Page 5 of The Model

Slippingon the robe Ryder had worn, I chased after a rather quick Raine. It seemed she could really move if she wanted to get away. I wasn’t sure why she was running. Was she embarrassed? Surely, she’d seen a penis before. Raine was twenty-four. While we’d never discussed her sex life, I assumed she had one. Or was she running because she thought I was highly unprofessional for sleeping with an employee?

Ryder wasn’t technically an employee, though. California Tomorrow was, and they were paying both Ryder and Lana. Not me.

“Raine, stop,” I gasped out as I flew out the door and out onto the sidewalk. She was already at her Toyota Prius, fumbling with her keys. She looked over her shoulder at me and swiped along her cheek. Shit, she was crying.

But why?

“Raine, don’t go. I know you’re upset, but we need to talk.” I stood only a few feet from her, but I didn’t want to get too close. She was acting like a scared animal. If I’d walked in on what Raine had, I might have asked if they were up for a threesome. But we weren’t even doing anything, so it didn’t make sense.

“I just want to go home.” Her chin trembled, and I hated myself for whatever had made her upset. And even though she still had a lot to learn about being my assistant, I didn’t want to look for a new one. I liked Raine.

“You can in a minute. Sit down with me.” I pointed to the curb in front of her car and then sat down, waiting for Raine to join me. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Raine seemed to hesitate, first looking from me to her car door and back again. Was she going to hop in her car and drive away? In the end, she sat down beside me and looked down at her red Converse.

I wanted to hug her, but I knew she wouldn’t be receptive, so I kicked out my legs to realize I was barefoot and only in a robe. What a sight I must have been. I didn’t care, though, because I didn’t want Raine to quit, or worse, and get into an accident because she was upset.

“Can you tell me what’s so upsetting about seeing Ryder and me in bed together?”

“I…I’m so sorry. Please don’t fire me.” A tear slipped down her cheek.

“I promise you I’m not going to fire you.” And here I thought she wanted to quit, thinking I slept with every model that came through my door.

“I didn’t mean to walk in on you. I thought… I never expected that. I mean, I understand why…” She stopped herself and picked at her frayed jean shorts.

My forehead scrunched up. “Why what?”

“Ryder is drop-dead gorgeous and look at you.”

My hackles rose, and my nostrils flared. Look at you. Yes, I knew Ryder was out of my league, but so was just about every other woman on the planet. Damn, didn’t she know it wasn’t smart to call your boss ugly? “What’s wrong with me? I’m cute, and Ryder obviously liked what he saw.”

Lifting her head, Raine’s eyes were wide as they met mine. “Cute? Come on. You know you’re gorgeous, Lexie. You have a slamming body and boobs anyone would kill for, and then your hair, piercings, and tattoos give you an edge that drives men wild. It’s no wonder Ryder wanted you over Lana. You could very well be a model.” I snorted. Yeah, right. “You really could.”

“You don’t need to kiss my ass, but maybe if I’m alone with a hot guy, you should make yourself known…or better yet, just go home.” Not that I thought I’d be hooking up with anyone anytime soon, but it was a good rule.

“Again, I’m sorry. I just didn’t think you’d…” Her nose scrunched up as she looked me over. “Oh my god, Lexie, you’re only in a robe. Go back inside.” Raine looked over at my building. “Maybe you can still…” She flushed, and I had to take pity on her.

“Are you a virgin? It’s okay if you are, but I thought you—”

“I’m not.” She shook her head vehemently. “But it’s not something I’m comfortable talking about or seeing.”

“That’s cool, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I thought we were alone.” Not that it would have mattered. I would have let Ryder fuck me in a room full of people. I loved how he took over and fucked me hard.

She nodded and looked back at the building. “I’ll let you get back to it.” She stood, jingling her keys in her hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Holding onto the robe to make sure it didn’t open as I stood up, I gave Raine a small hug before pulling back. She really was a good kid and worker. “Have a good night.”

“You too.” Her cheeks turned beet red before she quickly unlocked her car door and got inside.

Not wasting any time, I walked back to my building. It wasn’t much from the outside. In fact, it looked like a place for the homeless to squat, but on the inside, it shined. It was so clean you could eat off the floors, thanks to Raine, and it had multiple rooms laid out for different photo shoots.

I made my way back to where I’d left Ryder only to find the space empty, so I continued looking for him. I wouldn’t mind testing the bed out again or any surface for that matter. I’d checked almost the entire first floor with no sign of him. I had the dressing room left, but I was starting to think I wasn’t going to find my Adonis anywhere on the premises. I knew he couldn’t get upstairs; it was locked, which was a good thing since it was a disaster as I renovated it into an apartment for me. I was giving myself until summer to get it finished because then I’d need to use the roof and pool for shoots. While I didn’t have any land, which would have been amazing for pictures, I had lucked out with a pool that hadn’t been used in forever. The building was taking all my savings, but it was going to be worth it once it was finished.

I was happy to see the hair and makeup people had cleaned up. Sometimes they left their stations a mess, and it drove me insane. “Ryder,” I called out as I walked into the dressing room. Yes, I’d seen him naked, but if he was in here, I wanted to give him privacy if he wanted it. That was something this line of work lacked when you were on set, and I tried my best to give it to my models. He didn’t call back, and as I scanned the area, there was no sign of anyone’s belongings.

Fuck, I’d missed him. Why had he left without even a word? To say I was disappointed would have been an understatement. Trudging back to the main area, I pulled my clothes back on—since there was no need to be naked any longer—and straightened everything up. I pulled the sheets off the bed and threw them into the laundry before I went into area two to make sure all the lights I needed were in there before I decided to leave.

I grabbed my camera, phone, and purse. I could work on the photos here, of course, but I wanted to get away from the studio. If I didn’t, I’d probably put Ryder’s robe back on and sit around sniffing his unique pine scent all night or crawl back into the bed and roll around in his scent while I finger-fucked myself. I needed to get away from there and forget about Ryder Williams.

Powering up my phone, a dozen messages from Ben dinged as they came through. One thing was noticeably absent; I had no texts from Ryder. I don’t know how I expected him to contact me when he didn’t have my number, but I did. Ignoring Ben’s messages stating we needed to meet, and he needed in the apartment, I shut down the studio and turned on the alarm before I left.

---