Worth the Risk(60)
Knowing that my every move is being watched makes me heed caution every time I look Grayson’s way. Don’t stare too long. Don’t smile shyly at him. Don’t act like I’m familiar with him. Don’t drool at how sexy he looks.
I’m more than aware that one questionable cell phone shot snapped and sent to the Gazette would piss my dad off and jeopardize everything I’ve been working for.
But it’s extremely hard to watch Grayson in all his uniformed glory without giving any tells. With his hand on the door of the chopper and a serious look on his face. With his flight suit unzipped to his abdomen with a sneak peak of his delicious abs. With him sitting in the cockpit and a grin on his lips. Every picture is an aphrodisiac until the next one is clicked.
“What is it with these Malone boys? I mean . . . whew,” Marcy, the photographer says with a low hum of a whistle.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I look over to her. She’s tall and lean and has her auburn hair piled on top of her head.
“I photographed his brother a while back. They both have the same good looks, but his brother Grady was cockier with his smolder, while this one here is more intense. But damn, I’d let him smolder on me,” she says and lifts her chin to where Grayson stands and waits for her assistant to shift the reflector and check the lighting.
“Don’t I know it?” My laugh is soft, and for the first time, I allow my eyes to remain glued to Grayson.
“You’re the one responsible for him being in the contest?”
“I’m the one who set up the contest, but his brothers are the ones who entered him. If you listen to the Sunnyville rumor mill, he and I are sleeping together, engaged, and maybe already have three children.”
This time, she laughs, drawing Grayson’s attention. He meets my eyes and smiles that smile I know will get me in trouble. Grady really isn’t the only one who can smolder. Damn. “I wouldn’t be complaining if I were you, but I’d definitely check my rearview mirror for angry women mad you took a great catch.”
“Let’s not be so loud. We don’t want his ego to get big,” I tease as Grayson angles his head to the side and tries to figure out what we’re talking about.
“I doubt he has one. Isn’t he rumored to have saved those people in the High Sierras but won’t let anyone credit him with doing it?”
“So they say,” I murmur as I watch him. It’s beyond me that a man so hell-bent on protecting his son would be so willing to risk his own life to save others, yet, Grayson does it all the time.
Just another mystery that makes me want to get to know him that much more.
“When I was setting up, one of the crew was telling me he had been grounded for disobeying orders. Something about flying in a thunderstorm when command tried to ground him, and then flying to a different hospital or something despite the dangerous weather. Pretty damn noble.” She looks through her lens at him for a beat and then looks at me with a laugh. “He can save me, any day.”
“No doubt.”
“So, Sidney, since you’ve seen what photos the other contestants have submitted, is there anything else you want me to shoot? Any special poses you want me to take that I haven’t already taken?”
“Let me talk to Grayson for a second to see what he’s comfortable with. The flight suit hanging around the waist is always a good look, but I’m not sure it’s one he’ll be willing to do.”
“Convince him,” she says as she looks down at her camera’s digital screen. “The camera loves him . . . and it would be a shame to hide that perfection underneath clothing.”
I walk toward him and the massive helicopter behind him. It’s white with red graphics, and I’m taken aback by its sheer size, maybe because it isn’t every day I get up close and personal with a helicopter.
Or, maybe it’s because of the man in front of it. Sexy. Endearing. He makes every part of me come to life in the few short feet I hold his eyes.
“Quit looking at me like that, Princess, or else someone is going to figure out we’ve slept together.” His eyes light up when he smiles.
“You’re in a flight suit looking sexy, but I’m not looking at you in any way,” I feign innocence when I’m anything but.
“But I’m looking at you that way.” He lowers his voice as his eyes track my movement until I stop right in front of him.
“You are, are you?”
His gaze follows my hands as I reach out and unzip his flight suit, wondering just how low he’ll let me go with it.
“Mm-hmm. I’m wondering what you taste like. I’m picturing that heart-shaped birthmark on the inside of your thigh. I’m thinking about the sounds you’ll make the next time I get to make you come.”
“Oh.” My hands falter. My thoughts liquefy into a heat between my thighs. But I don’t look at him. Can’t. Because if I meet his eyes, I’m going to want to kiss that sweet mouth of his that is saying such wicked things.
“You wore those heels and that skirt.”
“I wear them every day. So?” My voice breaks.
“And I wear a flight suit most days.”
I know that, if I don’t look up at him, the people standing around and his crew inside will read between the lines and there will be no denying that there is more going on here than just magazine editor and contestant.