Picture Perfect | Claude Giroux Philadelphia Flyers story |

Lost In My Mind

"Sure," I murmurs as I fix the positioning of the camera. He lifts the hat off his head, tosses it on the ground next to him, and runs a hand loosely through his hair. I can't help but laugh at how messy his hair looks.

"You might wanna fix that hot mess you've got going on there, Claude," I giggle.

"Isn't that what all of the girls go for though? I mean you admitted I looked hot," he says with a shit eating grin which causes my heart to flutter madly.

"I said you looked like a hot mess- there's a big difference," I reply, raising my one eyebrow, "you shouldn't flatter yourself like that, I might have to get my wide angle lens if your head gets any bigger."

Claude lets out a laugh, "Well come over here and fix it if it's really that bad."

Despite what my head was telling me, I accepted his request and walked over to him hesitantly, my heart beating faster and faster the closer I get to him. He gives me a smile as I approach him and I steady my hands into his soft ginger hair. I run my fingers through it a couple of times to smooth out the wild strands of hair. While I try to part it slightly by running my hands through his hair in a certain direction, I can feel his eyes on me. "Don't look down, don't look down," I repeat over and over in my head but our eyes meet regardless of my thoughts. As I stare into his hazel eyes and he looks into mine, my hands rest on his hair and I feel my heart beat slow almost to a stop.

I hear the clacking of Kelly's heels in the hallway and I am shaken out of my daze, "uhm, uh- that looks good enough," I say trying to laugh off my nervousness from what just happened and walk back over to my camera. I look through the viewfinder to see a weird glare on his forehead and I decide that I'll have to change the height of the spotlight on the right on the set up.

"Just hold on real quick," I say nervously, still shaken up from the look in his eyes. I stand up on the tip of my toes in hopes of reaching the clasp on the tall spotlight to shorten it- unfortunately being tall doesn't run in my family, I'm lucky I'm even 5'1''. Once I do reach it, I struggle to undo the mechanism, I start to fall backwards with the light and I let out a small yelp. Suddenly I feel stable hands grasp my back and waist and jolts of electricity go through my body leaving my heart feeling numb.

"Are you okay?" Claude asks with a soft laugh, making me blush bright red.

"Uh- yeah, thank you," I smile trying to hide my embarrassment. My heart starts to flutter wildly as Claude stays close behind me, and holding my hands on the light; helping me slide the pole down to the needed height-, this was feeling way too exciting. The feeling of his firm torso against my back makes certain erotic fantasies flash to the forefront of my mind. I blink a couple of times to get rid of the vivid imagery and fortunately it goes away- well most of it.

"Is that good?" Claude says almost whispering, the sound of his velvety voice so close to my ear, sends shivers down my spine.

"Uhm- yeah that's perfect," I say and clear my throat in an attempt to strengthen my wavering voice, "thanks for helping." I let go of the thin post regretfully and he does the same, leaving my hands exposed to the cold air-conditioned room.

"No problem Kat," he places his hand on my back before he walks back to the chair.

Still shaken up by his touch with his cologne swirling around in my head, I take a few pictures and he thankfully smiles for me with ease- unlike the last guys with their pictures. "Wow you're actually smiling," I laugh as I snap another photo, "you and a couple other guys might be the only ones without mugshots."

He chuckles and nods knowingly, "that sounds about right."

"I guess picture day was important enough to put in your tooth?" I remark with a smile as I double-check his photos to make they're usable.