Page 6 of Last First Love
I can't help the grin that overtakes my face. Thom Abernathy was our new recruit, and I'd made it my mission in life to give him hell right up until he begged for my help to win the affection of the beautiful Darcy Albrecht. With my help, he wooed and won the woman of his dreams.
Well, okay. Maybe he bought me some beers at Riddles and cried a lot over screwing things up with her while Aunt Opal gave him some advice about winning her back. Either way, he was definitely part of the bro-gram now.
"I couldn't be happier for you, and I'm honored you'd ask. Also, I look damn good in a suit. So, make sure your future wifey picks someone extra hot to be her bridesmaid because it's practically a rule that the best man and the bridesmaid do it either during or shortly after the reception."
Abernathy snorts. "That's definitely not a rule. Also, if you sleaze all over one of Darcy's friends, she might end up killing me instead of marrying me, so keep your peen in your pants."
I shrug. "No promises." Then I give him a one-armed hug and excuse myself as quickly as possible. I’ve got a woman to woo. A hot, red-headed babe-a-licious photographer. And I know I’m the right man for the job.
Lily
"What do you mean you're not taking me?" I stomp my foot at him. And okay, I probably look like I'm having a mini tantrum right now, but well. The entire point of Elliott coming down to the shoot was for us to grab lunch and spend a little time together. He's always busy with work, and I haven't spent any real time with him in almost a month.
He waves me off. "Don't make a big scene, Lily Pad. I'll buy you a burger and beer another day. Right now, I'm going to have a man-to-man sit down with my best friend Daniels about his life choices, so we'll catch up another time."
I can feel my hands curling up into fists. I'm absolutely livid with him. How dare he come all the way down here for some quality sibling time and then ditch me at his earliest convenience for some stupid bro time? And with ridiculous Ken Daniels of all guys.
Ridiculous, smoking hot, delicious looking, sexy abs, beard-I’d-like-to-sit-on Daniels.
Nope, not going there. He didn't even recognize me, which is one of the most embarrassing things to have happened to me in recent memory. And even if he had, what would we possibly have to talk about? For one, he's five years older than me and has always been at a different place in his life, even now that we're both adults. And two, he's a manly firefighter who saves people from burning buildings whereas I take pictures of weddings and babies.
And sometimes hot firefighters. At least for today.
Look, it's not that I don't have bigger ambitions.I do.I'd love nothing more than to be doing high fashion shoots in New York and Paris, but I have always lived in a town the size of my thumbnail and the only work available here is the usual family and wedding stuff. And that's fine, but it doesn't help me build a portfolio that I can submit to the type of fashion jobs I dream about.
I love what I do, and I love being able to give people something beautiful that they can be proud to have as a memory of that particular point in time that matters so much to them. There's nothing like catching that one perfect shot, where the lighting and the background frame a moment perfectly, or you see someone's personality shine through in a picture.
But I would love to be right at the front of a catwalk, at least once. Or a fast-paced magazine spread taking aim at the newest fashion trends. But that's probably not going to happen for me. I'm a shy girl from a small town in flyover country. Who would ever give me the time of day?
Apparently, not even my dumb brother. And I get it, he never ever sees Daniels, whereas he has family dinner with me and mom every Sunday evening. But I can't help but feel a little bit hurt that I'm getting shoved aside for the two of them to post up somewhere and check out the bartender at their favorite watering hole, which also happens to be the very best place to get a burger in our entire town.
On second thought, they’re probably smart enough not to check out the bartender. K.T. is engaged to the mayor and also, she's got definite murder vibes going on. I mean, she's beautiful, but scary too. Like one of those poison dart frogs or something. It would be impossible not to notice how beautiful she is any time you look at her. But she would definitely kill you if you talked to her the wrong way, no doubt.
"Why can't I come with you guys?" I probably sound like I'm whining, but damn it, I'm hungry and I've been working hard and all I want is to go eat a giant burger with someone who isn't going to give me that look while I'm eating it. That somebody being my one and only and very favorite big brother.
My brother doesn't know about the looks I get when I eat in public, but I sure do. That look where the person staring at you watches every movement as you put food in your mouth, almost as if they can actually see you getting fatter with every bite. There's nothing as disgusting to the average human being as a chubby girl eating, apparently.
But my brother is the kind of guy who never sees me as anything other than beautiful. He'd probably end up fighting any of those concern trolls who wanted to volunteer their dieting advice to me while I'm trying to eat a meal in a public place.
And as for Daniels, we've already seen that I'm invisible to him. He'd probably forgotten that his friend even had a little sister, or only remembered me as the pesky little kid who used to follow him around and make moon eyes at him.
Because yes, I was one hundred percent that girl. I always made sure to be "casually" hanging around wherever the guys were, wearing a lot of badly applied make-up and the occasional extra fancy outfit. And I know I probably barely even existed to Ken, but to have it rubbed right in my face today, well that hurt. And then for him to announce to everyone with ears that I'd gotten bigger, well that really sucked.
Maybe it’s all for the best that I skip lunch with him at least. No matter how freaking hot he looks shirtless. I don't think my heart could handle someone as hot as Ken Daniels giving me the look while I’m eating. Not today, when I’m still feeling all raw around the edges after the Abernathy-Darcy proposal.
"Come on, squirt. You don't want to go slumming around with me and that jackass Daniels." He folds his arms and peers at me closely. "Am I right or am I right?"
He is, sort of. But also, he isn't. I know Daniels has a reputation for being a bit of a playboy, but I could have sworn he was actually flirting with me earlier. Me. Not any of the other women at the photoshoot.
But the other women were basically Darcy, who just got engaged, and her very happily married barracuda of a mother. Hmm. Maybe not such a big prize on my side of things after all.
Well, it was nice while it lasted. I guess I should have known better than to think that a man who's built like Daniels would ever look at me twice if given any other choices. Of course, even if he was flirting with me, there was no way that Elliott would have let him keep that up now that he's here to police the situation.
"What's the matter, Lily Pad?" Elliott tips my face up toward him so I'm forced to meet his eyes.
I squirm a little bit. "Is this one of your attempts to force me into a nun's habit again? Because I'm pretty sure none of the guys here even looked at me this entire time, so no worries there." My eyes flick down again because I can't bear to see any pity in his gaze.
Ouch, that hurt to say out loud. Probably because I want Daniels to see me. To want me. Maybe even want to date me, kiss me, take me home and fuck me senseless, even if it's only for a weekend. Even if it's only for one night.
