Big City Cowboy

“The pair you’re wearing retails for two hundred dollars.”

He whistled. “Men actually spend their hard-earned money on these?”

“Devlin’s men’s jeans are among the hottest in the upscale market.”

Guilt swirled inside him at the thought of playing a part in convincing people to waste money on high-priced jeans, when a pair of Wranglers or Levi’s worked fine. The world was so out of whack. Kids got killed over expensive sneakers. People who couldn’t pay their rent found money to get tattoos. Stuff didn’t make a person. Didn’t people get that?

Lizzie led him to a tall, slender woman with shoulder-length black hair, dressed in a long, flowing purple skirt and a red T-shirt with a baggy white sweater thrown over that. Big chunky beads hung around her neck. Finally, a female who wasn’t dressed as if she was heading to a funeral.

She introduced herself and tossed him a look that said she was interested in more than taking his picture. What was the deal with everyone at this agency?

“Are you ready to get started?” Elizabeth asked.

“Tell me what you need me to do.”

Chloe smiled. “Just be you. I’ll do all the hard work. Let’s start with some simple shots of you sitting here on the hay. That’ll give us both a chance to warm up. I hope you don’t have allergies like Elizabeth. She’s been sneezing since she arrived.”

“Thanks, Chloe, for pointing out the obvious.” Elizabeth punctuated her statement with an unladylike sneeze, followed by a delicate “excuse me.”

“The hay won’t bother me. I’m around it all day long.”

“Good. Chloe, you get behind the camera and see how everything looks. Rory, come with me. I’ll position you.”

Position him? A very intimate picture of him and Lizzie tangled together in bed popped into his head. “Excuse me?”

“I’ll show you where to sit on the set, which way to look, that kind of thing. That’s what we call positioning. What were you thinking?”

“I had a more intimate picture in mind.” As Rory followed her he couldn’t keep his gaze off the way her little black high-heeled shoes made her hips sway, causing his blood to pump.

She froze and a pretty pink blush spread across her face. “I’m sorry you were confused.”

He leaned toward her to rattle her chain a little more. After all, if he was going to be on display, he had no intention of being the only one uncomfortable. “Lizzie, if we get together, there won’t be any confusion.”

For a second her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. Then she swallowed hard. “My name’s Elizabeth.”

“You don’t look like an Elizabeth. It’s too long a name for such a little thing like you.”

She snapped her lips together. He expected to see steam coming out her ears any minute. This job could be fun, after all.

“My parents named me Elizabeth. That’s what they called me, and that’s the name I go by.” She crossed her arms over her chest, pulling her blouse open farther at the neck. She had a pretty neck. He’d love to kiss that spot where the vein throbbed wildly beneath her skin. “Now, if we’re through with the discussion regarding my name, we both have work to do.”

He smiled, way more at ease than when he’d arrived. “All set.”

“Have a seat on the hay bale there.” Lizzie pointed to the one closet to the saddle.

He sank onto the hay, braced his hands on his knees and leaned forward. “Now what?”

That pretty pink color still tingeing her cheeks, Lizzie turned to Chloe. “How’s it look from your angle?”

“Good from here. Now, get out of the shot and let me work.”

The rapid-fire click of the camera shutter filled the studio. During a momentary lull, Stephanie buzzed around him, more annoying and persistent than the horseflies at home. “I think he’s getting a little shiny. Let me add some powder.”

Rory tried not to wince. Just what he needed, more makeup. Pretty soon he’d look like Bozo the Clown.

She swiped a brush across his face, tossed him a big smile and fluttered away. She wasn’t any better at getting the leave-me-alone signals than the horseflies.

More clicking.

This was every bit the torture he’d expected, except for the short diversion with Lizzie.

“Relax, Rory, you look like you’ve got a dentist appointment later today,” Chloe said.

“Relax? How’s a man supposed to do that with everyone staring at him, watching his every move? I feel like the turkey on Thanksgiving, sitting there in the middle of the table.”

“That’s an interesting point of view,” Lizzie said. “It’s not that everyone’s watching what you do so much as ensuring nothing needs their attention.”

“Try to forget everyone’s here, Rory. Concentrate on one thing, and tune out everything else,” Chloe suggested.

He focused on Lizzie. All straitlaced and in charge, but he’d seen a fire flash in her eyes when he’d called her that. There was definitely something there. All she needed to do was let go and channel that energy. Now that would be a job worth taking on.

“Hold that pose.”

More clicking.

Lizzie leaned toward the photographer and the women whispered back and forth for a minute, before Lizzie said, “Rory, let’s try some shots with you standing.”

He stood, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with his hands. That wasn’t exactly true. Right now he’d like to have his hands on Lizzie, caressing her dynamite curves and those long legs of hers. Heat shot through him. If he didn’t think about something other than her legs, these fancy jeans would get even tighter. “What do you want me to do with my hands?”

“Stand like you would if you were hanging around the ranch with friends.”

When he hooked his thumbs in his front pockets, Lizzie smiled.

She seemed different when she smiled. Softer. More approachable, more womanly.

“Fabulous. Keep looking like that.” The camera clicked away as Chloe rattled on. “Whatever you’re thinking about, it’s doing wonders for you.”

Rory’s gaze locked with Lizzie’s. He imagined holding her, exploring her full curves. He could almost hear her excited sigh in his ears as his hands glided over her breasts and hips.

Then his phone, which he’d instinctively shoved in his back pocket, rang. Lizzie’s smile evaporated, replaced with a scowl.

“Whose phone is that?” she asked. “Everyone here knows my policy on cell phones interrupting a photo shoot.”

“It’s mine.” Rory pulled it out of his back pocket and answered the call.

He answered the call? Elizabeth stormed toward him. The man possessed no work ethic. “I forgot to mention that when we’re at a photo shoot, everyone turns off their cell phones.”

Ignoring her, he said, “I know he’s trying to make it sound that way, but don’t worry about it. He’ll cool down.”