Things were buzzing at that time in Giftland. To cope with the constant demands of customers, Liberty had recruited a couple of extra girls so as to let her, Zoe, Eric and Clover get on with their own jobs.
That particular day, however, the situation was even more chaotic than normal. In addition to the usual customers – of whom there were more than usual because Valentine’s Day was approaching – there was a Hollywood star and a listed Canadian model in the store, and confusion reigned supreme. The employees wanted to take a look at the celebrities and the customers jostled to admire the fantastic models parading up and down the shop’s stairs for hours.
Intent on adjusting her camera, Zoe waited for Brooke Samuels to explain the purpose of the photo shoot to her astonished friend Sydney. She and the actress had met the previous afternoon to choose twelve faces from among those the model agency had made available, and to assign roles for each calendar month. Now, the same models were gathered in a corner, almost ready to start, but Sydney was still shaking her head in disbelief and amusement.
The phone rang and Zoe answered it without thinking. “Giftland,” she said, still staring at the settings on her camera.
“Hello, this is Cade. I’d like to speak to my insane girlfriend!”
“No chance that you’d rather speak to me, then, I guess?” joked Zoe, peering around her in search of Clover. Her friend had stayed in the store to help choose the costumes so she couldn’t be far away.
“Stop hitting on me – you’ll make Patrick jealous!”
“Patrick?”
“Dempsey. I’ve got his autograph for you. He didn’t put his phone number on it, unfortunately, but it’s better than nothing…”
“Oh, Cade, you’re the best!” laughed Zoe, as she located Clover. “I’m going to try with all my might to get between you and that darn redhead – who, incidentally, doesn’t deserve you. You’ve only been away only a few days and she’s already replaced you, did you know that?”
“Oh, really? Who with?”
“With a bevy of oily, half-naked models. She’s over there schmoozing them right now. I don’t know if I’ll be able to drag her away,” she cooed, smiling at the look in Clover’s eyes once she realized who was on the other end of the phone line.
“What the hell are half-naked models doing in your shop?” growled Cade, affecting a stern voice. “I thought it was safe to let her work there!”
“I know – but hey, what can you do, we’re about to start doing a racy photo shoot and Clover immediately offered to lend us a hand. She’s completely shameless!”
“Send me the photos of these guys – I’ll show them to my team of hitmen so they know who they need to take out.”
With a grin at Zoe, Clover snatched the phone from her and said, “See what happens when you’re away from me? If you hadn’t gone to Los Angeles, I wouldn’t have needed to try and forget how lonely I felt with the help of twelve hunky strangers!” she said as she walked away.
How sweet, thought Zoe as she returned to her desk, looking around her as she went.
The large room in which she worked was unusually full of people: twelve models, four costume designers, the makeup artists, Brooke and Sydney, Clover and Liberty, and even Eric. Samuels had asked for him in fact, and they had also requested a backstage film that showed the most entertaining moments of the photo shoot, and so Eric was working hard with cameras and microphones.
Zoe allowed herself a moment to observe him. Since the awful evening they had spent together with their respective partners they hadn’t been alone for a minute and so they’d had no chance to talk about it. In fact, he seemed to be keeping his distance. Perhaps he had other things to think about – his new relationship, for instance. Had his sweet girlfriend already begun to brainwash him about not getting too close to her?
Zoe gritted her teeth at the thought of yet another girl who was going to try and get between her and her best friend. What was it they were afraid of? If Eric had had any interest in her he would have shown it by now, wouldn’t he?
She remembered the thoughtful, sweet way he had acted towards Stephanie during dinner and let out a sigh. Now that was a normal couple. Whatever it was that she and that sex addict with ambitions to break into the world of entertainment had definitely couldn’t be considered a relationship!
She looked around for the man in question and when she spotted him, intent on admiring himself in the mirror before getting ready for the photographs, she grimaced. Their relationship had taken a weird turn after the evening at the restaurant – a sexual one that Zoe wasn’t really into. But she had made the mistake of giving him one steamy night to try and regain the ground she felt she’d lost when she’d seen Evan staring admiringly at his ex-girlfriend, and now keeping him at bay had become even more difficult than before. She was ashamed of the awkward strategy she had adopted so as to avoid being pushed out of the way by that walking pair of fake boobs. On the other hand, the thought of being single and desperate around the couple of the year made her feel like crap, and that was why she was carrying on with this stupid relationship, hoping to get something positive out of it. But the task was proving more difficult than she’d expected.
Against her will, she turned her eyes back to Eric. He looked distracted and quiet. His face looked relaxed, which she read as a sure sign of sexual satisfaction, but his eyes weren’t shining the way Clover’s were.
Wasn’t he happy with his girlfriend?
He turned and Zoe met his gaze. She wanted to ask how he was, how his new romance was going, or just spend some time chatting to him, teasing each other the way they always did, just to make sure he wasn’t trying to put some distance between them, but she wasn’t sure that he was willing to confide in her – and anyway, at the moment she was too busy to be thinking about this stuff, so she forced herself to put the whole thing out of her mind until a later date.
Evan emerged from one of the makeshift cubicles that had been put up to give the models some privacy, dressed – or rather, undressed – as Cupid. A piece of white fabric was draped over his private parts, from his back sprouted a pair of white wings and in his hand he carried a bow. There was no denying that he was genuinely attractive and very sexy, though perhaps the makeup artist had gone a bit overboard with the body oil. Every single muscle was highlighted, glossy and quivering, and his blond curls were artfully arranged.
Zoe saw him approach Brooke and Sydney and swore under her breath. She had told him to stay away from them, but it was evident that he hadn’t listened to her. On his face was the same expression you might see on the face of a kid going into a toy store, as he stared at the two women almost adoringly.
Sickened, she approached Liberty, who was absorbed in choosing the background music. “I’ve never seen a man brown-nosing the way Evan is doing right now with those two,” she muttered.
“Is he trying to become a male model?”
“I have no idea.”
“What do you two talk about when you are together?” asked Liberty, without looking at her.
Zoe shrugged. “That’s usually left up to me.”
“I see.”
Eric stopped next to them with a bundle of wires in his hand, trying to arrange them so that they wouldn’t get in the way.
“Be careful with those, I wouldn’t want someone to trip over them,” Liberty reminded him. “We’d have to pay the agency if one of their models got hurt.”
Zoe grimaced. “The only one who can get hurt without it being a problem is Evan, he doesn’t belong to any agency – at least, not the moment.”
“Cupid has wings so I don’t know if I can trip him up. But I can try,” quipped Eric, ducking under a table to hide the tangle of electrical cables. Brooke and Sydney came over. “Zoe, can we have a word?”
“Sure, girls, what’s up?”
“It’s really fun, and I absolutely love the idea,” smiled the model, turning to her friend and giving her an affectionate look. “I just have one teensy problem.”
“Tell me what it is and we’ll try to sort it out.”
“Cupid.” muttered Brooke. “Can’t you just get someone else?”
An amused snort coming from under the table made Zoe smirk. She tried to restrain herself. “What’s the matter with Evan?”
“He’s a little… insistent!” said Sydney, rolling her eyes. “All he does is smile and keep giving us compliments. I have a feeling that he’s trying to get me to put a word in for him with my agency… Either that or he’s angling to get a date. But either way, I’m not interested and he’s getting on my nerves.”
“What we mean is that we would have preferred someone a bit more delicate for the part of Cupid,” said Brooke.
Zoe blinked in surprise. “I’m sorry, I should have had him come to the casting yesterday. Wasn’t the description accurate enough?”
“Oh, no, I thought it would be a great idea. A beautiful, sexy cherub. But your guy just doesn’t quite square with my idea of sensuality.”
“He squares with mine – or at least with that of my ‘almost’ husband,” snapped Sydney, an angry spark flickering in her eyes. “He has the same kind of animal charm that asshole Trevor had!”
“Maybe we could call the model agency and get them to us send one of the guys that we turned down.”
Sydney turned back to Liberty, an apologetic expression on her face. “I’m sorry to be causing all these problems.”
“Not at all – the calendar is a gift for you and it should be completely to your taste,” replied Liberty reassuringly.
Brooke’s gaze was drawn towards Eric, who was still crouched under the table, and a devilish smile appeared on her face. “Syd, honey, I think that I might just have found you a perfect Cupid.”
Zoe followed the actress’s eyes and nearly burst out laughing. “Oh, Brooke, I don’t think…”
“Look at that cute ass,” the woman continued, giving Sydney a nudge with her elbow. The model looked at Eric’s backside, which was quite evident in that position, and raised her eyebrows.
“Not bad. But what about the rest of him?”
“Gorgeous!” Brooke assured her. “I’ve already met him.”
“But Sydney hasn’t,” said Liberty with a sadistic smile, as she anticipated the scene that was unfolding. “Eric, can you can come out from under there for a moment?”
Zoe saw Eric back out on all fours and crack his head against the edge of the table as he tried to get to his feet. “Damn,” she heard him mutter, rubbing his brown curls.
She smiled in amusement. Eric was the only guy she knew who could be polite and refined even when he swore.
The knock had sent his glasses flying, so Eric ‘s face was dishevelled but unadorned when he turned to face them. Sydney looked him up and down from head to foot, then nodded.
“I like him!”
Eric put his glasses back on and then stared in puzzlement at the female faces around him. “Did I miss something?”
“You are about to become a model,” said Liberty. “Brooke and Sydney think you would be perfect for the role of Cupid.”
Zoe put her hand to her mouth to try and stop herself from laughing out loud. The shocked expression on Eric’s face was priceless.
“What?! No way! I’m not posing for a photo shoot!” he protested, looking over at her for support. “Tell them I’m not photogenic!”
“Well,” Zoe hesitated, “he is actually is a bit wooden. I think he’s really too shy for this sort of thing.”
“Nonsense, we’re amongst friends here,” said Brooke, dismissing their excuses with a wave of her hand. She grabbed Eric’s arm and dragged him towards them so that she could get a better look at him. “He’s slender rather than muscular, but he’s tall and has a beautiful face. He looks very sweet, and that’s good, seeing as he will be representing the god of love. In Latin mythology, Cupid was described as young and clumsy and that sounds about right too. Okay, his hair isn’t really blond, but it isn’t in Caravaggio’s paintings either, so…”
“You’re right, he’s perfect,” said Sydney with an approving smile.
“So, Eric, if you want to go and change… You’re second in order of appearance,” said Liberty, immediately handling the practical side of the matter. But Eric kept shaking his head vigorously.
“Wait a minute, don’t I get a say in this? I’m not a model!”
Liberty’s expression began to grow more and more threatening and Brooke and Sydney looked at him in a puzzled way. Zoe took him by the arm, but Eric pulled away and began to leave the room.
“Leave him to me, give me five minutes,” she said, before setting off after him.
She intercepted him at the other side of the door and grabbed him. “Eric, wait!”
“I’m not doing it,” he hissed, giving her a glare.
Zoe dragged him into Liberty’s office and closed the door. “There’ll only be a couple of shots! I promise that I’ll be quick, I already know exactly what I want to do, so it won’t take long.”
“But did you see how that clown was dressed?!”
“Oh, come on, make an effort!” Zoe said. “Aren’t you pleased to know that two beautiful A-listers prefer you to Evan? Think of the satisfaction when you go back out there and steal his bow and wings!”
Eric mumbled something incomprehensible and Zoe moved closer to him. “Do it for Sydney. She’s just been brutally dumped by a guy who looks just like Evan.”
“Well maybe that’ll teach her to prefer brains over muscles.”
“Then do it for yourself and for Liberty. If you upset Brooke by refusing to co-operate, Lib might cut your wages!”
“A fine friend she is! She didn’t even ask me for my opinion, she just immediately sacrificed me for the cause!”
“Okay, do it for me then.” Zoe put her hand on his chest, fluttering her eyelashes as she often did in order to obtain favors from her prey. “You don’t want to make me look bad in front of two women as important as them, right?”
“Are you flirting with me?” Eric blurted out, staring at her.
“Is it working?” she giggled.
“Why?”
“To get you to accept the role of Cupid?”
“Then no.”
Was there another reason that have made a difference? Zoe wondered briefly. But she dismissed the thought and sighed.
“Listen, we’d also be running the risk of giving Cade some bad publicity. He was the one who recommended us to Brooke, remember? If we piss her off she might mention it to some journalist and poor Clover would end up in the middle of it all…”
“You sure know how to get someone in a corner,” said Eric, and then he took a deep breath. “Ten minutes in all – and don’t make me look an idiot!”
“I’ll make you look like a god, I promise!” said Zoe, clapping her hands happily. “Go and get ready. Clo and the seamstresses will tell you what to do. I’ll go and reassure the others.”
She left before he could change his mind and joined Brooke, Sydney and Liberty.
“Everything okay? I didn’t mean to upset him,” began the model, sounding confused.
“He isn’t angry, he’s just terrified,” explained Zoe. “But I’ve calmed him down and promised that it won’t take more than ten minutes’
“I’ll go and get him a beer, maybe that’ll help him relax,” said Liberty, leaving the room.
Brooke looked at Zoe, almost incredulously. “I’ve never seen a man get so anxious at the thought of showing off in front of a group of women!”
“Eric just isn’t like other men,” she smiled. “He’s a nice guy who wants to get himself noticed for his other qualities.”
“Well he certainly manages it. He’s such a sweet guy that I’d gladly ask him out on a date!” laughed Sydney.
“Sorry, but he’s already taken,” replied Zoe in a tone of voice that was the opposite of Sydney’s.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think the two of you… I thought you were with the soccer player?”
Zoe looked at her in surprise. “Oh, no! I mean, yes, I’m dating… I mean, I was dating Evan. Eric and I are just friends. But he has a girlfriend, that’s what I meant”
“You said it so seriously that for a moment I thought you must be jealous!”
Brooke chuckled. “Maybe she’s regretting letting him get away!”
“I’m going to tell Evan what’s going on,” Zoe said, ignoring their comments. She didn’t understand why, but what they’d said made her feel uneasy.
Evan didn’t take the news very well at all. He looked around angrily for his replacement, but Zoe said that the new model had already gone to get changed and that he would have to return the wings and bow. With an angry gesture Evan handed them over and then rushed off to get changed. He left without even saying ‘goodbye’ and Zoe knew that she wouldn’t be seeing him again.
Twenty minutes later, the sound of voices had started to get really loud. Everyone had been in the room for over an hour, the first shots had been successfully taken and the remaining ten models were eager to get into their poses. Sydney was ready, wearing the dress chosen for the photo for February… but there was still no sign of Eric.
Seeing the impatient look on Brooke’s face as she was being entertained by Clover and Liberty, Zoe headed off towards the small dressing room she had seen her friend enter.
He’d been in there quite a while. Had he changed his mind? Brooke would be really angry, to say nothing of Liberty…
She walked confidently over to the dressing room and stopped outside, ready to flatter him again if necessary. “Eric, you’re taking too long,” she began, drawing aside the curtain unceremoniously. Their relationship was such that they didn’t have any inhibitions in situations like this. “I’ve already done January’s model, now it’s your turn and I need you out there as…”
At the sight of the spectacle before her, the words died in her mouth.
In the small, dimly lit cubicle, Eric was completely naked, offering her a perfect view of his smooth, well-proportioned back, broad shoulders and muscles that were well-defined and hard without being too big.
And an ass to die for. Firm, well-shaped…
“My God,” she whispered as she stared and clung tightly to the dark curtain.
Eric turned abruptly, giving her a full-on view of his well-defined chest and the rest of his anatomy, just before he grabbed a sweatshirt to cover his modesty, his face turning a bright beetroot-red.
“Zoe! Damn you, couldn’t you knock?!” he exclaimed, sounding embarrassed.
“Erm,” Zoe cleared her throat, still unable to remove her eyes from his lean physique, “because… it’s not easy to knock on a curtain?” she stammered. “For Christ’s sake, Eric… why the hell are you naked?!”
“I’m supposed to be dressed up as Cupid, aren’t I? If you’d prefer me to put my clothes back on…”
“No, no!” she interrupted, hurriedly, adding, “You go right ahead,” before quickly closing the curtain.
God…
Her heart pounded in dull thuds in her chest. She had never been so shocked in her life!
What the hell had he been doing standing there as naked as the day he was born? She would have imagined anything except seeing him like that.
Incredulously, she drew back the curtain again, as though to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. But Eric was still there, now wearing the white cotton skirt. Although his nakedness was no longer on display, Zoe still felt an equally hot flush at the sight of the rest of that amazing physique.
She wasn’t used to seeing him without his clothes on. She couldn’t remember ever having seen more than Eric’s calf or his bare arm in ten years of friendship.
Jesus, and to think that she had almost been convinced that he didn’t actually have a body at all!
“Why the hell do you always cover yourself up?” she said, suddenly inexplicably annoyed.
Eric jumped, quickly pulling on one of the robes that the models had provided for him. “Are you still here?”
“I’ve come to tell you to hurry up and you keep wasting time,” said Zoe, looking straight at him. His hair looked unkempt as if he had been repeatedly running his hands through it and there was some slight stubble on his face that made him look even more charming. He was looking for his glasses, which were on top of a pile of his clothes and she instinctively stepped forward to stop him. “Don’t put those damn glasses on!”
“I can’t see anything without them.”
“You’re not blind.” She looked him up and down then, mystified, shook her head. “Why?” She asked him.
“Why what?”
“Why did you take all your clothes off?”
“I don’t know, maybe because I still haven’t learned this trick of getting changed without taking off all my clothes first, but I promise that I’ll learn to master the technique as soon as possible,” snapped Eric sarcastically. “If it annoys you so much, I can just get dressed again right now. I didn’t even want to do this damn photo shoot!”
“I just didn’t expect to see you completely naked. I thought… well, I thought that you would get undressed like all the other prudes, one piece at a time!”
“All I’m supposed to be wearing is this ridiculous skirt!”
Zoe sighed. “Okay, okay. But why do you always have to dress like such a loser when you could be showing off that physique of yours?”
“I’m sorry to hear that you don’t like my clothes, but they are comfortable and I like them. I’m not a model, Zoe, nor do I aspire to become one.”
“But…” Zoe continued to shake her head, trying to dispel the image of his naked body from her mind. “Whatever, never mind. Get yourself oiled up, we’re all waiting for you”
“Oil?”
“Yes, oil, to highlight those muscles that I didn’t know you possessed!” she snapped, leaving the cubicle. “You damn… cheat!” she muttered as she strode away.
Clover stopped her. “Is something wrong? Don’t tell me that he’s changed his mind…”
“Oh, no, not at all! He’s really enjoying himself, standing there stark naked, gazing at the muscles he’s kept hidden from us all this time!”
“Eric has muscles?” her friend teased her, running after her. “Are you sure?”
“He also has a nice ass,” Zoe muttered. “And that’s not all!”
Clover stared at her. “Zoe! How much did you see?!”
“I saw everything!” she replied, running her hands over her face and rubbing her eyes. “God… I won’t forget that in a hurry!”
Clover laughed. “Was it that amazing? So why are you angry, then?”
“It’s Eric! I wasn’t prepared… I mean, he could have let me know!”
“Let you know what? That he’s well-equipped and has a pretty nice body under those clothes of his?”
“Under those nerdy clothes that do absolutely nothing for him at all! Heck, with a pair of contact lenses, a sexy shirt instead of those awful sweaters he wears and a tighter pair of jeans he would look totally different!”
“Yeah, but would it matter? He would still be Eric – pedantic, sarcastic, fussy old Eric,” smiled Clover, looking at her with a strange expression on her face.
Zoe ran her fingers through her hair. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said, sounding unconvinced. But she continued to feel as though she had been cheated out of something.
“Eric, it’s your turn,” said Clover, catching up with him as he came out of the cabin.
He nodded, taking hold of the flaps of robe with both hands. “You owe me a favor. A big favor!” he snapped, glaring at her.
“Why, what have I done wrong!?”
“Your friend Zoe talked me into doing this by telling me how much you would suffer if the news of an irritated Brooke Samuels made it into the gossip mags, seeing as it was Cade who introduced you to her.”
“I see. And what about Liberty?”
“She was all set to scalp me when I said I didn’t want to do it!”
“And Zoe?”
“Oh, I’ll make her pay,” he growled threateningly, “I’ll make her pay more than anyone else.” Clover chuckled. “By the way, I gather I owe you a compliment, but I’ll keep it for later.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve never seen Zoe so upset at the sight of a naked man!” Clover looked around her, then leaned toward him. “She’s in shock! She could hardly string two words together when she came out of your dressing room. That piqued my curiosity, so I can’t wait to see you on that set now.”
Eric felt his heart beating more and more rapidly. When Zoe had marched into that cubicle whilst he was getting changed, he had almost passed out. It had been the thought of posing half-naked in front of her that terrified him more than anything else. He knew his body was average – he was agile and slim, but considering Zoe’s tastes, which were oriented towards roided up athletes, he felt unattractive and puny. But she had actually seemed quite flustered, and Clover’s words had confirmed his impression.
His friend seemed to be reading his thoughts. “Just keep your head up and enjoy yourself. You’ve got everything these other guys have got and I’m sure it’ll go great. Didn’t you know that the wiry look is terribly fashionable nowadays?”
“Fashionable or not, I just hope I don’t look ridiculous”
“You certainly won’t look any more ridiculous than the model playing May!” laughed Clover. “He’s wearing a thong with a fig leaf on the front and a garland of flowers on his head!”
“I’ve been lucky, then.”
Before he could get closer to the brightly lit set, Clover took him by the arm. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Another one?”
“This one is for both of us,” she said, mysteriously. “Imagine you’re an Adonis – a man who can get anything he wants. Then think about Zoe and what you would say to her, do with her, how you would like her to feel about you – and when you’ve gotten properly into your role, lift your head up and look at her.”
“Are you trying to ruin me?”
“I just want to do an experiment, that’s all. I’ll explain later.” Clover began to walk away, but then turned back and grabbed hold of him so that her lips were almost touching his ear. “And hey – when you think about her, don’t go into too much detail. Remember you’re only wearing a skirt!”
Eric suppressed a giggle at her rude joke as he watched her walk away.
One of the seamstresses approached him, holding out her hand for his towelling robe, and his desire to laugh disappeared, immediately replaced by a heightened sense of anxiety. Undressing in front of all those beautiful women and those perfect professional models made him nervous. He took a chance and glanced over in Zoe’s direction, but she seemed to be totally focused on her camera, so he took a deep breath and relinquished the robe. Immediately, one of the makeup people came over to cover him with oil, which made him grimace with disgust.
Sydney, who was sheathed in a fiery red evening gown, walked towards him. She was beautiful, her loose black hair falling onto her shoulders in perfectly formed curls. She looked at him with frank admiration.
“Wow, what a stud! You’re even better than I thought.”
“Well that’s very kind of you, but I don’t believe it for a minute!”
“Well I’m sorry but you’re mistaken. It’s a shame that you’re already taken, you know?” She winked at him, then waited for her orders from Zoe, who was at that moment walking towards them.
“Is everything OK?” she asked while Eric slipped the white angel wings on.
“Remember your promise. No more than ten minutes,” he said, staring at her.
“You’ll like it, trust me!” smiled Brooke, who was standing nearby. “You just have to think about how beautiful you are and how beautiful Syd is, and the rest will come naturally.”
Zoe cleared her throat to attract his attention. “Sydney already knows what to do. As for you, you need to wield your bow as if you were about to fire an arrow at her, with your legs planted firmly apart planted on the ground and I want you to look at her as if she is the thing that you want most in the world.”
Eric grimaced but didn’t answer her. He just raised his bow, holding it awkwardly as though it were red hot. “Which way round does this thing go again?”
Rolling her eyes, Zoe positioned his hands and arms, then she bent down to push his legs apart. Eric held his breath at the touch of those warm, slender fingers. “There, you’re perfect,” she murmured, passing a finger over the quadriceps that the stance he was holding made stand out proudly. Eric focused on all the unpleasant things he could think of to stop himself from getting excited.
Zoe got up quickly, took a step back and bumped into Brooke. “Oops, sorry!” she stammered. Then she spun round and went back to her position behind the camera. “Ok, let’s get a move on. If you can give me the right pose straight away, it’ll only take about ten minutes.”
Sydney sensed the tension in his body and smiled, placing a hand on his back. “Just relax, Eric. You’re not doing anything illegal.”
“I’ll try.”
“Sydney, can you mess up his hair a little?” asked Brooke, who was now standing next to Zoe. “Let’s make this handsome devil look a little more evil!”
“Aren’t I supposed to be the god of love? What’s evil got to do with anything?”
“Knowing Brooke’s taste in men, it’s got everything to do with it all right,” chuckled Sydney, running her fingers through his hair.
“That’s enough,” shouted Zoe. “I don’t want him to look too unnatural.”
To Eric’s ears, those words sounded like the greatest of compliments.
He started posing and looked at Sydney, trying to feel like a fierce, sexy archer, which was surely just how Evan Lewis would have felt in his place. The satisfaction of having been judged better than that hulk made him feel bolder and his self-confidence showed in his posture, which was much straighter than usual. Sydney smiled encouragingly and, just as Clover had suggested, Eric imagined for a moment that he was a confident, attractive man who was able to get what he wanted with ease.
“Put some more passion into it and it’s perfect,” said Zoe, clicking away like a mad thing from all angles. Eric closed his eyes for a moment, imagining that it was her he was aiming his arrow at instead of the model, and his heart skipped a beat. Wearing that dress, Zoe would have looked like a fairy tale come to life…
His eyes turned automatically to the object of his desire, his eyes filled with emotion. Zoe remained transfixed, her eyes on his, and time seemed to stop… at least until her fingers lost their grip on the camera with its telephoto lens and it ended up crashing to the ground with a thud.
In the anxious silence that followed, a female giggle was distinctly heard in the room and Eric knew, with certainty, that it was Clover.
“Shit!” Zoe snapped, picking up her camera quickly.
“Is it broken?” asked Brooke, sounding worried. “No, no… it’s all right.”
Eric looked around, catching Clover’s eye and raised his eyebrows. In response, she gave him the thumbs up.
“Ok, I think that’ll be enough. You can go,” muttered Zoe, walking rapidly away.
Eric didn’t need to be told twice. Breathing a sigh of relief, he gave his wings and bow to one of the assistants and then he turned to Sydney and took hold of her hand. “It was a pleasure,” he said, bending down to place a kiss on it. He was feeling playful now that he was free to leave the set.
“It was for me too!” she said with a smile. “And if you are ever single, call me!” she added with a giggle, as he walked away.
Eric didn’t answer and left the circle of lights. Passing near to Zoe he couldn’t resist the urge to place his hand on her shoulder, and he felt her stiffen under his fingers. “Was I ok?”
“Yeah, you were fine!” she nodded, avoiding his eyes.
“Thank you for making it quick,” he murmured, winking at her.
“Go and get dressed, for God’s sake,” she muttered, staring at him.
Although he wasn’t sure what was going on in Zoe’s mind at that moment, as he walked out of the room, Eric felt a kind of euphoria the like of which he had only experienced a few other times in his life.
*
She couldn’t take her eyes off the computer screen. Eric’s face was so intense, so beautiful… she still couldn’t get her head around how good-looking he was, but most of all she still couldn’t understand why it had taken her so long to notice.
Giving in to an impulse she ran her fingers along his features, going down his neck and along his clavicle, running them as far down his chest as the shot allowed. After years of friendship she knew the texture of his skin, she knew it was warm, smelling of shower gel and a subtle masculine scent the name of which escaped her but which she had always associated only with him. But he had never, until now, aroused in her this uncontrollable desire to feel her body against his.
The photos from that afternoon had left her feeling full of overwhelming desire, not simply because the theme of the shoot had been passion, but because they were of Eric, that shy and bashful boy for whom she had always felt only an almost fraternal affection.
When he had stared at her in that way, full of vibrant passion, she’d felt an intense heat wash over her. In a flash she had seen herself in the model’s place, wearing that wonderful dress, with that semi-naked man, a man who represented love in every way, intent on possessing her…
She jumped up from her chair, fanning herself with her hand. Maybe it would be better if she waited a few days before going through the photos she had taken that afternoon. She still needed to recover from the surprise of seeing her best friend naked – and of having ardently desired him.
The phone rang, vibrating on the desk. She grabbed it without looking at the display, silently thanking whoever it was for the distraction.
“Hello?”
“Am I disturbing you?”
An unmistakable voice which until a few hours ago would have brought a smile of genuine happiness to her face but which now only made the blood rush to her already flushed face.
“Eric …”
“I need to talk. As soon as possible.”
“Okay. What about?”
“Me… you. I mean, us.”
Us? Now she understood why cardiologists were paid so much. This type of emotion created imbalances in the life of a human being, making the need for medical intervention more than likely.
“Yes.” she stammered, as she tried to slow down the accelerated beating of her heart by taking a deep breath.
“Are you sure you want to hear this? Because once it’s out of the box, nothing will ever be the same again.”
Eric’s voice was deep, full of barely contained emotions. In a flash, she knew that she wanted at all costs to hear what he had to say.
“You can tell me anything you want,” she whispered.
“I’d rather tell you face to face.”
“Then come round… or do you want me to come over to your place?”
The sound of the doorbell almost made her trembling legs give way.
Lifting the hem of the red dress that she’d forgotten she was still wearing, she ran to the door and flung it open. There he was, his phone still up against his ear, wearing a shirt that she’d never seen before. His hair was messy, there was a trace of stubble on his face and he was wearing his faithful glasses. He really was gorgeous…
She continued talking to him on the phone despite the fact that he was now standing in front of her. “What did you want to tell me?”
“You look beautiful.”
“It’s the dress…”
“No, you are, you always have been and I can’t look at you any more without wanting you.”
Letting the phone fall to the ground, she ran into his arms. She had no idea why this was happening right now, she hadn’t expected it or ever imagined it but suddenly it seemed absolutely right, exciting, and perfect.
She couldn’t wait to savor the delights of his kisses.
She closed her eyes and, breaking away from her embrace, Eric took her face in his hands and lowered his head.
“Stephanie, I love you…”
Stephanie?
“No!” she shouted, her heart sinking in her chest. “You want me –only me!”
“And why would I want you?” asked Eric, sounding deadly serious.
A sob escaped her lips, and the sound echoed round the empty room…
Feeling her heart beating wildly, Zoe emerged from sleep with a small groan of despair. She put her hand to her chest in an attempt to calm herself down and sat up. In the darkness of the room, the faint light of the clock radio showed that it was a little past three in the morning and that she hadn’t been asleep for more than a couple of hours.
The images of her dream still filled her mind like some kind of out of control music video, making her shake her head in disbelief.
With trembling legs she got out of bed and walked to the window, which offered a spectacular view of the Empire State Building lit up in red for the forthcoming celebrations for people in love.
What the hell was going on? Was it just the desire to have someone by her side that had provoked those strange dreams, or the fear of someone taking away her best friend? Or was it that, after what had happened that afternoon at the photo shoot, she had really started to see Eric in a different light?
“You’ve already dreamed about kissing him, remember? And you hadn’t even seen him naked at that point…”
Maybe it was time to talk to someone about these confusing thoughts that were swirling around in her head and get some dispassionate advice from someone who saw the whole thing from a different perspective.
Are you sure you want to hear this? Once this is set in motion, nothing will ever be the same…
The words that Eric had said in the dream echoed in her head, making her stomach churn. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something?
“Ok, it’s official, these celebrations are having a strange effect on me,” she murmured to the empty room, resting her forehead against the cold window pane.