Touch of the Camera (6 page)
“That excited?” he asked.
“You fucking bet.”
I was. Shang’s personality had absorbed into me and I couldn’t wait to see where our relationship would head. Now that we could go out, I was sure Shang and I would be seen all over the city. However, I couldn’t wait to be seen in his house.
Shang walked over and poured a cup of hot chocolate. He handed me the mug and I sat back down on the bed. Nothing was on TV, but I had Shang, and that was enough for me.
Being with Shang was still new to me. I found it exciting, like that first puppy love crush you got back in school. But a part of me worried we were moving too fast. It had only been a week. A week of spending tons of time together, seven days of laughter and hot sex. It was more than great sex, though. I found myself hanging on Shang’s words, listening to his stories of how he’d travelled the world. My favourite story was when he’d watched a lioness give birth and the love she’d shown for her cubs after. Shang had seen it all, yet he’d chosen to stay in New York. He’d chosen to be with me.
Shang flipped through the channels, passing several new programmes and documentaries. He was relaxed, calm, at ease.
“Luna,” Shang began, “ready to make our first public outing in a month?”
I sipped more of my hot chocolate. “Sure. Where we goin’?”
“I was nominated for an award.” He turned to me and winked. “And I need a hot date.”
I set my mug down on the table. After snuggling up to Shang’s chest, I peered up into his eyes. “I hope I’m more than some ‘hot date’, right?” It was meant to sound as a joke. In truth I was afraid of what Shang might have said. I had feelings for him. When I wasn’t with him he was on my mind. Shit, I saw a commercial for Lee Jeans and got excited, simply because of Shang’s last name. I was like a schoolgirl all over again.
Shang looked down at me, his eyes serious and narrowed. “Luna, you’ve always been more than a hot date to me. It’s weird, we met only a week ago, yet I find myself falling hard for you.”
I smiled like I was a Colgate model. “Shang, I…”
He pressed his lips to mine, hard, full of need. “Shh. Oprah’s on. Let’s see if we can make the money she does.” He glanced at the TV before turning his gaze back to me. “And, Luna…? I know.”
So did I. No words needed to be said. We were on the same level as each other.
And I was loving the view.
Coming Soon from Total-E-Bound Publishing:
Loving Her Curves
Caitlin Ricci
Released 8
th
November 2013
Excerpt
Chapter One
Aria Dulane stepped out of the photography studio feeling like a million dollars. Not only had the coffee guy hit on her that morning, which was always a compliment, but she’d just landed the cover spot for the next issue of
Curves.
She couldn’t help but smile as she walked down the narrow sidewalk in her glossy black pumps and pinstripe skirt, both of which had been a gift from the clothing designer she and the other women had been showing off. She loved clothing, and it was good too since she was a model, and the little details the designer had embellished into the outfit and the shirt made her especially happy. The clothes she’d come in—a pair of jeans, flip-flops and a T-shirt—were folded neatly in the oversized bag slung over her shoulder, along with her signed contract.
Cover model. She smiled again. It’s what every model wanted and what she’d dreamt of for the past five years, ever since she’d seen the ad for plus size models in the local paper. Back then she’d been a curvy teenager tired of being teased and bullied by the skinnier girls. Now she was a mature, confident woman who loved her body right down to the stretch marks on her hips.
And, she reminded herself, there were two very sexy men waiting for her at home who loved her curves just as much as she did. If not more.
“Congrats!” a breathless woman said, struggling to catch up to her.
Aria turned and her smile spread at the sight of her best friend, Cassandra, next to her. “Hey. Thanks. And by the way, you rocked that hot little yellow dress. It went great with your blonde hair.” Proving her point, she reached out and twirled a lock of Cassandra’s hair around her finger. “Simply stunning.”
Her friend blushed, her pretty hazel eyes shining just a bit brighter as she ducked her head. She was a new model and hadn’t yet learnt how to take a compliment. Aria didn’t doubt that she’d be great someday soon, but she had a little bit of growing up to do first. Still, she was only twenty, so she had plenty of time. Besides, her dreams were in acting and not so much in fashion.
“What’s your plan for tonight?” Aria asked her. She linked her arm through Cassandra’s elbow as they kept walking down the sidewalk. Since neither of them had driven, it was a fair guess to assume Cassandra was going toward the light rail station too.
“I’ve got class in an hour,” Cassandra replied. “At least I did the homework for it this time. Had to read some Dickens. You?”
“Home with my guys,” Aria replied, winking at the shorter woman. Again Cassandra blushed, her mouth forming into a tight line.
“All that attention, those hot men…” Cassandra sighed. “Not a clue how you do it. I can barely stand one man, and he and I have petty arguments all the time.”
“It’s about priorities,” Aria revealed, though it was no real secret and she was happy to talk about her relationship with anyone who asked. She handled the idiots that chose to comment on her relationship just as well as the infatuated women that looked like they wanted to paw her men at the supermarket, which was not very well at all. It was a good thing her men were strong enough to hold her back, or else she’d have gone after quite a few of those judgmental people or shameless women. When it came to her guys she didn’t play fair at all.
“How so?” Cassandra asked.
Aria gave her a quick smile. “My relationship with them comes first. I know that and they do as well. Together we make sure that it stays that way. We have our issues, as I’m sure every relationship does. But with three people involved, it’s much easier to make sure that things don’t escalate into screaming matches. Diplomacy isn’t that hard if the people involved give up any need to be selfish and realize that the common goal is the relationship and that everyone has to give a bit to be able to make it work.”
“Oh.” Cassandra turned quiet and Aria was afraid she’d said something, or perhaps said too much. She didn’t mean to preach and hadn’t thought she’d come across that way. But perhaps she had.
“I didn’t mean to—” she began, but Cassandra lifted her hand and cut her off.
“You’re really lucky. I mean really lucky.” Her smile faltered for a moment. “I hope you know that.” She pulled out of Aria’s hold and gave her a quick hug followed by a light peck on the cheek, something she did with all her friends.
“I do,” Aria agreed. “I know I am.”
Cassandra smiled and this time it was far more genuine. “Good. Say hi to the guys for me please. See you next week at the shoot?”
Aria nodded. “Absolutely.”
“All right, Miss Cover Model, I’ll see you then!” Cassandra shot her a little wave and skipped across the street, her bright blonde hair floating behind her as she crossed. Aria watched her go for a moment, thinking as she often did that her best friend was a great woman but pretty strange, then she turned back toward the light rail station.
Her phone vibrated in her purse and she pulled it out, ready to answer it and hoping it was her guys so that she could tell them all about the shoot and how much fun it had been. Until she saw that it was her mother.
A frown quickly replaced her smile as she answered the phone. If she hadn’t, her mother would have just kept calling. “Hello, Mom.”
“Aria, good. I caught you. What’d you do today?”
With a sigh, she kept walking. Though her mother may have sounded interested in her day, she knew better. Getting her soft then going in for the kill was the preferred method to her torture. “I had a photo shoot and I—”
“You weren’t naked were you?”
Aria loudly snorted, drawing the attention of a few teenagers hanging out in front of an arcade on the crowded sidewalk. “No. It was tasteful. Mostly business stuff. Nothing too hard.”
“Good. Well that’s one thing that you’re doing right at least. Though I wish you’d choose to go back to school and finish out your degree. Looks will only last you for so long and you don’t have them as it is. This curvy love thing is just a bubble that’s about to burst. Like the housing market. You’ll see.”
“Right…” Aria rolled her eyes. Fighting with the woman wasn’t worth it, she quickly reminded herself. They’d been over this plenty of times. And yeah, Aria knew modelling wasn’t a forever type of thing. And someday she probably would go back for her degree. But that would be when she wanted it to be. Not when her mom dictated.
“Are you still living in sin?”
“Yep!” Aria replied, a bit too happily.
About the Author
Anais Morgan has been writing, in one form or another, since she was fourteen. Her loves have always been romance, followed by paranormals. It seems clichéd, but she loves a classic tale with a sexy twist. Anais has been married since 2007 to an equally strange man. Technically they don’t have kids, but four pets equal kids, don’t they?
Anais also writes under the pen name Erika Lindsen where you can check out paranormal romances, from sweet to steamy. But Erika does come armed with zombies and vampires.
Email:
[email protected]
Anais loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.total-e-bound.com
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