“What the—”
His bewildered-sounding voice stopped abruptly when someone shouted in the distance.
“Seth!”
“What?” Seth Hightower barked impatiently, his voice sounding as if it resounded from twenty or thirty feet away.
“I need you to take a look at this.”
Joy stood so abruptly, the chair she’d been sitting in rolled backward several feet. She met the man’s startled gaze.
She didn’t even know his name.
“He’ll be here any second,” she said. She immediately picked up her paints as the first wave of panic started to flow through her. He caught her wrist.
“Hold on. It’s going to be okay, Joy.”
She was mortified to realize tears had sprung to her eyes.
“No. No, it’s not.” Not for me, it’s not. He looked taken aback.
For a second or two, the silence swelled.
“Of course it is,” he said, smiling even though puzzlement shadowed what she could see of his features.
She swallowed and looked away from his smile. “I need to touch you up,” she said, realizing for the first time that her voice was hoarse from taking his cock so deep. Another wave of heat flooded her cheeks. She tried to move to gather her paints—to gather herself—but he continued to hold her wrist.
“Joy.”
She glanced up at him doubtfully, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
“Meet me later. After the shoot. Please?” he added when she just continued to stare in the vicinity of his collarbone.
“I . . . I don’t know what . . . why . . .”
“I understand,” he said quietly. He released her wrist and touched her cheek until she looked at him. “I’m not sure I know either. But I want to figure it out. Meet me at the statue? The studio statue? After this craziness is done? Just give me enough time to get out of this getup and shower, and I’ll be there. I just want to talk to you. Please, Joy.”
Something squeezed at her heart a little when he entreated her. In the distance, she heard her uncle’s voice as he approached.
“I haven’t got time right now. You’ll have to handle it,” Seth called out, as if he was walking away from whomever had interrupted him.
“Joy?” the stranger said sharply.
She looked into his clear aquamarine eyes and nodded once.
“Say it. Say you’ll be there.”
“I’ll be there,” she whispered.
* * *
Six hours later, she checked her watch yet again.
He wasn’t coming.
She should have known better than to come herself.
The photo shoot had been completed now for almost three hours. She’d kept herself busy in Seth’s studio during the shoot itself. Seth had returned after a while in order to oversee prosthetic removal. Joy had helped him, but she hadn’t caught sight of the man she’d promised to meet.
She’d been waiting by the United Studios statue of the seven muses for long enough. There was no way the man was still occupied. Not when almost everyone else on the set had long since showered and left. He’d stood her up, plain and simple.
Joy lowered her head and walked toward the gate. She didn’t need the muse’s somber stare to know it was time for her to leave the whimsy of fantasyland and deal with the reality of a harsh world.
Titles by Beth Kery
One Night of Passion series
Addicted to You
(writing as Bethany Kane)
One Night of Passion Specials
Bound to You
Captured by You
Berkley Heat titles
Sweet Restraint
Paradise Rules
Release
Explosive
Because You Are Mine
Part I: Because You Tempt Me
Part II: Because I Could Not Resist
Part III: Because You Haunt Me
Part IV: Because You Must Learn
Part V: Because I Said So
Part VI: Because You Torment Me
Part VII: Because I Need To
Part VIII: Because I Am Yours
Berkley Sensation titles
Wicked Burn
Daring Time