The Truce (London Suits 1)

“Noooo. This is Luke, my work colleague. He’s come along to see what goes on here. You can just pretend he’s not here.” She laughed again.

“But you promised us a man, and he’s so good-looking,” the girl argued, pouting and batting her eyelashes.

Payne rolled her eyes, sighing. “I didn’t promise anything. I said I’d see what I could do. I was actually planning to ask a friend of Luke’s to be our model.” She turned to me and mouthed, “Alex.”

“Wait a minute. What does this model thing involve?” Again, what was with my mouth today? It sounded almost like I was interested—

“See, he’s happy to do it,” the same girl said, arching an eyebrow at Payne.

“Aisha. Let me speak to Luke without you eavesdropping, please.” She inclined her head at me, and I followed her to the corner of the room. Waving at some more teens that had just entered the room, she turned to me, speaking in a low voice.

“First of all, I’m not trying to influence you either way. The decision is one hundred percent yours. Don’t let the girls sway you; they’re just taken in by your looks.” She blushed again but managed to hold eye contact with me this time. “All it really involves is sitting as still as possible for about half an hour while they do a sketch of you. I think I’d ask them to concentrate on your face, that way it makes it a bit less daunting for them, and you won’t have to hold your body in one position for ages.”

“Make him pose naked!” a high-pitched voice came from behind me, followed by the sound of uncontrollable giggling.

“Never going to happen,” Payne shot over my shoulder. She turned back to me, trying not to laugh. “Sorry. Ignore them.”

“I can do it. It sounds simple enough.”

“Are you sure?” She eyed me sceptically.

“Yes. Tell me where I need to go.”

“Okay, everyone.” Payne clapped her hands for attention, and seven sets of eyes turned to us. “This is Luke, and he’s kindly agreed to be our model for today. You’re going to be concentrating on drawing his face.” She cocked a brow at the three girls sitting to the left of the room, who I assumed were the ringleaders of the group. “Behave,” she mouthed to them, grinning. Moving closer to the gathered group, she continued. “As always, feel free to create your own interpretation. There’s no right or wrong way.” After handing out paper and pencils to everyone, she placed a chair in the centre of the room. “Luke? Could you sit here, please?”

I nodded and seated myself on the chair, stretching my legs out in front of me. She studied me for a moment, her lips pursed in thought.

“Hmm. Let me see…” she mused to herself. She placed her hands on my jaw, turning my head slightly. At her touch, a shiver went through me. Her thumb lightly traced across the stubble on the side of my jaw, only for a second, before she dropped her hands.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I needed to move your head into the right position.”

“It’s okay. You can manhandle me anytime you need to, Payne.” We stared into each other’s eyes, and her pupils grew huge.

“Is he your boyfriend?” someone shouted, and the spell was broken.

Payne took a giant step away from me. “No, he’s my work colleague. Okay, enough questions. Start drawing.” She hurried back to her table, and I heard the sound of a chair scraping, but I was unable to look in her direction since I had to attempt to keep my head in one position.

r /> Thirty minutes seems to last forever when you have to stay in one place, doing nothing. I’d never been so glad to hear Payne’s voice when she announced that our time was up. Groaning, I stretched, rolling my shoulders. I had a crick in my neck and the beginnings of a headache.

Payne wandered around each of the tables, giving the teenagers her undivided attention, making encouraging comments to them. They all responded in kind—it was clear that there was mutual respect and appreciation between them all. I watched the graceful way she moved, the way she cocked her head as she listened intently to whoever was speaking to her. I didn’t miss the little shy, sidewards glances she kept sending my way every now and then, either. Every time our eyes met, I felt a jolt of electricity.

When she’d finished speaking to the last girl, she came around to stand next to me, our arms almost touching. I was suddenly aware of her body heat and the faint vanilla scent that made me want to take a step closer. I stared at her lips, mesmerised, as they curved into a smile, directed at the gathered group.

“Thank you all for coming. I’m sorry I didn’t sketch anything today. Unfortunately, from my table I could only see the back of Luke’s head.” She looked around the room at everyone in turn. “Any questions before we leave?”

“You wanna play basketball?” a tall boy with close-cropped black hair asked me.

“Me? Now?”

“Yeah. Sports hall.”

“Uh, I guess so?” I turned to Payne. “Am I allowed to do that?”

“Course you are.” She smiled. “But only if you want to.”

“Why not. I haven’t played basketball for a long time, though, so I might be a bit rusty.”

The boy shrugged. “S’okay. I’m Omari. You can call me O. Let’s go.”