Caught (2 page)

It took Laurel longer to get home than she expected. A big accident on the highway had her stewing in her SUV for an hour while traffic inched along. By the time she pulled into her driveway, she was ready to cry with relief.

Opening the door to her little two-bedroom cottage, she dropped everything but her camera bag just inside the door, slamming it shut and locking it.

Eager to download the last set of images and start working, she made her way down the hall to the spare room that doubled as an office. Maneuvering through the darkened room, she hit the enter key on the keyboard lighting the room with the monitor’s glow. Pulling one of the SD cards out of the bag she slid it into the slot, the soft grinding noise from the computer letting her know it was pulling up her photo program.

Knowing it would take a couple of minutes for everything to load, Laurel made her way to her bedroom and grabbed the sweats and tank off the bed where she’d thrown them that morning. It had been a long day out in the sun, and it was absolutely time to get cleaned up and comfy.

She didn’t doubt the words she’d spoken earlier. An all-nighter was definitely on tap. It was her routine no matter how long she had been awake, loving the design portion of her job almost as much as the photography.

Moving through the house flipping on lights on the way to the kitchen, she went over everything she had mapped out in her head. There were a couple of ideas that would have to be tanked since she didn’t have the nerve to ask to go up on one of the flights. Hopefully, she would have plenty of other great images to fill that void.

The more she thought about the missing shots, the more it bothered her. She really should have gotten on the plane while it was on the ground…at the very least. When she first received the assignment, the publisher sent a list of suggested images ranging from the empty interior of the aircraft up to the jumpers exiting the plane. The idea of actually stepping foot on the plane, even while it was on the ground, sent terror through her veins.

After rummaging through the pantry and coming up with a couple of granola bars, she opened the fridge and, mid-grab of a bottle of water, had a brilliant thought. She could just ask Jason to do it. Nothing like solving a problem after the fact. Plucking out the water bottle she dashed to the front door where she had left her bags.

He should have no problem popping out to the Chute Shack and asking Revlin to help him out since they seemed to be good friends. He could even do it on his next jump; too bad she didn’t know when that was. It would need to be soon, though, so she could finish the project by the deadline.

Excited about getting what she needed, she grabbed up her purse and dug through it to find her cell phone. Hitting Jason’s number she was connected in seconds, listening to the ring echo over and over before his voicemail kicked in. Leaving a quick message she shuffled back to her office. Hopefully he would get back to her tonight, unless of course, a woman preoccupied him. If that were the case, she wouldn’t hear back from him for a while.

Laurel set her water and snacks on the desk before sliding into her office chair. The chill from the leather seat seeped through her sweat pants into the backs of her tired legs, sending a shiver through her. Leaning over she snatched up the cardigan left on the futon, putting it on before starting the long task of sifting through the images. The pictures were sorted into the
yes
or
no
folders with quite a few ending up in the
filler
pile. A couple of hours drifted by and it wasn’t until she was out of water and needed a bathroom break that she tried Jason again. With no answer still, it finally hit her that he probably didn’t have his cell on him, as usual, so the best way to get hold of him would be to call the Chute Shack. They would still be there if they were partying, maybe.

The momentary thought of Quin answering the phone sent butterflies skyrocketing through her belly. It
was
his place of business. It would make sense if he answered—she tried to convince herself. She wasn’t that same shy girl from years ago. She could hold a conversation with a man, with
him
, without sounding like a fool.

Drawing in a quick breath she found the number and dialed, her desire to talk to Jason outweighing the possibility of Quin answering the phone. Hell, Revlin or Kegen could just as easily pick up.

Disappointment sprang to life as the phone continued to ring in her ear with no answer. Hanging up, she waited a couple of minutes debating whether or not to call back, indecision and anxiety over getting those needed images warring for dominance.

“Maybe they couldn’t hear it with the party going on.”

It might be useless, but she needed to talk to Jason about another jump. The overwhelming urgency of the situation ate at her. At this point she would go out there and do it. Who cared if the thought of going up in a tiny plane scared the pants off her? She needed those pictures.

Decision made, she redialed with the same result. She was about to hang up when someone finally picked up.

“The Chute Shack,” a deep, smooth masculine voice rumbled through the line.

She wasn’t sure whom the voice on the line belonged to and it didn’t matter, at least to her body. Shivers worked their way down her spine as goosebumps popped up on her arms. Fuck—that was a potent voice. She hadn’t spent much time talking to any of the brothers or their crew, and she wished to hell she had. At least she knew it didn’t belong to any of the women working there and she wasn’t getting turned on by them, not that knowing that fact eased her anxiety any.

“Hello?”

“Oh! I’m looking for Jason Owens. He was there earlier with the group that got their C licenses.”

“Sorry, they all left a little bit ago. It is rolling onto midnight and we’re about to head out ourselves.”

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think to look at the time. I just got this idea in my head, and I needed to talk to him about another jump. Damn, I wish I would have said something to him earlier when I was there.”

“Is this, um, uh, the camera girl, Laurel?”

Laurel’s heart stalled in her chest. As quickly as it stopped, it started up again—going right past normal and into holy shit racing speed.
It’s him! He sounds just like he did when he called me that all those years ago.

She did her best to pull it together. Hoping her voice didn’t betray the astonishment she felt at hearing those words from Quin again. “Quin Ferris? Damn. I haven’t been called
Camera Girl
since high school.”

***

Quin was stunned into silence. Hearing Laurel’s voice on the other end of the phone was a surprise, but not as big as the surprise hearing her words brought.

In a flash he made the connection between the woman with the camera today and the shy girl in high school that took pictures for the yearbook. He also remembered how he’d embarrassed her back then by joking about her taking pictures of him for her personal collection.

At the oddest times during the past ten years he would recall that moment. The flash of pain that crossed her face, the red flush of embarrassment rushing to her cheeks, then the tears he wasn’t sure she was aware of trickling down. He regretted his words the minute they left his mouth, but he was full of boyish pride and surrounded by girls who fawned all over him. They made him feel like he was the king of the world, better than everyone else when in reality he wasn’t. His mother had taught him better than to think with his ego.

It wasn’t until later that he found out how much his words carried weight in their tiny world. His girlfriend at the time bragged about how she and her friends teased
Camera Girl
every chance they got. They even came up with a name on their own,
Lovesick Laurel
. She said people like her needed to be reminded where their place in life was. That they could only ever look at the beautiful and popular and should never be allowed to think they could rise up out of their place in society.

Every time he saw
Camera Girl
after that he was so ashamed that he’d unknowingly made her life a living hell. He couldn’t look at or even acknowledge she existed. Hit by the shock of learning who Laurel was, Quin turned to lean against his desk. His body felt shaky and nervous and he needed some solid wood to hold him upright.

Her soft voice coming through the line pulled him from his memories. “Hello, Quin? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here. How did you know it was me and not Rev or Kegen?” It was a silly thing to ask, but he was still trying to pull himself together.

“You’re the one who got everyone calling me
Camera Girl
. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

He started to say something but she interrupted.

“I’m sorry to keep you later than you planned. I’ll just try Jason on his cell again. Well, maybe tomorrow. I’m sure it can wait. I hope you have a good night.”

Laurel’s sweet voice was clipped and professional sounding, and he found he didn’t like that. He could tell she wanted to get off the phone, but he wanted to keep her on the line a little longer. Maybe get forgiveness from her for his actions in the past. He didn’t like her thinking of him as a juvenile ass. Not that she said he had been, but he knew that’s what he had been. There was a burning need for him to give her a better memory of him, hell of them together.

“Wait! You said something about a jump. Is there something I can help you with?”

She hesitated on the other end. He held his breath, hoping she wouldn’t hang up. When he didn’t hear the call disconnect, he continued on.

“Are you interested in jumping? I’d be happy to book you to jump with me if you are. And, just so you know, that isn’t something Jason can help you with. He isn’t qualified for that.”

“Oh no! I could never jump out of an airplane. It’s for the book. I just wanted to know if he had another jump coming up.”

Damn. There went the fleeting thought of doing a tandem with her strapped to the front of him. Of having her tight little body pressed up against his as they sat in the plane waiting to get to the drop zone. He may not have talked to her, but he sure as hell noticed her when she was at the Shack. Her brown hair was typically pulled back into a ponytail. Her face free of make-up and each time he had seen her she sported a tank top that molded to her high, perky breasts and cargo pants that hugged her trim ass. She looked sexy in a completely understated way. Reaching down he adjusted his fly, as thoughts of running his hands over her curves raced through his mind. He cleared his throat and got back on topic. “No. They didn’t book anything when they left. He said he’d call when they figured out their next step.”

“Damn! There goes that plan.”

He couldn’t help the chuckle that came out at her vehement exclamation.

“I guess I’ll just have to seriously think about plan B. I really don’t want to, really wanted to avoid it, but I guess I can’t.”

He couldn’t say for sure, but it didn’t sound like she was even talking to him, more like she was mumbling to herself.

“Laurel?”

“Hmmm?”

The dreamy quality of her voice made his cock twitch again. “Is there something I can help you with? Did you not get a shot of something you needed?”

He wouldn’t mind getting an up close and personal look at her. All evening while everyone partied, Quin found his thoughts drifting back to the quiet woman. He spent little to no time with her when she was out on the drop zone, something he was sorry for now. Plus, ever since it hit him a couple of minutes ago who she was, he felt an overwhelming need to fix things between them. He just needed to see her again. It had to be in person though. This wasn’t something he wanted to do over the phone. He wanted her to see he was sincere.

“Yes and no.” She hesitated again before continuing on. “It isn’t a required shot, just something that would make the book that much better. The publisher suggested shots of the interior of the plane and some of the people when they jumped out, but I didn’t have the nerve to ask. To be honest, the thought of getting in one of those tiny planes, let’s just say I find small places confining.”

So that’s why she was so adamant about not jumping from a plane.

Quin’s brain went into overdrive. What the hell could he do to get her back out there so he could spend time with her, feel things out? It needed to be something that was all business with the possibility of one-on-one time.

He glanced around his office, his gaze landing on the calendar. “Perfect!”

“What? I don’t think…”

He interrupted her before she went further. “No. It’s not perfect that you’re claustrophobic.”

“Hey now! I didn’t say I was claustrophobic. I just don’t like small, confined spaces where there is a possibility of lots of people.”

Quin chuckled. This woman was a lot different than the girl in high school, and he was starting to really like her. “Now honey, don’t get bent out of shape. It’s fine. We can work on that too if you want. I’m sure I can help you love tight, close quarters when it’s just you and me. We could have the entire plane to do whatever we wanted.”