Date Shark

Chapter 6

"You should see them first," he said. Leila scowled at him, making him grin even harder. "I'm serious. Let me show you. You'll love them, I promise."

Doubtful, but drawn in by his promise, Leila softened her stance and looked over at the LCD screen when he reached her. The first photo of her sitting on the steps surprised Leila. Tones of grey pulled out the details of the leftover chaos. Heels dotted the stairs, a scarf trailed down them amid the mess, and a dress draped over the back of a chair behind her, its pearlescent beads a sparkling halo to her frazzled hair. If there were one picture in the entire world that could have summed up what she just went through, that one would be it.

Without comment, Luke switched to the next picture, a full body shot of Leila glaring at him. Her hand covered her mouth as she chuckled. She really did look like she was about to go to war. He changed the image again. A close up of just Leila's face, caught in the one moment Luke had managed to make her smile. Strands of hair fell around her face in loose waves thanks to the bun she had started out with. There really was eyeliner streaked across her cheek, but otherwise her face didn't look nearly as bad as she expected.

"This one's my favorite," Luke said. His voice next to her ear made Leila realize how close they were standing to each other. She took a step back and bumped into a chair.

"So, can I keep them?" Luke asked. His scruffy blond beard did nothing to detract from his big blue eyes staring at Leila with a look not even the cutest puppy dog in the world could have managed. If Leila couldn't resist the miniature schnauzer, Snap, she had adored as a child, there was no hope of her resisting Luke. "Fine, but I'm serious about using them. My face does not belong in a newspaper."

"Hmm, I might disagree with you on that." Luke walked over to her and stopped. When he leaned forward she immediately tried to move back. She kept her distance when he reached behind Leila for something. But not too much distance. The buzz of energy running over her body right then made it hard to want to be too far away from him. She barely remembered speaking to Luke on the phone earlier that week, but she was not going to forget this encounter any time soon. He pulled back with a tissue in hand and gently started wiping away the eyeliner. Every stroke of his fingers stole a little of her breath.

Standing this close to him, Leila couldn't help noticing the details of his smile and body. He was taller than Eli, slightly more broad shouldered, and a dusty blonde—that amazingly enough looked like his natural color—instead of Eli's darker hair. His smile was more playful than Eli's, too. It promised fun, the kind that made you laugh so hard you couldn't catch your breath. The more Leila saw of him, the less she minded how close they were. It took Leila a moment to realize he had stopped wiping her cheek and was simply watching her. Blood rushed to her cheeks, but stuck between him and the chair, she had nowhere to go.

"Did you know you're missing a button?" Eli asked.

Leila's hand clutched at her shirt, praying she wasn't letting too much cleavage show. She had completely forgotten about the button. "One of the models tore it off ... she tripped and ... oh, never mind." She sucked in a lungful of air and braved looking up at Luke again. "Did you need something? You said you came back here to find me."

Leila's change in topics prompted Luke to take a step back and let her start breathing normally again.

"I wanted to talk to you about doing some shoots for Ana's website. She said you were looking for a new photographer."

"Yeah, our old one moved to L.A. a few weeks ago. Don't you already have a job, though?"

Luke shrugged. "Newspapers are a dying breed.

They don't pay as great as people think. I'm always looking for some side work."

"Great," Leila said, glad this wouldn't be the last time she saw Luke. "Why don't you call me this week and we can set up a time for you to bring your portfolio by. Ana will want to see it as well. Do you