"It's really great to meet you," Jenna said as she stood up. "And that's not just because we totally want to hit you up for work."
Tyree laughed. "Way to blow the lead, Jenna. I haven't told her yet."
The petite redhead put her hands on her hips and scowled at him, so ferociously that Eva wouldn't lay odds against her. "You were in a car for almost an hour to the airport and back and you didn't think to mention what we wanted to talk about?" She shook her head, clearly exasperated. "Men."
"They only want you for your camera, Mom," Elena said, to which Tyree nodded. "Pretty much. I know that's all I want."
She bit back a laugh, then collapsed into a chair. "Okay, slow down. What's the deal?"
The deal, apparently, was that they needed images of the first five winners--the fifth contest was coming up fast--of the Man of the Month calendar contest to use in the actual calendar. "And promo shots for general advertising," Jenna said. "And then we'll need six through twelve, too, but if you can get the first set done that would be a huge load off. Plus we're doing a cookbook, so we're hoping to get some staged food shots, too."
"Don't forget Megan's idea," Reece said.
"Oh, right." Jenna turned back to Eva. "Megan's started working with me doing marketing, and she had this great idea that we'd start putting together postcards and flyers and social media posts of all the guys who are actually entered. You know, promoting the contest before it takes place. We're always at capacity, so I honestly didn't think about it, which is lame. But she's so right. It's a huge way to up exposure for the bar overall. But that's twelve shots we need every two weeks. So far, we've always had twelve entrants," she explained.
She looked at the other four. "I think that's it." When nobody corrected her, she turned to Eva. "Yeah, that's it. Any interest? Elena said she could take the pictures, but she also said you were a billion times better. And that you could clean up the images if they need it."
"I'm not sure about the billion, but I definitely have more experience. It's my job. It's her hobby. And as for taking it on, if it will help you out, then why not?"
"That's great," Tyree said, but she interrupted him by raising her hand.
"I just have one tiny condition."
They all looked at each other. "Shoot," Jenna said.
"I want him in the contest." She looked at Tyree with the most innocent smile she could conjure. Then she shifted her attention to Elena. "Don't you think so, sweetheart?"
Elena managed an equally stoic expression, although Eva could see the laughter dancing behind her eyes. "Oh, definitely."
"I mean, if I'm shooting the men who are going to be on the bar's advertising, I think the owner should be among them." She didn't bother asking if the others agreed; she could tell from their expressions they considered it a totally kickass idea.
"So?" she asked Tyree. "I guess it's up to you."
"Then I guess you're staying," he said. "And I guess I'll be strutting my stuff a week from Wednesday."
Chapter Thirteen
Tyree had expected Eva to take the portraits of the men inside The Fix, but that wasn't her plan. "I'll do that, of course. But I want to get to know the guys out in the world first. That'll inform how I want to position them in The Fix."
She told him she intended to shoot them at their work and then at a few locations around the city before scheduling the final shoot for the bar. "F
ortunately, all the winners so far are local, so we can take our time."
He couldn't argue with that, though he'd wanted her inside the bar and close by him. Wanted it bad enough, in fact, that he spent some time manipulating the schedule so that he could spend a few hours outside the bar when she did. Ostensibly so that he could represent The Fix if anyone came along from the local paper or a news feed. But the truth was that now that he'd persuaded her to stay a bit longer in Austin, he didn't want her out of his sight.
Initially, he'd told himself that having her stay was for Elena's benefit. But that, of course, was bullshit. He wanted her near. He wanted her close.
But that desire was a double-edged sword, because every night when he was alone, he felt the shadow. Because if he let Eva in, didn't that mean letting Teiko go?
Those rumblings haunted him in the dark, but they were easy enough to push aside during the day, and so he pushed them shamelessly. Tamped down the demons and joined her as she worked.
They went to KIKX, and Eva took dozens of shots of Nolan in his studio. For Reece, she photographed him doing renovations in his father's kitchen. And when she took Spencer's initial shots, they spent a few hours puttering around the old Drysdale Mansion, a fabulous property that Spencer and Brooke were working on--tailed by their ever-present camera crew--when they weren't jamming on the renovations at The Fix.
On the day she shot Cameron on the UT campus, he and Eva stayed behind after Cameron cut out to go meet Mina. They spent the next few hours chatting about Elena and San Diego and pretty much everything as they navigated the maze of buildings to reach the manicured grounds outside the LBJ Library on the University's eastern edge. Finally, they settled on the hill by the fountain, and Eva pointed her camera at him, even though he'd tossed his hands up as if to ward her off.
"Oh, no," she said. "I want some of you. Besides, you'll win next week. I might as well get ahead of the game."
"I might win," he agreed with a grin. "I mean, I am pretty awesome." He'd been lying on his back watching the sky, but now he rolled onto his side and propped his head up with his hands.