because every other model in the world is ready to jump on your dick the moment they see you? I’m not every other model. You can keep your dick and the multitude of venereal diseases I am sure you have accumulated.”
Ronnie gasped, but Theo tilted his mouth in a sideways smile that stirred lusty thoughts in my nether regions. Damn it.
“Honey, if I wanted to sleep with you, I wouldn’t have to beg or plead or even ask.” He reached out and wrapped a piece of my hair around his finger. “But, I’m afraid my dick withers at the thought.”
He turned and addressed Ronnie. “Both of you be at my office at eight tonight and we’ll see if I was able to turn her into something other than a raging bitch.” Then he grabbed his bag and left us standing there on the beach.
Armed with a not-so-wonderful comeback, I turned, but Ronnie grabbed my arm. “You’ve done enough damage for one day. Let him go.”
“I’m not a bitch.”
“Honey, at that moment you were just the biggest bitch that graced this beach. Not that he didn’t deserve it.” She put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. “It was actually kind of cute seeing you all hot and bothered.”
“I was not hot and bothered.” My protest sounded weak, even to me.
“Do most gorgeous men have that effect on you or just him?” She pointed to Theo’s retreating backside, a round, hard, perfectly formed….ugh.
For a brief instance, watching him walk away made my heart ache. Then I pinched my leg to remind myself that the walking STD was not someone I needed in my life. Curse or no curse.
I pushed her off me and marched back up the beach to my house, her laughter following behind.
Once we were back inside, she collected her purse, sweater, and checked her phone. “It’s six-thirty. You have exactly ninety minutes to pull the surf board out of your ass and find a way to be nice to that man.”
“The pictures might be crap, then he won’t want to work with me anyway.”
“There is no way those pictures are crap. I watched the two of you click the moment he held that camera up. These are going to be the best photographs you have ever taken, and that man will be begging you to be his next client.” She had her agent face on, the same one that convinced a young surfer to step off the board and in front of a lens.
“We’ll see.”
She leaned in and gave me an air kiss on the cheek. “Go take a nap or a Valium to calm down your inner she-bitch.”
I walked her to the door and let her out, but there was no way I could take a nap. Thoughts of Theo Castas drilled into my subconscious. The similarities between the two men could not be a coincidence.
Cupid was one manipulative bastard. And I wasn’t a fan of being manipulated.
* * * *
Eight p.m. came and I stood in front of Theo’s office. An old Victorian house with a black front door and a light on over the front porch. Ronnie’s car was parked along the curb. I assumed she was already in there explaining my rude behavior as Tourette’s syndrome or Oppositional Defiance Disorder.
I made Ronnie’s job difficult, not intentionally.
Having zero interest in trying to impress Mr. Castas, I hadn’t bothered to dress up, so my attire consisted of charcoal grey running pants and a baggy T-shirt. My hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and my face was, as usual, sans makeup, having washed off all of Gia’s hard work. Casual and free, just the way I prefer.
I opened the door and stepped into the anything-but-welcoming foyer. Chairs that looked more like some medieval torture devices sat in a neat line under lines of portraits. Models and athletes adorned the walls, baseball, basketball, football, even some equestrian, but no surfing. Every picture was signed with the same sprawling signature, Theo Castas.
Ronnie and Theo’s muted voices floated out from behind the mostly closed door of the other room. I took a few more moments to study his work. Photographs that showed the true talent of the athlete, not just the beauty. Athletes doing what they did best. “Talented” didn’t even begin to describe what I saw. Too bad the man who wielded the talent was a self-centered piece of crap.
Ronnie stepped through the door then peeked her head back into the room. “Theo, give me moment with Alicia, we’ll be right in.” She joined me in the hallway, placed her hand on my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. “Did your nice, relaxing afternoon take care of your attitude?”
“Won’t know until he opens his mouth.”
“Be nice.” She pointed to the photographs on the wall. “Do you see why we need him?”
“Still at a loss.” A smile curled my lips.
“You’re impossible.” She took me by the arm, like I was a naughty kid, and escorted me into a large white room full of tripods and backdrops. “Play nice or no dessert for you,” she whispered before releasing my arm.
Seeing Theo sitting at a small desk covered with negatives and loops brought back all the inner turmoil. Having to fight the attraction. Forget the fact that the man sitting in front of me was everything I had ever wanted, but nothing like he should be. Theo didn’t smile when I entered, heck he hardly acknowledged me at all, his total focus on the monitor in front of him. Just another reminder that he was nothing like the man who waited for me every night under the weeping willow. The slight plucked at the threads of my already frayed nerve endings, kick-starting my nastier side.
“I see you’re as pleasant as usual.” It slipped out. Scouts honor.
Ronnie smacked me in the arm and I shrugged. I hadn’t meant to say it, but Theo Castas stuck in my craw.
“I can be perfectly pleasant when I choose to. Somehow, I don’t feel that urge when you’re around.” Rotten berry smell filled the air.
Theo had the perfect amount of attitude to give my mouth a run for its money. Too bad I found him too detestable to be around. Maybe detestable wasn’t the right word. Confused? Conflicted?
“Should I cry now or later that you don’t like me?” Another smack from Ronnie. They were getting harder.
He turned and met my eyes, and my heart halted, then revved forward. “No need to shed tears over something you will never have.”
Ronnie placed her skinny frame between us, blocking our view of each other. “Okay, let’s end the pissing match portion of the evening.” She shot me a look that could have flayed me open. “Did you have a chance to look at the photographs?” The master of changing the subject.
He sighed so soft I almost didn’t hear it. “I did.” He waved us closer to his monitors and I let Ronnie take the seat right next to him, afraid of what I would do or say if I got too close.
He clicked on the closest monitor. A picture of me popped right up. OMG with a huge dollop of you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me. I was gorgeous. The sun coloring my natural brown hair to a golden burgundy, eyes hidden behind thick lashes, the water reflecting off the surf board, adding a bit of sparkle to my skin.
“Holy shit.” Ronnie lost all her poise and grace. If she had been standing she would have fallen off her five inch heels. “Theo, you are amazing.” She shot me a look over her shoulder that said, “Ha”.
“I know.” He didn’t sound at all happy about the fact that he turned me into some sort of Greek goddess. “And this isn’t even the best one.”
He clicked the arrow keys on his keyboard and scrolled through at least two dozen different pictures until he stopped on one of me standing on the beach. One I didn’t even know he had taken. I was turned sideways, cheek leaning up against my surfboard, wavy hair falling around my shoulders, eyes looking at the ocean. I looked pensive and perfect and every bit like the super model Ronnie kept trying to turn me into.
I looked around the room at all the photographs he had on display and couldn’t find any that had the same qualities and beauty as the one he had up on his screen. They were all beautiful in their own way, but the one of me. It was beyond beautiful. It was magical.
Pride bubbled in my belly. Knowing that out of all the pictures he had taken, mine was the most sensational.
“You have to take her on as a client.” Ronnie switched back to work mode. “Seriously, I think that is some of your best work.”
He rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I might have to agree with you.” Then he looked at me with those familiar eyes, like he was searching deep for a reason beyond camera chemistry to have me as a client. “This would be such an easy decision if we actually got along, but I can’t see us spending the amount of time together that a campaign requires, let alone at a week-long surf competition, without killing each other.”
For once I agreed with him. Not just because his attitude sucked ass, but because my heart couldn’t bear seeing him every day. Being so close to what I wanted. What I needed. Knowing that it was an illusion, a silly look-alike that was nothing like the man I loved. The man who could break Cupid’s curse.
Ronnie stood and smoothed her skirt, primming for a fight. “Theo, you need this girl. What she could do for your business.” Ronnie was not going to be deterred.
“Ronnie, if he doesn’t want to work with me, it’s fine. There are plenty of other photographers out there just as good.” That was a total lie and we all knew it.
She grabbed me by the sleeve, smiled sweetly, and said, “Excuse us for a moment,” then dragged me all the way outside and on to the front porch, going from friend to agent in the click of a camera shutter. “Did you see those pictures? There is no way that man is going to turn you down. He wants you. Just play nice for a few minutes and he’s yours.”
Her words hit me harder than a tidal wave crashing to the shore. “We obviously can’t get along. Any time we spend together would be like a combat zone. Do you really think that’s the best for any of us?”
“Yes.” She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, then clicked her nail to her teeth. “I have an idea.” She grabbed my arm and led me back into the room like I had just received a spanking. She positioned me in front of a scowling Theo. “The two of you need to go out. Spend some time together. Get to know each other on a personal level.”
“Are you kidding?” I blurted at the same time as Theo said, “I could be persuaded.” And waggled his eyebrows in my direction. Creep.
Ronnie, totally ignored the lewd and suggestive behavior from the other party involved. “Alicia, you are the only one putting up a fight. Go and have some fun. Theo really is a great guy, aren’t you?”
“I’ll be a perfect gentleman.” His eyebrows stayed put.
“I doubt that.” I gnawed at my lip.
“You afraid you won’t be able to resist falling into my backseat and jumping my bones?” His brows rose with a quick flick, and he smirked.
I let my eyes wander to his crotch. “I doubt its impressive enough to waste my time.” Liar. There was no way that man was packing a short and stubby.
Ronnie grumbled something about impossible children.
“Then what’s stopping you, it’s only a drink?” His voice was full of I-dare-you.
“Fine, I’ll go.” I hoped they both heard the reluctance in my words.
Ronnie clapped. “Good.” She grabbed my purse off the floor and pushed Theo and me to the door, following behind. We all stood on the porch as Theo locked up his studio.
“I think we should drive separately.” I had no doubt that I would fake some sudden ailment and make a fast getaway at some point during this pushed-on-me date.
“Whatever makes you happy.” He sounded as thrilled as I did about our pending time together.
We agreed on a local speakeasy called “The Prohibition” and I hopped in my car, cranked the music to drown out my worries, and went off to spend the night with the in-looks-only replica of my dream everything.