Kayla Perrin - Burning Desire

“Six foot six,” he told her.

“Oh, wow.” Realizing that her tone had been filled with awe, Sabrina frowned slightly. What was wrong with her? She felt flushed, and her heart was beating faster than normal. It had been a long time since just looking at a man had set her heart aflutter like this.

The pictures she had seen of him did him no justice. In person, there was a quality to him that radiated throughout the room. A charisma that made him instantly likable.

Glancing beyond Mason, she saw that Nya was standing in the doorway, a dreamy look on her face. Sabrina cleared her throat before speaking. “Nya, would you put the kettle on?” She faced Mason. “Would you like some tea, coffee, water? We also have a variety of juice.”

“Just a bottle of water, that’d be great.”

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” Nya asked. “I can run out and get some sweets from the bakery across the street, if you like...”

Sabrina widened her eyes as Mason turned to look at Nya, silently trying to tell her friend to take it easy.

“Just the water,” Mason told her.

And when he turned back to look at Sabrina, she felt a definite charge. Goodness, it wasn’t simply that he was good-looking. What Sabrina felt was undeniable attraction for this man.

She turned, walking toward the backdrop, determined to rid herself of whatever had taken over her being. “You brought your gear?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s in the reception area. I figured I would ask you how you want to do this first. You might want to take a couple of shots of me wearing this before I change.”

Mason was wearing jeans and a white cotton shirt that was unbuttoned down to his mid chest with the sleeves rolled up. There was an easy confidence to the way he walked, and Sabrina got the sense that he knew exactly how he affected women.

Sabrina could easily take photos of him in what he was wearing, and probably make a fortune selling them to GQ magazine. But this shoot was for the firefighter’s calendar, and that meant taking photos of him in his uniform. In full gear, partial gear and in his dress uniform. She would take a variety of pictures and decide which ones were best. But if he looked as good without his shirt on as she expected, she had a feeling that the best photos of Mason would be ones with him wearing only his fire retardant pants and suspenders. She was certain those would be a hit with the women.

“Actually, if you could show me what you brought, that would be great.” She spoke the words and knew that her voice sounded a little wispy. “We can decide from there what’s best for you to wear, but I definitely want you in your uniform.” She paused. “How do you feel about going shirtless?”

“I have no problem with it. I’m yours to do with as you please.”

Sabrina had to do everything in her power not to react with a sound of carnal lust. The suggestive nature of what he’d said had her coming undone.

Which was ridiculous. Obviously, his words hadn’t had any secret meaning. She had seen many attractive men before, photographed plenty of them. Why was she so flustered around this one?

“It’ll all be tasteful, of course. And as long as you look good with your shirt off, I’m sure the shots will come out great.” She smiled. “Oh, there’s Nya with your water. I’m not sure if I actually introduced you, but Nya is my personal assistant and also one of my best friends. So anything you need, feel free to ask her.”

Nya approached him with the bottle of water, her eyes wide, as though she were a deer caught in headlights.

“Thank you,” Mason said as he accepted the bottle of water.

As he took it in his left hand, Sabrina surreptitiously checked out his ring finger. It was bare.

Nya continued to stare, and Mason gave her an odd look. “I—I’m sorry that I’m staring. It’s just that I don’t see men like you coming into the studio.”

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “Forgive my assistant—”

“It’s just that you’re so tall.”

“Six foot six.”

“And you went into firefighting instead of basketball?” Nya shook her head, as though she couldn’t understand what he had been thinking.

“Nya,” Sabrina said. “Can you please call back the Johnsons to make sure they got my message about changing their appointment time?”

“Of course,” she said. Then, to Mason, “You’re sure I can’t get you anything else?”

“We’re fine,” Sabrina said, her tone firm.

“Okay. Well, you know where I am if you need me.” Nya’s smile was syrupy as she stepped backward out of the studio, before finally turning and heading toward the front office.

“All right.” She faced Mason again. “If you’d put on your entire outfit, helmet and all, that would be good.” She figured it would be best to start with him in his full uniform, and then he could take off the layers, as she deemed necessary.

“Sounds good. Where should I get changed?”

“When you go back out to the front, you’re going to see a door on your left. That’s the washroom. Feel free to get changed in there. Or, if you need more space, I can let you get changed in here and I can wait out front until you’re ready. Whichever works best for you.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

As Mason headed out of the studio, Sabrina couldn’t help eyeing his long, muscular frame.

She then mentally reprimanded herself for being so distracted by the man’s good looks and made her way over to her Canon 5D. She checked to make sure that the battery was full, which she knew it was. However, she had others in the room charged and ready to go if that one lost power. Then she went to her camera bag and verified that all of the accessories she would need for their trip to the beach were indeed there.

When Mason came back into the studio dressed in his fireman’s uniform, Sabrina felt the same bodily reaction toward him as she had earlier. Obviously, it had been way too long since she had been involved with anyone. But he was definitely not her type, so her pull of attraction toward him made no sense.

He took a step toward her, and her pulse sped up. Okay, so she was lying to herself. The man was definitely her type. In terms of the kind of man that turned her on, Mason may as well be pictured in the dictionary. But he was also the kind of man who turned on lots of women, and Sabrina was wise enough to know that that kind of guy was dangerous to a girl’s heart.

Her heart in particular.

She’d dated the kind of man that everyone liked back in college, and had ended up heartbroken because of it. She had long since vowed never to date someone that every woman had to stop and gawk at ever again.

“What do you think?” he asked.

That was a loaded question. She thought he was smoking hot. He would look—at least for the calendar—like the hero he was. A man in uniform here to rescue the damsel in distress.

“Looks great.” She averted her eyes. “Why don’t you come up in front of the canvas? I like this one, and I’ve got plenty more that we can try, as well. Let’s start with some shots of you in your full uniform like this, and then we can go to shots where you take off the upper portion. You know, give the ladies what they want.”

Mason’s smile was enigmatic. And, if she wasn’t mistaken, it was a smile just for her.

Again looking away from him, she first closed the door to the studio for privacy, and then headed toward her camera. He walked past her and stood in front of the wall where the canvas was set up. Sabrina looked through the lens of her Canon, getting a sense of how she wanted the photo to be framed. She manually zoomed the lens out to see his entire body, and then half pressed the shutter release button to focus the shot. Easing her head back, she eyed the lights that she had set up on either side of the room, satisfied that they needed no adjustments. She snapped off a test shot, and looked at the viewfinder to see how she liked it.