Page 41 of Hot and Bothered
I still felt a little self-conscious about the outfit, but Grant was the ultimate professional and not once made me feel awkward or embarrassed despite the situation I’d found myself in, namely, rolling around in sheets wearing lingerie.
“You really are a lifesaver,” Lizzy told me again once it was all over and I’d changed back into my normal clothes. “We scheduled multiple photoshoots on the same day to save money on the studio rental space, and it would have been a waste if we couldn’t get this one done.”
“No problem,” I told her, even though it had been a little bit of a problem. She could at least have warned me about what I’d be wearing before asking me to agree. But I had to admit, the negligee was really more of a short, thin nightgown. Any other person probably wouldn’t have batted an eyelash at seeing it. I was sure there were certainly worse things I could have found myself wearing.
Not to mention, it was almost worth it just to see the look on Evan’s face. It was gratifying to know he wanted me as much as I wanted him. I only wished now that I had something at home I could wear to get him to make that same slack-jawed expression. All I owned were the same plain cotton underwear and bras he’d bought for me that first day. Not exactly the greatest turn on.
“Thanks for driving me home,” I told Lizzy. “I don’t know where Evan ran off to so fast.”
“It happens sometimes,” she said.
“Do you think he’s okay?” I asked, becoming alarmed. He hadn’t seemed upset when he left — in fact, if anything he had been entirely reluctant to do so — but I’d never seen Evan upset at anything really, so that didn’t tell me much.
“Every so often Evan will get a call and have to take off,” Lizzy told me. “He doesn’t say much, but I think it’s a family thing.”
Evan had never mentioned anything like that to me. In fact, he’d rarely mentioned his family at all. He liked to tell funny stories, and he liked to talk about his art, but much of our conversations revolved around me, and how I was getting along.
Now that I thought about it, Evan knew a whole lot more about my problems than I knew about his. The thought made me feel guilty. Here he was, helping me with all my troubles, and I’d barely thought to ask him about his. I made for a terrible girlfriend.
If that was what I even was to him in the first place. We still hadn’t had that talk. The relationship status talk. It wasn’t that I was afraid to bring it up, exactly. I just didn’t know how one went about it. How soon was too soon to discuss the matter? Was there an appropriate amount of time to wait? How did you broach the topic to begin with?
Maybe I was overthinking things, but I didn’t want to mess up what I had with Evan. I’d never felt this way with anyone else, and I couldn’t risk doing something to ruin it.
Not that I thought he would kick me out if I said the wrong thing. Evan wasn’t like that. But I hated the idea of making things awkward between us. We lived together and worked together. That had the potential to cause a lot of problems.
Best to just keep my head down and let Evan take the lead. Besides, he seemed to know what he was doing a whole lot better than I did, in just about every aspect of life. He had stuff figured out. Whereas I…
I suppressed a sigh so Lizzy wouldn’t look over at me while she drove and take her eyes off the road.
I most certainly did not have anything figured out. That was, aside from one thing.I knew I wanted to be with Evan.I could sort out the rest later.
I did, however, make a resolution to ask Evan more about himself. I didn’t want this relationship to be one-sided, only about me and my needs. I had been selfish, thinking only of myself. I vowed that I would be a better… whatever I was, if I wasn’t quite at the girlfriend stage yet.
“Here we are,” Lizzy said as she pulled up to the apartment. “Thanks again for today.”
“I had fun,” I told her, and it wasn’t a lie.
“Does that mean you’d be interested in doing more modeling?” she asked, looking hopeful.
“If you were ever in a pinch again I wouldn’t mind helping out,” I said. “But I don’t think it’s something I’d want to pursue.”
“Before you go…” Lizzy rooted around in the backseat of her car before I could step out. “Here, I’ve got something for you.”
She handed me a plain paper shopping bag.
“Are you paying me in unmarked bills?” I asked, half-joking.
“I pulled a few strings.” She beamed widely and gave me a knowing look. “Tell Evan he owes me one.”
“Owes you?” I blinked down at the bag in my hand, but it was tied closed so I couldn’t see what was inside it.
“See you tomorrow,” she said with a laugh as she drove off.
I let myself into the apartment, bewildered at Lizzy’s unknown gift.
“I’m home,” I called out.
There was no response. I poked my head into the spare room with the weight set, but Evan wasn’t in there. He must have still been out.
