Page 26 of What Happens This Christmas
“You can be insufferable,” she whispered through a tight and forced smile.
This was probably not a moment Candy wanted captured, but I didn’t care one way or another. To me, this might’ve made the whole thing less trite. Who cared about holiday cards anymore? I happened to know that we threw out every single solitary one we received. Some of them Candy didn’t even wantto be bothered to look at. I’d call out the name of the person who sent it, and she’d wave a hand. That was her way of sayingthrow it out.I was sure others were the same way. Especially Irina, who Candy seemed to look up to. Lord knew why, though, considering she herself didn’t have an original bone in her body. She was like a parrot, but worse because repeating wasn’t cute coming from a human.
I grabbed her finger, holding tightly onto it as we stared into each other’s eyes, but not for the reason the photographer wanted us to. “You can be tense.”
She scoffed, never once breaking our contact. “What does that mean?”
I didn’t loosen my grip on her finger, only leaned in and blew against the shell of her ear before whispering in it. “An orgasm would do you good.”
She gasped as I backed up, her lips parting beautifully. What I wouldn’t give to feel those lips on mine as I shut her up and tried to fuck the frost out of her. Before she said a word, her gaze fell, and she fixated on my hand.
Angling her head, she swallowed, her lips becoming nearly nonexistent as they formed an incredibly thin line. “Where is your wedding band?”
Holy crap.I glanced up, looking this way and that way.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure I didn’t miss the pigs that are flying by.” She attempted to pull her hand from me, but I only tightened my grip on her. Looking back at her, I cocked my head. “I thought that’d be the only time you noticed—when pigs were flying.”
“Is this some sick little game for you?” she spat back, her nostrils flaring as she must have forgotten we had an audience. It was the only explanation, because otherwise, she wouldn’t be acting this way. Nothing less than demure in the face of company. “How long have you not been wearing it?”
Ignoring her question, I lifted a hand between us and placed it on her cheek, cupping it.
Her eyes fluttered on a heavy sigh. Again, she wanted to lean into me.
“What are you so afraid of?” I asked, planning on remembering how soft her skin felt, how every muscle in her body could loosen. Interestingly enough, her back was no longer ramrod straight. The pole that had been stuck up her cute ass must have found its way out.
She let out a metallic laugh. “That January isn’t going to come fast enough.”
I snorted. “Doesn’t matter. It’s in a drawer,” I admitted, finally addressing her many questions about my wedding band. It all seemed like a moot point, considering she’d only just noticed I wasn’t wearing it. You’d think a wife would pick up on how her husband’s ring finger was naked. Not acting as a symbol in the world to sayI’m taken.
“What were you thinking? People are going to see that in the photos.”
It felt like déjà vu with her. “Good thing I count on people’s incredible obliviousness. You should too.”
“People notice things like that.”
“Funny. You didn’t.”
“How about we use your passion in a few other poses?” the photographer asked, interrupting us with her ridiculously high-pitched voice that was beginning to grind my gears. “Nick, would you like to place a hand on her cheek? Then maybe we can try some—”
Candy’s eyes widened before she turned to the woman, her eyes were blazing with a fire that burned so bright I thought it would incinerate everything in our midst. “Are you blithely unaware that we’re having a conversation? Never mind the factthat I believe I asked for no more direction. That goes for my husband as well.”
“Would you like to take a break, or—”
I placed a hand up to stop this egregious nonsense from going any further. “We’ll be continuing. My wife can talk to me later. We have nothing more to say at the moment.”
“Nothing more to say?” Candy rolled her lips intensely and ground her teeth.
The woman cleared her throat and blinked, watching us both closely. We weren’t circus animals, and we weren’t going to do any tricks, so she might as well have gotten on with this session. “I know you said no direction, but what if I showed you how to do a baby in a cradle?” The corners of her lips curled upward. “I think it would make for a fabulous group of photos.”
I didn’t know what the hell a baby in a cradle was, but I had never heard anything sound so outrageously stupid in my life. “Yeah, we won’t be doing that,” I replied, shutting it down myself.
“Okayyy.” She gestured for us to come closer together. “Why don’t you two lovebirds simply do your own thing, hmm?”
Wow, so what my wife had already suggested? I’d never met a real-life prodigy before. “What a novel idea,” I said, finally letting go of Candy and turning completely so I was facing the woman who called herself an expert at taking photos. “Here’s another one. Leave us alone for a bit,” I said, suddenly more than a little annoyed by this whole thing.
Candy shook her head. “We haven’t leaned against the piano yet. That’s where I believe the bulk of the salvageable photos will come from. At this point, combing through this gallery is going to prove to be an unmanageable nightmare.”
