Exposure (17 page)

She strode into the living room. More
pictures. Of Aubrey, his parents, a couple she assumed to be his
sister and her husband.
Her.
The only one of him and Raven
together was a selfie she'd taken last year with his new phone. He
grinned over her shoulder at the camera, arm wrapped under hers and
hand over her collarbone.

Her heart tripped in her chest. Doubt edged,
even though the obvious was staring her in the face. Attraction was
one thing. Friendship another. This seemed like…more.

The floor creaked behind her. She turned to
find Noah leaning against the doorframe to the bedroom wearing a
pair of flannel pants and nothing else, arms crossed over his
chest.

It was criminal to be that attractive.

He studied her as if gauging her reaction.
After a moment, he swallowed and glanced at the pictures. "I
couldn't have any personal photos in Anchorage, in case he came
looking for me." He shrugged and pushed off the doorframe, closing
the distance. "But that's not what has your pulse tripping." He
skimmed his fingers over her throat, gaze watching the path. His
voice dipped lower when he spoke again. "What are you thinking? I'm
having a hard time figuring it out."

She released the breath she hadn't realized
she'd been holding. "There are a lot of me." She pointed to the
wall.

She immediately regretted the slip the
minute the words left her. She didn't want to know the reason.
Really, she didn't. Facing that, while everything else was
happening, was another complication she couldn't handle. Denial,
her old friend.

One corner of his mouth lifted, his eyes
softening. His thumb slid over her lower lip, releasing it from her
teeth. "You're an important part of my life. Why wouldn't I have
pictures of you?"

Well, when he put it that way. "And what
about the pictures in your bedroom?"

His grin was a weapon of mass destruction.
She'd swear it. "You're an important part of my fantasies, too."
His gaze raked over her face, sliding into photographer mode. "Pose
for me." When she tried to say no and back away, he hauled her
right back. "Pose for me, not Hoan."

"You're the same person."

A slight shake of his head told her just how
wrong she was. "No one will see them, if that's what you prefer.
I've wanted you in front of my camera from day one, Raven. Don't
deny me. Please."

God. How could she argue with that? "No one
will see them?"

"Just you and me." He stepped closer so that
their bodies brushed and shared heat. "You're too fucking beautiful
to share with the world anyway."

A gale force wind expelled from her lungs.
"Hell, you're smooth. No wonder women go all gooey around you."

Leaning in, he slid his mouth over hers and
spoke against her lips. "I'm honest. And there's only one woman in
this room. Pose for me."

Did her knees just go weak? Yes, yes they
did, damn it. "Okay."

T
hey woke late in
the morning and, though Noah wanted to burrow under the covers and
make love to Raven, Aubrey was no doubt anxious for them to come
down. He didn't get to see her near as often as he wanted and Skype
just wasn't the same.

Aubrey drilled Raven with questions while
they ate breakfast. Raven took them in stride, patiently answering
each one. He'd never seen her around kids, but she was a natural
with Aubrey. Afterward, they went to Aubrey's art room to color,
and he got a great shot of their heads huddled together working on
the same drawing. That one was going up on the wall before they
left.

He'd been anxious to get Raven alone for the
shots he wanted, but late light would be better for what he had in
mind. He sat back in the chair in Aubrey's room, listening to his
two best girls chat about stuff and smiling at how full his heart
was. Odd, that.

Finished with the picture, Aubrey held it
out for Raven. "To take home."

"For me? Really?" She grinned and swiped a
strand of strawberry blonde hair off Aubrey's cheek, the gesture
maternal. "I know just the place for it."

After they talked a few more minutes, Noah
stood. "How about a walk outside? The temperature is supposed to be
in the double digits today."

Aubrey bounced, tugging on Raven's sleeve.
"I can show you my tree house!"

"Lead the way."

They bundled into their gear and walked
across the front yard toward the woods. Jeff decided to join them
and fell into step next to Noah, with Aubrey and Raven several
paces ahead.

"They're getting along well."

He glanced at Aubrey's caretaker, noting the
lines on his face were deepening, a testament to how time marched
on. Ten years ago, Jeff didn't limp from arthritis. His dark hair
had thinned on top during the past decade, too, and was now more
gray than brown.

Returning his gaze to the girls, he smiled.
"Like old friends. It's a good sight."

"Aye." They walked silently a few paces, the
wind brisk off the mountain. "Does she know everything? Raven?
You've mentioned her often enough, but we were a little surprised
she came."

He nodded. "I told her last night. She knew
some of it beforehand." He stopped and turned to Jeff. "I trust her
with my life, with Aubrey's, or else she wouldn't be here."

Jeff raised a gloved hand. "Say no more. I
understand." He glanced at the girls, then around the land. "What's
your plan for when the trial is over?"

Blowing out a breath, he shook his head.
"Hell if I know. I keep waiting for McCannon to call and say they
let Rizzoli go on a misdemeanor. It hardly seems real."

He started walking again, uneasy that the
girls were getting so far ahead. The location was distant from
civilization and roads, but wildlife was still a factor. Bears,
lynx. Just as he thought it, an eagle flew overhead.

"Aubrey will need an adjustment period,"
Jeff said, head down against the wind.

"Yeah. We'll acclimate her slowly." She had
a private tutor and Skyped into a classroom via the public school
system for a few hours a day, but it wasn't the same as physically
being there. Aubrey hadn't even been shopping before. The risk of
her being seen was too great. "Will you and Frances stay on? We'll
bounce back and forth, I'm sure, but you're like family."

"You know we will. Whatever you need. We
love that kid an awful lot, Noah."

Thank God for the Brisbins. He wasn't a
praying man, but he didn't know what he would've done all these
years without the two of them to help raise Aubrey. "I tried my
best, Jeff," he said quietly. His poor niece had never known
friends, never known normal. "Doesn't seem like enough."

Jeff slapped him on the back. "Don't beat
yourself up too hard. You were just a kid yourself. She's healthy,
she's happy."

She's alive
.

They edged the tree line and he grinned.
Raven stood at the base of the tree house, gawking up at the
structure.

"I'll have you know, this is no tree house.
This is a Pinterest board."

He laughed. It was pretty fantastic. Around
the base of a thick spruce was a thin, winding staircase that led
to a small platform twenty feet up. The tree house was designed to
resemble a much smaller version of the main house and was held up
by four thick beams. All four walls had windows and insulation.

"Come on!" Aubrey shouted from the top. "Or
are you afraid?"

Raven grinned. "Funny. I'm not fond of
heights, but I can manage this."

As she took the first step, Noah ducked off
to the side, camera ready. Waiting until she rounded the first
curve and he could get both her and Aubrey, he held firm. He'd
waited hours sometimes for the perfect shot, often in the shittiest
of elements. This one was important.

And there it was. Raven looking up, her
small hand covered in a blue glove holding the railing, the
sapphire of her coat stark against the snow, and Aubrey looking
down at her in a pale pink coat, a grin the size of the Pacific.
Raven's dark to Aubrey's light. Color popping. Fucking perfect.

Jeff held out his hand. "Go stand over
there. Let me get one of you guys together."

Reluctant, he passed the camera and climbed
the steps. Standing between them on the small porch, he put his arm
around both of them and smiled. Didn't matter if the picture was
blurred to hell. That one was going above the mantle in the
den.

"Raven, Noah. Come down here. I'll bet you
don't have many pictures of you together. Noah's usually behind the
camera."

Noah thought about the one in his living
room, a selfie from his cell phone, and cringed. "He's right. Come
take a picture with me."

Grabbing her hand, they walked down the
steps, where he glanced around for a unique spot. A few feet away
was a fallen birch. Straddling the trunk, he patted the spot in
front of him. She mimicked his pose and sat between his legs.

"Stand on the trunk, Jeff, would you? Angle
the camera down."

"You're so bossy," she whispered, craning
her head to smile at him.

He dropped his forehead to hers, unable to
hide his own grin. "You usually don't mind."

Staring down at her, he forgot Aubrey, Jeff,
the camera, and his own name. The honey in her eyes was more
prevalent in this dusky light, her impossibly long lashes framing
them. Her cheeks were pink from the wind, her hair cascading over
her shoulders and back. She stole his breath sometimes. His chest
swelled, both painful and pleasant, as the sensation twisted.

"Got it," Jeff called.

Noah took the camera from him, no idea what
kind of pictures were taken while he'd been lost. He'd upload them
in his suite later.

Raven called Aubrey down from the tree
house. "I don't know about you, but I'm freezing. You wouldn't
happen to have hot chocolate up at your big, fancy house, would
you?"

"Of course we do." Aubrey rolled her eyes,
smiling as they walked ahead.

Raven bumped Aubrey's shoulder with hers.
Aubrey bumped back.

Without even thinking, he brought the camera
to his face and clicked the button several times. Lowering it, he
paused to watch them. A lump formed in his throat, one he couldn't
swallow past.

Jeff nodded and took off after them.

When Noah got back to the house, he went
straight for his suite, leaving the others to their hot chocolate.
Once in his office, he pulled the memory card and waited for the
pictures to upload. Just as he suspected, the shot of Raven and
Aubrey was spectacular. He printed two eight-by-tens, as well as
the one of them coloring. Scrolling through, the three of them Jeff
took wasn't half bad, so he set that one up to print as poster size
to mat and frame for the mantle.

He paused, rubbing a hand over his jaw.
Staring at him and Raven, that sensation from before crept back
into his chest. Jeff had taken three pictures. One with Noah's chin
on her shoulder from behind, her head down. Another with her face
turned to look at him. And the last with their faces close. They
both were grinning in all three, but something was different about
his expression in the last shot--right when he experienced the
pressure behind his ribs the first time.

He shook his head. Not the first time. He'd
had the feeling before, or something similar. Except each time he
felt the odd ache, it grew with each episode. He set the pictures
to print and leaned back.

As a friend, he'd loved her for years. As a
man, he'd desired her. Now that both worlds had collided, it was
messing with his head. He'd always been able to separate friendship
and desire before. There was a difference between loving someone
and being in love. So why did the love he felt for her go deeper,
shove stronger than two months prior? He wasn't capable of settling
down or striving at forever. Neither was she.

Rising, he went to his drafting desk. Losing
himself in measuring and cutting, he worked until he had mats for
the new pictures. From there, he sifted through his endless
collection of frames until he found the right ones. He decided on
black for the shot of Raven and Aubrey, a red pine for the three of
them, and a clear floating frame for the three pictures of him and
Raven. That one was particularly tricky and it took time to space
them evenly, to center on the glass, before applying the
backing.

He strode into the living room and scanned
the wall, deciding where to put it. He had plenty of space, but
adding these would clutter the current layout. He took down all the
pictures of Raven and hung them in his bedroom instead, then went
back and rearranged the living room wall so that he hung the new
frame in the center and the family ones around it. Satisfied, he
carried the others downstairs and aligned the picture Jeff had
taken to center the den mantle.

Finally, he let out a sigh and…The house was
dark. He quickly cast a glance at the clock and was shocked to find
it almost eight o'clock. Hell, he'd lost the whole day. Aubrey
usually went to bed at this time.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor
suites, picture in hand, he caught Raven's soft voice coming from
Aubrey's bedroom. He stopped in the hallway, hand poised over the
knob. Through the partially opened door, he could just make out
Aubrey in bed, with Raven sitting at her hip.

Aubrey laughed at whatever Raven said. "He's
always like that. Takes tons of pictures and then goes upstairs to
frame them right away. He's so impatient."

Raven breathed a laugh that drifted like
smoke. "Men can be very impatient. But I'm glad he was busy so we
could hang out."

"Me, too." Aubrey fell silent for a moment.
"He says I can maybe go visit him in Anchorage soon."

"That'll be fun. We can go shopping or grab
some lunch."

"Yeah, but…"

The sheets rustled on the bed. "But
what?"