Hazel took my hand and led me over to the white backdrop she had set up for portraits.
“What are you doing?”
She smiled. “Humor me for a minute, please?”
After situating me on a stool in the middle of the backdrop and brushing a few wayward pieces of hair out of my eyes, she grabbed a camera from her desk. Raising it to her face, she said, “Smile pretty for the camera.”
“That’s not an easy request these days.”
She lowered the camera, and her playful smile wilted. “I know. But give me whatever you can, please. I want to show you something.”
I stared at her, realizing that even now there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for this woman. Pretty sure if she told me to get up and hop around like a frog, I’d be busy ribbiting on the floor. So I guess forcing a smile wasn’t so bad.
Giving in, I flashed my best pretend smile, and Hazel snapped a bunch of pictures. When she was done, she looked back through the digital shots in the viewfinder and printed one out on an enormous printer in the corner that looked more like a copy machine. Walking back toward her desk, she unzipped a leather carrying case on the floor, took something out of a folder, and came back to where I still sat on the stool.
She held up the picture she’d just taken with one hand, and I frowned. Jesus Christ. Do I really look like that? The best I could describe my expression is that it looked like someone had just told me they’d run over my dog and then forced me at gunpoint to smile. I was about to comment on the photo when she raised the one in her other hand.
The second photo wasn’t of my face, but I was certain it was me. Not because I’d spent countless hours studying my mouth and knew intimately what my teeth looked like, but because one glance at the smile on my face and I knew exactly what I’d been thinking in that moment. My mind had envisioned me lying flat on my back with her sitting on my face. Her pussy was practically smothering me, while my cock was down her throat. Yeah…I definitely remembered that smile. Swallowing, I looked up at her.
“This…” She shook the hand with photo sixty-nine back and forth. “I miss this, Matteo. This beautiful smile and the man who gave it to me so easily and often. You can’t leave…” She held up the other photo. “You can’t leave like this.”
We stared at each other for a long time. Eventually, I nodded. I was confused about a lot of things—how life could have thrown this curve ball our way, if I could ever be that guy to Brady. You know the one. We all have one in our circle of friends. He’s kind of on the outside perimeter, but nevertheless still part of the group. We’re all friends with him, yet we wouldn’t leave our girlfriend who’s had a little too much to drink alone with him either.
Yeah, that guy.
I wasn’t sure if I could be that guy. Though I also wasn’t sure how I could walk away and never look back at this woman again. So I was totally turned inside out right about now. But I knew I didn’t want to leave yet. Hazel and I might not wind up with a happily ever after. In fact, I was pretty certain that wouldn’t be the case. Still, I couldn’t end this story right here.
Not yet.
Not like this.
“So…can we spend some time together?” she asked hesitantly.
I raked my hand through my hair and blew out a deep breath. “Yeah. We need to be careful, though. I don’t want Brady to find out and screw things up for you, if…” I just couldn’t bring myself to finish the damn sentence.
Hazel smiled sadly. “You’re even thinking of me first when it comes to this.” She reached out and touched my cheek. “It takes a special heart to be able to do that. I hope you know that.”
Here she was telling me what a good heart I had, and just her simple touch on my cheek made me want to press her up against the wall and kiss the living shit out of her.
“Trust me.” I nuzzled into her cheek. “My heart isn’t thinking about my friend at this moment.”
The spark that had always been there between us began to burn inside of me again. Looking into Hazel’s eyes, I saw the change in her, too. Which meant I needed to get the hell out of here. My head wasn’t clear, and I didn’t want to fuck things up if I was going to stick around for a while.
I took her hand from my cheek and held it in mine. Squeezing, I said, “I should go.”