Exposure (10 page)

I pull off my slacks and make sure the
water is steaming before stepping in. I groan when the burning hot
jet engulfs me, and my mind jumps to Evan. Of the way she bought
into the charade as soon as I began to touch her. The way she
moaned my name. How soaked her panties were.

I take hold of my cock and begin to
stroke. In a matter of moments I finally have my release. But even
after I’m finished, I can’t get my mind off of her.

But that’s normal. Even when I’m in
love, it’s normal to feel this way about a beautiful girl like
Evan, right?

She’s just a fantasy. Like if I were
to go rent a porno right now while Tricia’s gone and watch it by
myself. All guys do shit like that.

It’s just my dick that’s making me
feel this way about Evan Cosette. It has to be.

Chapter Seven

Evan

I arch my back off my bed, fingers
working furiously at my clit until I feel my third orgasm of the
night wash over me. Coming down from my high, I take deep gulps of
air and wait to feel satisfied, but satisfaction never
comes.

I groan and flip over to my stomach,
burying my head beneath my pillow as I wait for my heart to stop
hammering in my chest.

It’s normal for any girl to be this
turned on by a gorgeous model. Especially a girl who has sworn off
guys for a year.

For a whole year, it’s been me and my
fingers. Sometimes a vibrator when I feel like using one. I keep
telling myself that it’s less emotionally straining than a real
live man in my bed, but now I’m starting to question that
statement.

I haven’t wanted anyone this bad in a
damn long time.

But that’s because you dry
hump him for work, dipshit
.

It’s true. It isn’t Dallas Whitley
that is turning me on. It is the generic male presence after being
so chaste for so long.

It has to be. I can’t be feeling
things for Dallas. He’s in grad school in my department and is my
coworker. He’s too close to everything important in my life.
Everything keeping me afloat.

And he has a girlfriend. I can’t be
feeing anything for Dallas because he has a girlfriend.

^^^^

The next morning, things are in
serious production mode in the studio. I make my banana protein
shake and head over there in my pjs, sitting in the corner as
Britain organizes teams of writers, graphic designers, the guy who
does our page layout—hell, even the web designer is here. It’s so
loud in the studio living room that everyone’s yelling just to be
heard, but even in the chaos, Britain still has a huge smile on her
face.

She’s gotten pre-production down to a
science, that girl. The formatting and layout of the magazine are
usually done in one work day, tops. Our rapid momentum is why we’re
capable of being bimonthly—well, that and our readers are willing
to buy two issues a month. It seems like they can’t quite ever get
their skin fix, which works in our favor.

Britain walks over and sits next to
me, resting her head on my shoulder.

“
You’ve been working
really hard on this issue,” I say.

She sighs. “Thanks for noticing, Evan.
I need people like you in my life.”

I smile. My favorite thing about
Britain and me is that we can be snarky to each other during shoots
to let off steam, but that doesn’t ever put a dent in our
friendship. Unconventional, yes, but it’s been working out for
us.

“
Evan—your shoot with
Dallas. Jesus, it’s like the two of you are made to pose together.
I mean, even though Adam’s and Delilah’s shoots are more risqué,
the two of you are making me really hot and bothered.”

I snort. “That’s kind of
disturbing.”

“
I’m sorry, it’s the
truth. Once you forget I’m there, you guys have crazy
chemistry.”

“
Well, that’s good. At
least Dallas is doing what you hired him for.”

“
You like him?” she
asks.

“
Dallas? Well yeah, sure.
He knows what he’s doing.”

She giggles. “That’s not what I meant,
Evan.”

Oh. She’s asking if
I
like him
, like
him, as if we’re in high school and we’re talking about the cute
band kid with braces. Good grief.

Before I can say anything, one of the
writers calls her over to ask her a question, and I’m left alone. I
get the hell out of the studio.

Having the pool shoot and
the desk shoot under our belts, Dallas and I are set for a while in
terms of modeling. Britain wants to debut us with the desk shoot
and use the pool shoot for the next issue, when
Rylan
has some fun time with her
professor in the gym shower.

Seriously—these shoots are so corny, I
won’t be surprised if they flop. If they did flop, I guess Britain
would have to fire the boys.

An odd pang of disappointment settles
in the pit of my stomach, but it’s quickly replaced by anxiety as I
head out toward the mailbox. I haven’t received any letters
regarding acceptance from any of the schools that I applied to for
grad programs. Something tells me that news is right around the
corner.

I open the mailbox only to have
disappointment return to me. Nothing but advertisements and junk
mail.

I chuck the papers in the trashcan and
return to my room, where I spend the rest of the day studying for
my biology test tonight. Dallas pointed me in the right direction,
and with his guidance, hopefully I will only study what’s needed
for the test. Hopefully, he won’t be screwing me over.

An hour before class, Mom
texts me.
So, this weekend… u
busy?

I sigh. I can’t avoid her
any longer. I hit the reply button.
Sure.
I’ll come see your new place.

Dallas

Being a graduate intern means that
mostly, you get to do a bunch of bitch work.

One of my peers and I distribute exams
to the two-hundred undergrads in the lecture hall. Test A, test B,
test C, test D. We make sure no two people sitting next to each
other have the same letter.

Evan sits at the very back of the
hall. She smiles at me when I hand her the test. I want to mouth
‘good luck’ to her but I know how weird she is about people seeing
us interact, and I want to respect that.

The next two hours are spend being the
asshole who walks up and down the aisles, watching all of the
students like hawks to make sure no one is cheating. A couple of
times I catch Evan’s eye. She bites her lower lip to hide a grin
and glances back down at her test. God… I don’t want to know how
many guys she’s won over with that move.

It’s nine-pm when all of the tests are
finally in. I’m on my way to the office to begin the grading
marathon when I pass Evan in the hall. To my surprise, she looks to
her right and left to make sure that we’re alone, and then leans up
against the wall. “Hey.”

“
How do you think you
did?” I ask.

The corners of her lips perk up.
“Nailed it,” she says. “I think I might need you to tutor me every
week.”

Even though her makeup-less face,
glasses, and sweats make her look young enough to be a teenager,
she still has this wise aura about her.

“
What about this weekend?”
I offer. “We’re done…” I glance around. “We’re done shooting. I
wouldn’t mind getting out of town for a bit.”

She frowns and pushes up her glasses
with her fingertip. “I have to go visit my mom this
weekend.”

“
Where does your mom
live?”

“
Chico.”

“
Oh, ok. It’s nice
there.”

She cocks her head, sly grin find her
lips. “Are you hinting that you want to come with me to my
mom’s?”

“
I didn’t think I was
hinting at anything, but if you’re looking for company….” Tricia’s
going on a weekend trip to visit one of her clients anyway. It’s
not like I’d be doing much, other than homework.”

“
You really want to come?”
she asks, and then shrugs. “Well, I guess that would work well for
me. If I have a guest, Mom won’t pressure me into staying longer
than a day. There’s a great coffee shop downtown.”

“
Sounds like a plan.” I
sigh, and scratch my head with the one not holding all the tests.
“So, the issue goes into production this week.”

She nods. “Britain’s really excited
about it.” She cocks her head. “You nervous?” Her eyes sparkle with
this adorable curiosity.

Before I can respond, though, voices
come from down the hall. It’s the other grad students that are
going to help grade the test tonight.

Evan pulls her books tight against her
chest and pushes up her glasses one last time. “Talk to you later,
Dallas,” she says, and before I can tell her goodnight, she’s
already made her way down the hall and out of sight.

^^^^

I’m about to send Evan’s Scantron
through the machine when Brad, another graduate intern, says, “So
Dallas, you gotta let me know if the rumors are true.”

I glance up at him. Brad and the three
other interns are staring at me. All of them wear wicked
grins—except for Abby, the girl of the group, who just rolls her
eyes.

“
What rumors?” I ask
nonchalantly, and slide Evan’s Scantron into the
machine.

“
The ones about you
getting to fuck those EPE girls on camera.”

The machine spits out the Scantron.
She missed three. Evan got a 97 percent on the multiple choice part
of the exam.

“
I’m not fucking anyone on
camera, Brad,” I say. “Don’t know where you heard that, but your
source is wrong.”

My answer doesn’t satisfy
him. “But you
are
modeling for EPE, right?”

I flip open Evan’s test and pull the
answer key toward me, avoiding eye contact with Brad. “I am. What’s
it to you?”

“
Fuck, dude. You are like
the luckiest motherfucker alive. What I wouldn’t give to be able to
dry hump those bitches. That Rylan chick has such a sweet ass I’d
like to—”

“
I swear to God, Brad,
shut up before I beat the living shit out of you.”

I’m not really a violent person. But
fuckheads like Brad make me snap.

He holds his hands up. “Whoa, Bro.
Chill. I’m just kidding around.”

No you
aren’t
, I think. I look down, realizing
I’m crumpling Evan’s test in my clenched hands. I smooth it out,
take a few deep breaths, and start grading.

This girl isn’t just some eye-candy or
fuck meat for assholes like Brad. She’s brilliant. And I realize
how brilliant she is when I finish grading all of her complicated
drawings of proteins and cells—stuff that, even though I did give
her direction on what she needed to study, she’d only know if she
were really dedicated to her work.

Ninety-five. Evan got a
ninety-five.

When I finish grading my portion, I
say nothing and leave the office, knowing that anything out of my
mouth would be threateningly confrontational.

I don’t realize that Abby is following
me until I’m almost to my car in the parking lot.

“
That was a really awesome
thing you did,” she says.

“
What’s that?”

“
Standing up for those
models.” She scuffs her feet. Abby is the kind of girl who’s
painfully nerdy. I’m not sure I’ve even heard her speak before
now.

“
They’re not just models
to me,” I say honestly. “They’re my friends too. Of course I’m
going to stand up for them.”

“
It’s really cool to hear
you say that,” she says excitedly. “Can’t wait for the next
issue.”

I take a step back. This chick—an EPE
subscriber? I wouldn’t have guessed in a billion years.

“
You get to pose with
Rylan Willow?” she asks.

“
Yeah, I do.”

“
She’s my favorite. You’re
a lucky guy.”

I smile, opening my car door. I guess
I am.

^^^^

The living room is dark when I get
home, but I can see that, down the hall, the bedroom light is on. I
throw my keys on the dining table and set my stack of papers on the
couch, undressing as I make my way back to the bedroom. I freeze in
undoing my tie when I see Tricia sprawled across the bed in nothing
but a pair of black panties. She stretches her arms above her head
and says, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

About damn time.

“
What’s the occasion?” I
ask, unbuckling my belt.

She arches her back, splaying her
slender legs. “I’ve been evasive lately, and since I’m going to be
gone this weekend and then leaving for a week next month, thought
I’d give you a little treat.”

When my clothes are off, I climb onto
the bed and lie on my back. Just seeing her for the first time in a
long time trying to turn me on instead of the opposite way around
is enough to get me hard immediately.