Chapter 29
Snow was a nervous, jittery mess.
It was all my fault. I’d put her in this situation.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
She tilted her head back and smoothed her palms down the lapels of my jacket. “Like I told you the last twenty times you’ve said it, I want to. I really do. I’m just nervous about being in front of a camera for the first time.”
It was the first shooting day of the ad campaign. Francisco was deliriously happy that Snow agreed to model. He’d wasted no time preparing everything to shoot in three days.
Admittedly, I shared his excitement. Knowing Snow would be the face of something that meant so much to me filled my heart with immeasurable joy.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I don’t mind—”
“You’re not canceling your meeting.” She pushed onto her toes and pressed a quick kiss against my cheek. “Now, go. I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t move.
“Liam, seriously. I’ll just be more nervous with your eyes on me.”
A frown pulled at my brows. “You don’t want my eyes on you?”
“No.” She laughed. “I mean, yes, I do want your eyes on me, but you make me squirm in a different way. I won’t be able to focus.”
In one swift move, I closed the distance between us and wrapped an arm around her waist. I slid my hand over the lush curve of her ass. “So what you’re really saying is you’ll be thinking of my hands on your body.” I nipped below her ear. “My mouth on your skin.”
“Yes,” she said, her voice my favorite combination of needy and breathless.
I squeezed harder, bringing her hips closer to mine. “Come to my office the moment you’re done here.”
“That’s the plan.”
When she pushed onto her toes this time, I turned my head to capture her mouth. The kiss was lazy and sweet and over far, far too soon.
Snow flattened her hands against my chest and gave me a gentle shove. “Go, or you’ll be late.”
I wanted to dig my feet in and demand to stay, but she was right. David Prescott, my head of finances, was probably waiting in my office already.
Lifting my hands in surrender, I walked backward. “Have fun.”
“You’re going to fall.”
My grin was fast and wide. “I already have.”
“Oh my gosh.” Snow rolled her eyes, but the smile on her lips matched my own.
I kept walking backward until I couldn’t see her anymore. It was only then I turned around and hurried to the elevator. Still grinning like an idiot, I stepped onto my floor a few minutes later.
“Will you clear my schedule after my meeting with David?” I asked Tamara when I stopped in front of her desk. I had plans to spoil and hopefully ravish my wife.
“The creepy smile on your face can only mean you don’t know.”
I frowned. “Don’t know what?”
Tamara immediately pushed to her feet and leaned over her desk like she was about to divulge the world’s best-kept secret. “Okay, so you know how all the assistants get together in the morning and complain about our horrible bosses.”
I just glared at her so she continued.
“Anyway, Amy from the fourth floor is all up in her feels because Marlon Lachowski, the famous Brazilian model, is here for a shoot today.”
She stared at me. Stared and stared until her words found their mark.
“What the fuck do you mean he’s here for a shoot?”
“Well.” Tamara rolled her lips over her teeth. “According to Amy, Francisco changed everything and decided that a couple would be better in the more…intimate photos.”
“The fuck he did.”
I immediately spun on my heel and marched right back to the elevator. Tamara slipped in next to me before the doors slid shut.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Her smile was wide, a little too wide. “If you think I’m missing this, you’re dead wrong.”
I didn’t answer her. Instead, I poked the number four button, then did it again and again.
“Pressing it a gazillion times won’t make the elevator descend any faster.”
“Tamara,” I ground out. “For shit’s sake, not now.”
Unfazed by my piss-poor mood, she barked out a hysterical laugh. “Wow, this really has your panties all up in a bunch. It’s just an ad campaign, boss-man. I’m sure the wifey will only be thinking of you when that hunk of a man is all up in her space.”
Was she trying to give me a damn heart attack? The mere thought of any prick putting his hands on my wife clouded my vision in red. My blood roared between my ears, and the space behind my ribs burned with unfiltered rage.
“Ohhh! This is such a good look on you.”
Fuckoff. The words were there on my tongue, but thankfully, I never voiced them. Instead, I stepped forward and poked the damn button again.
Somewhere behind me, Tamara snickered, but I didn’t care. The doors whooshed open, and I was out. Hurrying down the corridor until I reached the studio.
There was a sign on the door.
Do not disturb, shoot in progress.
Yeah, my ass.
I shoved the door open and marched inside. Gasps sounded all around me.
I ignored them all.
My gaze zeroed in on Snow. She stood in front of Francisco, covered up in a fluffy robe, and her beautiful face scrunched up with concern. She said something I couldn’t make out.
Francisco immediately shook his head and motioned to the person next to him. Probably the model everyone was gushing about. I ground my back molars to the point of pain. And when the asshole’s gaze slid over my wife and he took her hand to his mouth, something sharp and vicious snapped inside me.
“Get your fucking paws off my wife unless you want me to break them off.”
Crossing the room in a few quick strides, I slipped in beside Snow and curled my arm around her waist. Thankfully, the idiot had dropped her hand, so there was no need for violence…yet.
“What the hell is going on here, Francisco?”
My temper tantrum didn’t bother him one bit. With a simple shrug, he handed me a few sketches. “I was inspired.”
The images were good. Sensual and intimate. They’d make fantastic ad campaigns, but at what cost?
“I need a moment alone with my wife.” I’d said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
One by one, they all filed out of the big space until it was just Snow and me.
I faced her. “Are you comfortable with this new direction?”
Snow sucked her lip into her mouth, rolling it over her teeth. “I don’t know. The photos seem intimate, really intimate. And with what I’m wearing…” A sigh blew over her lips. “I just don’t know.”
“May I?” My hands went to the knot of the robe. I waited until she gave the okay before I tugged on the ends. It fell open, but not enough for me to see what was underneath.
Snow put me out of my misery by gently shrugging it over her shoulders.
The fluffy material pooled at her feet at the same time as an unholy growl tore from my lungs.
Lace. So much fucking lace.
The gauzy purple material covered her breasts and slipped up around her neck. It wasn’t sheer enough to see her nipples, but the outlines were there. From her waist, the material changed into something more netlike that flowed down along the curve of her hips.
This part of the dress was thin enough to reveal the matching lace panties underneath.
My blood hummed viciously in my veins.
“Holy shit, Snow, you’re fucking gorgeous.”
Her cheeks turned a pretty rosy color at my words, and it was all I could do to not have my way with her right there in the middle of the studio.
Until it registered that Francisco wanted to photograph her like this…with another man’s hands on her body.
“I’m going to kill him.”
I’d already turned around when Snow’s fingers curled around my bicep and she pulled me back.
“I don’t feel as uncomfortable as I thought I would.”
It took a few moments for the reality of her words to dawn on me. Not as uncomfortable. This was the same woman who a few weeks ago couldn’t bear for me to see her in the light.
Pride I had no right to rose inside my chest. I took a step forward. “What are you saying?” Another step brought us toe to toe, chest to chest. “Do you want to continue with the shoot?”
“Yes.” She tilted her head back, those brilliant-green eyes knocking the breath from my lungs. “But not with that guy. I don’t want him touching me.”
Good.The word vibrated through my body. I didn’t want his hands anywhere near her either. But I knew Francisco. He had a vision, and he’d do anything to see it through.
He’d want a couple in those photos.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, a lightbulb flickered to life.
I snaked my hand around her wrist, then trailed my fingertips up along her arm. Goosebumps popped up all over her skin. I fucking loved it.
“What if,” I started, my voice a little hoarse. I swallowed to alleviate the dryness. “What if I did the shoot?”
I reached her shoulder then dragged my touch over her collarbone and up her throat. Pressing my thumb under her chin, I tilted her head back. My mouth latched on to her skin, nipping and licking my way to the shell of her ear.
“Let me put my hands on you, Snow.”
Her breath came in short bursts, and I knew if I reached under that sexy-as-sin piece of lingerie, I’d find her wet.
I was half tempted to find out if I was right when her soft “Okay” broke through my thoughts.
Over the next few hours, I’d decided I had serious doubts over my decision. Even though Francisco had cleared the studio of most of the staff—at my request, of course—I still felt immensely uncomfortable.
Uncomfortably turned on.
Shit, I’d been hard since the robe had slipped off her shoulders, but now that I stood behind her with my nose buried in the crook of her neck, I was harder than I’d been in my life.
I didn’t even care about all the eyes on us.
Which was probably why my hand curled around her hip and my fingers dug into her skin. My touch wasn’t gentle, it was hard and possessive. And shit, she felt so good. My feet moved without my permission, shuffling forward so I could press my hips against her ass.
Snow gasped.
Somewhere in the background, Francisco yelled, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s the shot.”
I didn’t know what shot he was talking about, and I didn’t care. I couldn’t. Not when my pretty little Snow was right there. Parting my lips, I flicked my tongue across her skin while I slipped my free hand into her hair.
With her silky tresses wrapped around my fist, I pulled her head to the side so I could properly devour her delicate neck.
More gasps filled the room, only this time it didn’t sound like Snow.
I opened my eyes and was utterly horrified to find everyone gaping at us. Even Francisco wasn’t staring through his lens.
Shit. I hadn’t meant to get carried away, but after I didn’t even know how many hours of posing in intimate ways, I couldn’t take it anymore.
But that was no excuse for embarrassing Snow.
Peeling my hands off her body, I straightened and leveled Francisco with a glare. “I trust you have enough to work with.”
He nodded furiously. “More than enough.”
“Good.” I turned my attention to Snow and whispered, “Why don’t you get dressed so we can get the hell out of here? I need my hands on you with far less clothes, and even less people watching.”