Page 61 of In Knots

“Ryan and Buzz?”

“And Bear.”

“Bear?”

“Yeah, Bear. He can’t keep his eyes off you.” He gestures across the pub with his chin, and I turn to find Bear watching me as he talks animatedly to a group of men. He gives me a little salute and I smile at him. It never occurred to me that the other members of this pack could possibly be interested in me too. My skin flushes as I try to wrestle with that realisation.

“Opposites attract I suppose,” I shrug, meeting those hazel eyes.

“Not always. Sometimes we’re attracted to people like ourselves.” He holds my gaze and I wonder if that means what I think it does. “These are really good, Alexa.” He points to the camera.

“I thought you weren’t going to critique them.”

“I’m serious. Could we use them? For our Instagram.”

“Instagram?” I laugh. They don’t seem the type to pose for insta shots.

“We have one for the garage. You know, men spend more time looking at car porn than they do girlie porn. Good pictures like these could get us a fuck load of customers.”

“Really? They spend more time looking at cars?”

He smiles. “I don’t know. I made that up, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I mean, I could look at pictures like this,” he holds up the photo of the old bikes leaning up against the wall, “all day.”

“If you think they could help you out, then, of course, you can use them.”

He lowers the camera back to his lap and starts flicking through the pictures again. “You like taking these photos, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then maybe this is what you should be doing.”

I stare at the camera in his lap. “As a hobby?” I ask, trying not to let the bitterness leak into my voice.

“As a career,” he says.

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