Page 24 of The Model

Pulling her into an all-consuming hug, I kissed the top of her head. “Hey, beautiful.”

“Hey, dimples,” she answered back, her arms holding me a little tighter as she rested her head against my chest. I couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you laughing about?”

“I think you’re the only one who likes my dimples. When I was young, I used to get made fun of for having them.”

“Well, those guys were assholes, and I can say with the utmost certainty that I am not the only one who loves your dimples. I’m surprised there isn’t a fan page for them yet,” she said, her voice muffled with her face buried between my pecs.

Pulling back, I smiled down at her knowing good and well that my damn dimples would pop out. “You’re just saying that to stroke my ego.”

“I’m really not, but I do love them. I’d claim them as mine if I could.” The tip of her finger stroked my right dimple. “And don’t tell me you’re not showing these to anyone but me.”

“It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t.” Someone shoved me from behind, and it was like a snap of the fingers, and we weren’t alone anymore. Whenever I was around Lexie, the world seemed to fall away, and it was only us. “What do you say we get out of here?”

“Ugh, yes, please. I hate airports.” She eyed my duffle. “Is that all your stuff?”

“Yeah, I don’t need much.” I threw my arm around her shoulders. “How many bags did you bring?”

Her arm wrapped around my waist as we left. “A big suitcase and an overnighter for my carry-on.”

“How many bikinis did you bring?” A low laugh came out as I joked with her. I didn’t think she’d actually bring only swimsuits and condoms, although I wouldn’t have minded.

“Probably like fourteen, give or take. I own an insane amount that I don’t use often enough.”

“Well, we’ll have to change that and make sure you wear each one you brought. Where’d you park?” I asked as we stepped off the curb.

“Ryder, man. Over here,” one of the models called. I looked over to see him standing by a van waving us over.

With my arm still around Lexie, we walked over to Parker and a van full of bodies and equipment. “What are you doing, man? Your ride’s here.” I liked Parker. I’d done a couple of shoots with him before. Where he had looks, unfortunately, he had no brains.

“I’m going with Lexie, but I’ll see you in the morning.”

“But your ride.” His brows pulled down as if he was trying to solve an impossible math problem.

“I know. We’ve got a car. I cleared it with Tom, so don’t worry.”

“Who are you?” he asked in his best seductive tone directed at Lexie.

I could feel Lexie’s body shake against mine as she held back her laughter. She obviously wasn’t falling for his charm.

Lana stopped by Parker’s side and looked Lexie and me up and down with a sneer. “That’s Lexie Keene, Parker. I can’t believe you don’t know who she is. She’s one of the top fashion photographers.” With the compliment, you would have thought the words coming out of Lana’s mouth would have sounded nice, but they came out in an irritated bitchy tone. I wondered if Lana knew how much Lexie didn’t like her. I had a feeling she did.

Parker’s eyes widened as his mouth fell open. Not that it was hard to shock him, but it was always comical. “You’re Lexie Keene?” He held his hand out to shake hers and proceeded to shake it the whole time he spoke. “I’ve been dying to work with you. How can I make that happen? Wait, are you the photographer for the Romadi shoot?”

Lana rolled her eyes as she left her bags on the sidewalk and got inside the van.

“I’m only here on vacation, but I’m sure I’ll see you around.” Turning to look at me, she asked in a quiet voice. “Are you ready to go? You must be hungry.”

I was starved. I hadn’t eaten anything in hours. I wasn’t about to put the airline’s food into my body, so I was on the verge of ravenous. “Starved.”

“Where are you going? Maybe we can all go to dinner together.” Parker inviting himself was annoying. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings because he was nice to me, and I liked to hang out when we were working together, but there was no way we were having dinner with him, Lana, or anyone else.

“Oh, I didn’t know Ryder would be flying with others, so I only made the reservation for the two of us. Maybe next time.” Lexie rested her hand on my waist and pinched my side.

“We didn’t fly together. I’ve been here for like two hours waiting for Lana to get here.”

Stupid. That was the only word that could describe him for waiting in an airport for two hours. Although I would have waited for Lexie if I’d arrived sooner. Maybe they were hooking up.

Lexie turned to me fully, her mouth pinched. “Did you fly with Lana?”

---