Page 17 of The Heart Shot
Maya handed me a bottle of water and I chugged it eagerly, desperate for something to do with my hands. For three hours, she hadn’t run out of ways to make us pose, and I was certain I’d be blushing when she showed the pictures to me. Like when I had to straddle Jameson’s lap and “stare longingly into his eyes.” The memory of his hands on my waist, and the way his dimple had pierced his cheek, was permanently burned into my brain.
My favorite pose, which I would deny if anyone asked, might have been jumping on Jameson’s back and feeling the hard muscle beneath his skin. Normally, I would’ve been self-conscious about having that much physical contact with someone; knowing that he had felt the squish of fat on my legs while he held my thighs to keep me on his back, but I was too lost in the feel of his…not squish.
The guy was ripped. Did people even sayrippedanymore?
How had Maya never mentioned that her cousin looked likethatand probably lived a double life as an underwear model? A niggling kernel of self-doubt crept into my head. Did she keep her very attractive cousin a secret because she didn’t think I was good enough for him? I didn’tthinkshe’d have such thoughts about me, but my mind wasn’t exactly kind, implanting doubts and insecurity like it was its only job.
“Do you have everything you need, Maya? My cheeks are going to fall off my face from smiling and I’m starving,” I asked.
The photoshoot had gone longer than anticipated, and the rumble of my stomach reminded me we’d posed right through dinner.
Maya was silent for another moment, looking at the screen on her camera with intense concentration. Finally, appearing pleased, she lowered it and let it dangle from the loop around her neck. “That was perfect, you guys. I couldn’t have asked for better photos.” She rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait to edit them. Sorry for torturing you for so long.”
I scowled. “Nice of you to apologizeafterthe torture.”
Jameson’s low chuckle had my stomach clenching in a way that had nothing to do with hunger.
“Hardy-har. Come on, let’s go get some burgers. My treat as a thank you.”
The blood drained from my face. Did she mean…all three of us?
“Jameson, want to meet us at Get In My Belly?”
My stomach simultaneously leaped for joy and sank to the ground. Yep, she meant all three of us. Pretending to be in love with a stranger was awkward enough. Now I’d have to sit there and try to eatandtalk with him? That was a little too close to a date for my liking.
Jameson’s face lit up at the mention of my favorite burger place in the next town over, but when he glanced at me, his lips pressed into a line. His gaze rendered me immobile, plastering my feet to the ground until he took a step back, creating more space between us, as if I had the wordsget away from metattooed on my forehead.
“Actually, I have somewhere else I need to be. Rain check?”
Maya didn’t miss a beat. “A rain check will be accepted just this once.”
He chuckled, giving her a shake of his head.“Ladies, it was a pleasure,” he said, bending in a mock bow. “It was very nice to meet you, Elsie,” he added, those hazel eyes piercing mine.
I could only nod, my tongue thick and heavy in my mouth.
Then Jameson was gone.
“Happy? You scared him off,” Maya scolded, turning on me.
I scoffed, crossing my arms. “I did no such thing.”
“Please. Your basically screamed ‘don’t you dare come with us.’”
With a roll of my eyes, I headed through the sunflowers toward the car. “No, I didn’t. More importantly, why didn’t you tell me that the man you got for the photoshoot was yourcousin?”
Maya stilled before giving me a sheepish smile. “Oh, that came up, did it?”
“Oh, that came up, did it?” I mocked in a whiny voice. “First of all, why didn’t you tell me? And second, why have you been hiding him the entire time we’ve known each other?”
She flinched. “I wasn’t hiding him, Els. He’s had a really hard few years—or ten—and I didn’t want to make things more stressful for him by forcing him to socialize with my friends. Plus, you were with Ben, so I don’t see how it matters.”
I scowled. “Surely, it would have come up at some point in the last decade that you not only had a cousin who looked likethat, but who lived in Meridel too.”
Maya rolled her eyes, her smile strained. “Well, he lives on the outer edge of town, and the clinic he had been working at was thirty minutes away. With everything going on in his life, he wasn’t in Meridel proper often. I promise I didn’t hide him on purpose.”
She paused, tucking her camera into her bag. “His sister, Emma, and I grew close after my mom stopped…being a mom. Jameson was the annoying big brother I never had. He barely tolerates me.” I remembered hearing about Emma every once in a while, but I had never met her, either.
“Besides, the last time I tried to fix him up it…didn’t go well. But you guys…” Maya trailed off, giving me a meaningful look.
