“I’m not bringing you any,” he said as he walked away.
“Thanks!” I called after him.
“I can still admire your muscles,” the girl told me.
“I heard that!” Drew yelled.
Everyone within earshot laughed.
The photographer came over and looked at me. “Mess his hair up. Lose the shirt.”
“Told ya,” the makeup girl sang. She set aside her tools and reached for some hair crap.
“Maybe we should ask him how he feels about being shirtless on the cover of a magazine,” Emily told the photographer.
“How do you feel?” The photographer looked at me with a raised brow.
I smothered a smile and thought about how testy it was going to make Drew. “I’m cool with it. But I have some bruising around my ribs.”
I pulled up my shirt to show them.
“Body makeup!” the photographer yelled. “Hurry, I’m losing the lighting.”
“Can you take off your shirt?”
I lost the shirt. From across the pavement, I heard Drew sputtering and Lorhaven laughing.
She applied some makeup to cover the bruising, and when I glanced at it in the mirror, I was impressed. It was all totally covered, though I admit most of it was faded so it probably wasn’t hard to hide.
As I was being led off by the photographer, Drew intercepted my path. He had two cups of coffee in his hand.
“I thought you said you weren’t making me one?” I teased.
“You looked cold with half your clothes missing,” he slurred.
I smiled widely. “You don’t like the view?”
“Oh, I like it. But I don’t like that everyone else likes it, too.”
I grabbed the coffee out of his hand and leaned in. “No one else will get to touch it tonight.”
“Just hurry up,” he demanded, but then he smiled.
The photo shoot went pretty fast. It seemed like the second I stepped in front of the backdrop, the photographer was snapping pictures. I actually wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought I would be, despite the people standing around watching.
Once we finished with the backdrop, I put on my T-shirt and jacket to follow the photographer over to the side of the steel hangar for some more “rugged” shots.
Drew hung back so he could talk to Emily, but I felt his eyes every now and then, so I knew he was making sure I wasn’t stripping down to my boxers.
“Have you ever thought about modeling?” the photographer asked as he snapped away.
“Uh, no,” I replied.
“You should. I do a lot of shoots for different companies. You have a pretty universal look and a good body for clothes… and no clothes.”
“Modeling isn’t really my thing.” I’d rather close deals and stay behind the camera.
When we were done, the photographer handed me a card out of the inside of his jacket. “If you ever want to pick up some jobs, give me a call.”
I thanked him and pocketed the card. If anything, this would be good to get a reaction out of Drew. Maybe I’d tell him I agreed to an underwear shoot…
“That took a long time,” Drew complained when I approached.
I smothered a smile. “How was it with Emily?”
“Fine. She’s all thrilled we called to give her the story.” He batted his eyes and made his voice sound higher than normal. “She just knew I was gay.”
“Hey,” I said, thinking maybe he wasn’t in such a zesty mood just because of my photo shoot attire. “You still wanna do this?”
He reached out and grasped my hand. It made my stomach flip because it wasn’t often he touched me in public. “Absolutely.”
“Hey, so where’s the pro?” Lorhaven asked, butting into our moment.
I gave him a look. “Who?”
“I think he means Joey,” Drew replied.
“What do you care?” I asked. He got along with her almost as good as he got along with me.
“I don’t.” He sniffed.
I gave Drew a look. Suuurre he didn’t.
“She’s home,” Drew said. “She has her own racing to do. I’ll be going there to do some driving with her soon.”
Lorhaven nodded. “I’ve got some drive time coming up, too.”
“Congrats on your sponsorship,” Drew said. “I knew it wouldn’t take long to get one.”
“Yeah, well, my father offered, but I don’t let Daddy buy my way.”
“Joey’s a damn good driver,” Drew snapped.
I gave his hand a squeeze and then took a moment to be surprised we were still standing there holding hands.
Like a couple.
“Right, ‘cause Daddy didn’t pay for this airport and your hangars. And the Corvette you’re driving,” I retorted.
Lorhaven gave me a sour look. “I paid for my car. Arrow’s, too.”
“Trust fund?” I asked.
“Fuck you.”
“You two are worse than a flea on a dog’s ass.” Drew interrupted. Then he turned to Lorhaven. “Thanks for letting us use the place this morning. Appreciate it.”
“Thanks for inviting Arrow to the football game,” he said. “Sorry I couldn’t come. I was working.”
“You have a job?” I asked, shocked.
Lorhaven gave me the finger.
“I like your brother,” Drew said.
“Yeah, me, too,” I added.