“But you want to be paid. And you should be. You will be.” He named a very generous price. “That is, if they’re usable.”
“They are. And the price is right, thank you.”
“Get with Jeffrey.” Jeffrey Walleghar was the art director and the photo editor. “He’ll give you the contract and see that you get the check.”
“I’ll do that.”
He looked her up and down again. He wore the strangest expression. It wasn’t a happy look. “You think you’ll be the next Ramón Esquevar now?” Was he angry, for some reason?
Or simply frustrated and yearning for something he couldn’t have? Just as she was.
She sat in the black club chair. “Dax, look. I know it doesn’t work like that. It takes years to get to Esquevar’s level. Most never get near that. And I’m good, but I’ll never be that good. I enjoy photography, but in terms of a job, I like the editorial side better.”
He leaned back, tossed his pen to the desk pad. “Are you reassuring me that I’m not going to lose you, is that it?”
“Yes. And I’m telling you that I don’t want to be a full-time professional photographer. I want to be an editor. Maybe someday, an editor-in-chief.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “I wouldn’t dream of getting ahead of myself.”
“Sure you would. Don’t.”
She wanted to ask him please not to be an ass, but that probably wouldn’t be appropriate. “I’ll have the pictures for you right away.”
“Ten minutes? And we can do the huddle then.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“Of course you will.”
She left him, put the pictures on a memory stick and brought them back to him along with her laptop, ready for the huddle. He took the stick and they had their huddle, which went pretty smoothly, all things considered. There was a lot to catch up on, but he’d made a good start on it the day before.
After the huddle, she spent the morning getting on top of his correspondence, fielding the constant calls, dealing with catering for the two big meetings they were having that afternoon. The hours zipped by.
Before she knew it, Lin was standing over her, waiting to go to lunch.
They went to the coffee shop down the street. They ordered and waited for the food to come. Once the waitress had served them and left them alone, Lin got down to it.
“Okay, what happened with Johnny?”
Zoe told the truth. “There never was a Johnny. I bought a big, fake ring to get everyone off my back about falling for Dax.”
Lin threw back her blue-streaked head and laughed out loud. “Oh, you are so bad.”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
“It absolutely did. So … you busted yourself to Dax while you were lost in the jungle?”
“Yeah. Under the circumstances, the whole pretense started seeming beyond silly, not to mention no longer necessary.”
“You and Dax had a thing, huh?”
Zoe kept a straight face. “What happens in the rainforest stays in the rainforest.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I’m giving you.”
Lin stuck her fork in her taco salad. “You are no fun at all, you know that? But still, I like you a lot and I’m glad you’re here, safe.”
“Me, too.”
“Plus, Dax is getting so he can’t function without you, so I guess it’s just as well that you didn’t fall hopelessly in love with him.”
Hopelessly in love with him. Was she?
Lin was shaking her head. “Uh-oh.”
She scowled. “What do you mean, uh-oh?”
“You should see your face.”
“Eat your taco salad.”
“You know what? You’re right. It’s time to change the subject. Your pictures are terrific. The feature is going to be a killer.”
“I’m excited about it.”
Lin forked up a big bite of salad, stuck it in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. “I’d still rather talk about you and Dax.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
When Zoe got back to her desk, Dax was in the first of his two afternoon meetings.
She went to work. There was no end of stuff to catch up on after almost two weeks away.
Dax reappeared at a little after three. “The pictures look good.”
She stopped typing and grinned up at him. “Told you so. I know you sent them to Lin. She said at lunch that she likes them, too.”
“I’m going to go on home now, see if I can finish the feature over the weekend.” Below the giant bandage on his forehead, his eyes were dark and deep as ever, his nose as handsomely hawkish, his mouth an invitation to sin. If they were still in the clearing, she would rise and wrap her arms around him and tell him that he was the sexiest man alive. “Zoe?” Suddenly, his voice was husky, temptingly rough. “Did you hear what I said?”
She blinked. “Uh, yeah. Every word. You’re going to finish the feature over the weekend.”
“Is there … something you’d like to speak with me about privately?” His gaze spoke of agreements—of the hundred and one delicious ways they might be broken.
“Oh. No. Not a thing.” She waved a hand, a gesture that failed to be as airy and unconcerned as she intended, mostly because she hit herself in the nose when she did it.
He grinned then.
Lin’s fateful words echoed. Hopelessly in love with him.
Pull yourself together, a voice of steel within insisted. Do it now.
She sat up straighter, pushed the keyboard a little out of the way and folded her arms on the desk pad. “You were saying?”
There was a moment. They gazed at each other and so much was said without a word being uttered.
When he actually spoke, he was all business once again. “Play dragon lady as much
