I'll Never Stop, page 4
“What? No way. No way,” I repeated. No way was I going to strut my stuff for some pictures. It was great and all for a princess like Eliza, but not for me. Thanks, but no thanks.
That was when she told me that she wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t necessary. I believed her. I knew it probably took a lot for her to ask me, which also meant this charity was important to her too.
“Fine, whatever, I’ll help,” I told her.
“Yay,” she said, her voice ringing with happiness. “You have a package waiting for you.”
“What?”
“Open your front door. There’s a box, and inside is your outfit. I’ll have to meet you there since we’re already running late, and well, you know…time, money…that whole bit. So please come dressed already.”
“What the hell is going on?” I asked at her rapidly firing words. “What if I would have said no?”
“But you didn’t.”
“You were so sure about me, huh? Are you saying you think I’m hot enough to be a model?” I asked.
“Guess that means you just called me hot,” she tossed back.
“Touché. Alright, fine, I’ll meet you there, but be safe,” I said as I opened the door, and sure enough, a box was waiting for me. We hung up before I took it inside.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked out loud as I took out my “outfit.” Then I laughed. “What the hell did I get myself into?” I muttered as I changed my clothes, slipping a T-shirt and track shorts on top of my clothing for the shoot.
Twenty minutes later, I parked at the warehouse. I made it inside the building before I tossed my shirt and shorts aside.
I walked down the hallway toward the commotion and stepped through the door. With my hands on my hips, I spoke loudly to announce myself. “Alright, I’m here.”
And that was when I stopped short and so did everyone else as they stared at my Speedo-clad form. Yes, folks, I stood in the middle of a photo shoot in nothing but a Speedo as all eyes were on me.
It took me a few seconds to actually register what the hell was going on, but when I did, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to kill Eliza or be impressed by her. She was already in the middle of the photo shoot—fully dressed, I might add—with no need for a guy model from what I gathered. And everyone else…yeah, let’s just say they didn’t expect me at all, let alone almost naked.
After the initial shock, I found a few folks downright laughing, a few others trying desperately not to laugh, and even some straight-up ogling my body. Couldn’t blame them, right? But when my eyes finally met Eliza’s, a smug smile slowly formed on her lips before she winked. The princess just humiliated me, folks, and then she fucking winked.
Balls. The girl had balls, I’d give her that. I had to actually chuckle at the situation.
“Who the hell is that?” the photographer, a slightly older woman, asked at one point.
“My bodyguard,” Eliza said with a knowing smile. “He has a few issues,” she said, lowering her voice as if she were telling a secret, “but he gets the job done.”
I just shook my head before I turned to leave. If she thought a little scene like that would rile me up, she had another thing coming.
“Stop.” I turned to see the photographer looking directly at me. “You, come here.” I honestly didn’t know why, but I listened and made my way to her. “Oh yeah, this could definitely work,” she said as she examined me from head to toe. I’d never been a self-conscious man before, and the way this woman was eating my body up, I clearly had no reason to start. I glanced around the room quickly to more appreciative stares. I coudn’t lie, it did wonders for my ego, and I found myself standing a little straighter. When my eyes found Eliza’s again, she no longer looked as smug as she had before. In fact, she looked a little shell-shocked, a bit disappointed, and a whole lot ticked off. I kind of liked seeing that fire in her eyes.
“Alright, you, go there,” the photographer directed me toward Eliza.
“What?” we both asked at the same time.
“The point of these photos is to entice the bigwigs to attend the event and be prepared to spend money, right, kids?” she asked.
“Right,” Eliza responded.
“Well, honey, you are definitely enticing the men, and this guy right here will entice the women. Now, go. Hurry up,” she ordered, and I found myself smiling wider than I had in a long time. Eliza thought she would one-up me, but it turned out, the joke was on her.
“As you wish,” I said and walked toward a scowling Eliza.
“Alright, now, this won’t work if you are just two people standing next to each other. Hmm, let’s see, we need a story. Got it,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “Bodyguard—”
“Finn,” I said, interrupting her.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Finn, you’re the husband. You want to go for a swim, and you’re trying to convince your wife to join you. Oh, and the slogan will be ‘Don’t be afraid to jump in and help.’ I’m such a genius,” she said to herself. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
The next thing I knew, I was modeling, which was actually more difficult than I thought. The photographer, whose name I learned was Cindy and was one of the charity’s founders, kept yelling at me as she directed me where to go and what to do.
“Just relax,” Eliza finally said beside me after the thirtieth time Cindy almost threw something at me. “She’s one of the best there is, and this is her baby. She just wants it perfect. Just…imagine me as someone you want. And I’ll do the same.”
That was easy because I wanted Eliza. At least in bed.
So I grabbed her waist with one hand and used my other to slide a few fingers under her shirt. She gasped, and I had a feeling it wasn’t acting. I knew I wore a smug smile, but I didn’t give a damn.
“Oh, that’s it. Yeah, perfect,” Cindy said as I continued to look into Eliza’s eyes with desire burning in mine. One hand was now lowering her shirt off her shoulder, slowly, slowly. I saw her pupils dilate and heard her breath hitch. The princess wasn’t as immune to me as she’d like to think she was. She might have hated me, but her body didn’t.
“If you wanted to get me naked, princess, all you had to do was ask,” I whispered.
My words seemed to wake her up. “You’re an asshole,” she said, fire burning in her eyes.
“That may be, but I’m not the one who tried to humiliate you today,” I pointed out.
“Today,” she said, but I didn’t get the meaning.
“Too bad it backfired,” I replied.
“Figures it would,” she muttered, but we hadn’t moved away from each other. In fact, we’d somehow gotten closer.
“And that’s a wrap. Thanks for being a good sport, Finn,” Cindy said, and her words were like a bucket of ice water drenching us as we moved away from each other.
“I’m going to go find my clothes,” I announced.
“You do that,” Eliza said.
“Or don’t,” Cindy added.
I laughed at her words as I made my way to the back, where someone had collected my shirt and shorts.
Princess had a backbone and a little naughty streak too. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
Eliza
“HOW?” I ASKED my friends. “How?” I repeated. “How the heck does my plan to humiliate him work in his favor?”
“I think we need to hear this again,” Sam said, not even bothering to hide her smile.
After the shoot that went awry, we had a couple more stops, a trip to the agency, grabbed some food and scarfed it down between running around, and then I finally made it home.
And the entire day, I couldn’t help but picture Finn’s body. I could already tell he would have a body made for staring at, but without clothes? Damn…just damn. When I saw his stunned expression after he’d walked into the studio, I gave myself a mental high five. Finally, the great and almighty Finn had been knocked down a peg. He’d finally understand what it felt like to be laughed at, ridiculed, made fun of. And a few people did do that, but sadly, they were laughing more at the situation than at him. Finn, himself, got no laughs. Nope, the fucker got stares of appreciation from almost everyone there—girls, guys…even me. Shit. I hated to admit that.
After my initial glorious bit of smugness, my eyes had nowhere to go but to stare at Finn. And stare they did. My God, that boy was built. He had muscles on top of muscles. It wasn’t just his chest, abs, and that v. It was his thighs, his calves…he was a woman’s walking wet dream.
And bully for me, Cindy, photographer extraordinaire, saw what everyone else was seeing and then capitalized on it. And fucking Finn ran with it too.
Let’s not forget we were touching the entire time we posed for pictures. And since Finn had never modeled before, it took much longer than it would have with someone who knew what they were doing.
I wasn’t even sure if I pretended half the time when the warmth of his body caressed mine, his breath tickled my face, and those eyes penetrated mine. For that short window of time, I envisioned myself in an alternate universe, one where I’d gone to that dance and met Finn. He took me in his arms, and we danced the night away before he proclaimed his love. And here we were, a married couple, with him trying to convince me to “jump in.”
Wouldn’t that have been something?
I told myself I imagined that life so my hatred for Finn wouldn’t be obvious in the pictures, but deep down, I was a vulnerable teenage girl hoping her crush wouldn’t crush her.
Even our sparring didn’t stop my mind from picturing Finn as mine. I just pretended it was foreplay.
But Cindy telling us we were done…yeah, that brought out the reality of what was happening. I was too close to the guy I hated, the guy who broke my heart and didn’t freaking know it…or me.
Of course, the minute I made it home, I picked up my laptop, set it on the table, and video-called my two best friends.
“What’s there to repeat?” I asked Sam. “He walked in wearing the Speedo I had delivered to his house, and he didn’t even blink an eye. I don’t think he was embarrassed for a second. Maybe shocked but not embarrassed. And then he freaking wooed every woman in the room—and some men, I might add—before he hijacked my photo shoot.”
“How tight was the Speedo?” Anna asked.
“Seriously?” I responded.
“What?” she asked with an innocent shrug. “That actually makes a difference. Those babies usually don’t hide much, and if he was packing, he might not have had a reason to be embarrassed.”
“He didn’t have a reason to be embarrassed,” I muttered. Of course, the asshole was hung like a damn horse too. Finn was clearly a blessed man. Me? Not so much. “Why didn’t you think of that before you devised this plan?” I asked.
“I should have,” Anna agreed with a nod. “But honestly, I didn’t think that far ahead. I was just thinking like those bad dreams you have when you walk into a room in just your underwear.”
“Oh man, I’ve had those,” Sam said.
“Guys, come on, back on track, please. Can someone explain to me how Finn walks in wearing nothing but a Speedo and commands the room?”
“He was always like that in high school,” Sam said. “Whenever he walked into a place, he filled the space with his presence. Guess some things haven’t changed.”
“Not helping,” I pointed out.
“How were the pictures at least?” Sam asked. “This was all for charity, right?”
“The pictures came out great,” I admitted reluctantly. Cindy had shown me a couple of the shots while we waited for Finn to dress. He was one-hundred-percent made for the camera. And we apparently were fantastic at acting like we didn’t hate each other…more like we loved each other…well, once upon a time, I did. But not anymore.
“Oh?” Sam asked. “How’d that work with him in nothing while you were fully dressed?”
“Cindy had the idea that we were a couple, and he was convincing me to go swimming. It was actually pretty clever. ‘Don’t be afraid to jump in and help,’” I repeated the slogan.
“Wait, wait, wait, back up, you had to pretend to be in love with him?” Anna asked.
“Ironic, right?”
“Like touching and caressing and whatnot?”
“Exactly. His body brushed against mine the entire freaking time. Come on, Finn, put some clothes on already.”
“So at least something good came out of this. You’re hot, and Finn’s hot, so together, you are probably scorching. You’ll bring in a lot of money,” Sam said.
“Sam!” Anna chided her as I grumbled. Finn was hot, and Sam was right. But it sure didn’t feel good.
“At least there’s that,” I muttered.
“Back the fuck up,” Anna said. “Holy shit, Lizzy, you have the hots for him again.”
“Wait, what?” I sputtered.
“When you talked about his body brushing yours, your eyes sparkled.”
“No, they didn’t,” I countered. “It was a reflection from the camera.”
“‘Come on, Finn, put some clothes on already,’” she mimicked.
“You expect me to be happy when my enemy has his his naked body pressing against mine?”
“Admit it, you think he’s hot,” Anna said.
“Of course, he’s hot,” I told her without any hesitation. “He was always hot, and he’s still hot. That doesn’t change what he did to me, how he humiliated me and broke me down.”
“Good, remember that,” Anna said. “Remember that a pretty face doesn’t equate to a pretty heart. He’s an asshole, and he doesn’t deserve you. You can think he’s hot all you want, but don’t let lust drive your emotions. If he hurt you then, imagine what he can do to you now.”
“I won’t,” I told her, allowing myself to remember the pain I’d felt as a teen. “I won’t,” I repeated. “He’s the reason I need validation in my life.” I sighed. “He destroyed me. I hate him,” I said out loud. “And I’ll never stop.”
Finn
“HOW’S IT GOING?” Clark asked as I walked into his office.
I checked in with him routinely whenever I was on an assignment, unless I couldn’t. Aside from it being the protocol, sometimes I needed the distraction talking with Clark brought. First and foremost, he was my boss. But he was also one of my only friends. In other words, if I did something that hindered the job, I was shit out of luck professionally, but personally, he’d pat my back and tell me it was okay. Did you expect a hug or something? We were guys. We didn’t do that kind of shit.
I let out a snort as I sat down opposite him. He raised an eyebrow in response.
“She’s a real piece of work,” I told him.
“Who?”
“Eliza.”
He smiled knowingly. “Ah, so we’re going in that direction, huh? You know that’s not what I meant when I asked how things were, right? But hit me with it. How is she a real piece of work?”
“She’s rude, bossy, has an attitude, mouths off, oh, and did I mention that she hated me on sight?”
“What the hell did you do to her?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I told him.
“Finn, this is not a good start.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But what the hell can I do? I didn’t do anything. She took one look at me and decided she didn’t like what she saw.”
“Well, that’s a first.” Clark chuckled. “Bruised your precious little ego, huh?”
“Shut it,” I told him, but he was right.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
“Seriously, I don’t know. I walked in, she said, ‘No,’ and then ran out. Found out later she spoke to the execs about wanting me off the assignment, but we both know that’s not gonna happen. They told her as much, and she agreed. When she came back, she spat fire at me, and it’s been like that ever since.”
“Jesus, Finn. We can’t have her hating you.”
“I know, and I’ve tried to be nice, but damn if she doesn’t bring out the worst in me.”
“I don’t care what you have to do. Fix this.”
“I will.”
“Not I will. Do it now,” he said, his tone an order. See? When it came to work, our friendship got put on the back burner.
“She’s a firecracker, and I’m starting to realize it might be easier to let her burn out than try to put out the flames myself.”
“Whatever you have to do, Finn,” Clark repeated. “Don’t forget what your job is.”
“I haven’t,” I told him.
“Let me know if you need a reminder.”
“I’m good.” The truth was, aside from spending my days with Eliza, I hadn’t done much else. I knew I should have, but the little vixen kept my mind occupied, and I wasn’t thinking straight. Besides, it wasn’t easy to do the things I needed to get done. They took time.
“I guess you have no other news for me?” he asked.
“Unless you want a rundown of Eliza’s schedule, which includes a lunch with Dorian to discuss a charity event followed by a trip to the agency, then nope.”
“Good, good,” he said. “You’re going with her to everything, I presume.”
“Yep.”
“Try to be nice, yeah?” he said, and even though it sounded like a suggestion, we both knew it wasn’t.
“Hey, like I said, I wasn’t the one who threw a tantrum.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you work for her. She can throw as many fucking tantrums as she wants as long as you get your job done.”
“Aye aye.” I gave him a mock salute.
“Put your damn hand down.” He rolled his eyes. “Back to the point.”
“Which is?”
“This girl has got your panties in a twist.”
“What the hell are you talking about? She’s been nothing but a bitch to me.”
“Yet she was the first thing you led with when you walked through my door.”
“She’s hot,” I told him. “Hell, you’ve seen her. I’d have to be blind not to see it. But that’s about it.”
“Clearly, that’s not it. We live in LA, where beautiful women are a dime a dozen. What’s so special about her?”
