Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
That was it.
He had the right looks and he was the right physical body type.
This was work.
It had nothing to do with his personal life…this was just work.
But as I reached over and closed the computer, I just wished it was that easy to turn off the rest of my mind.
****
Preston was still an idiot, but at least for the time being he was a quiet idiot, so I focused on Roman. “It’s good to see you again.”
Professional.
I was a professional.
I didn’t even look around for the model.
The model, not the boy.
“You as well.” Shaking my hand, Roman stepped deeper into Preston’s office and parked himself in what seemed to be his corner based on how comfortable he looked. “Thanks for making time for this.”
Had there been a choice?
“No problem.” Shifting over to one of the chairs, I sat down and leaned back. “Now what?”
“Emerson’s going to be joining us in a moment. He…” Preston frowned and turned to look at Roman. “Where did he say he had to be?”
Roman snorted and gave Preston a look like it should’ve been obvious. “The upstairs windows so he could watch Luca walk in.”
I wasn’t sure what the right response was, but laughing didn’t seem like it, so I kept my expression neutral. “Reasonable.”
But it left me wondering what he’d thought as I walked in.
I wasn’t anyone’s idea of what a seamstress should look like, much less a fashion designer. I knew that because several celebrity handlers over the past few years had told me to go find my boss and then wondered loudly why a gay man would have a lumber jack as an assistant.
When we were all left staring at each other in silence, Roman grumbled something that sounded a bit like “fuck” before moving over to the doorway again. “Emerson.”
In seconds, the cute model was standing in the doorway with an innocent smile on his face and a bulge in his pants.
Well, at least I hadn’t scared him off?
“Hello, Roman.” He peeked around the frustrated photographer and aimed that sweet smile at Preston. “Hello, Sir.”
I thought he was a delightful little doll, but Roman groaned. “Stop that. We were making headway.”
No, we hadn’t been.
Preston was already going mushy again.
All it had taken was that one sweet look and the idiot was caving. It was pissing Roman off, but the little model was delighted based on the naughty twinkle in his eyes.
He was perfect.
As a model.
Roman wasn’t enjoying his shenanigans, though. “Stop that.”
I wasn’t sure how the little model would react to being barked at, but he just turned up the innocence by pouting and giving the asshole a shrug. “What?”
He must’ve decided that they needed a distraction because he finally looked over at me. “Hello.”
Since no one else seemed to be willing to introduce us, I nodded and rose. “Hello, Mr. Davis. It’s nice to meet you.”
He nearly giggled but stood straighter and seemed to take it in stride like it was all a game. “It’s very nice to meet you too. I’m interested in learning more about your work.”
Alright, I was starting to see why Preston had turned into such a moron.
“I’m looking forward to going over it with you.” But just because Preston’s brain had a few holes in it, didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be professional. “I want to make sure we’re all on the same page before we move forward.”
And that I was reading him right.
There was a slim chance that Preston wasn’t as stupid as he looked.
But based on the way Roman was huffing and rolling his eyes like a dramatic teenager, it was very slim.
“That sounds like a good next step.” Emerson seemed to be giving me his best innocent excited expression as he sat down carefully next to me, his knees just brushing my legs as he shifted to face me. “I was curious about the opportunity, but Preston was…light on some of the details.”
I bet he had been.
Ignoring the idiot’s huff of indignation, I stayed focused on the cheeky model. “I think you’re aware that I’m working on a line of corsets?”
When he nodded, I continued, doing my best to ignore the way his knees kept brushing my legs as he shifted. “The line is going to be varied from what people would consider more masculine to more traditionally feminine pieces.”
Nothing surprised him so far, so I went deeper into my talking points. “I would like to do a sample piece of each style and photograph someone like yourself in a variety of shots to show the look in different ways.”
Now we were getting to the part where I usually started running into problems.
Even the drama queen at the desk stopped twitching and went very still.
“I have a very specific look I want to go for and some will be highly erotic in nature. Let me show you some concept art.” I wasn’t the best at drawing people, but the sketches would give him an idea of what I wanted.