I shot him a cynical look. There was a bit of manoeuvring with the set, and I went to stand next to my boss, silent and awaiting further instructions.

“Oliver,” said Bradley, “go sit on the chair. Alexis, I want you on his lap. Act natural. Try to give me that vibe you both had earlier when you didn’t realise I was taking pictures. I want you to seem like a real couple. Completely in love. Got it?”

Whoa, eh, okay. I was in love with the man’s abs, if that helped. King strode over to the chair like he owned the room and sat down before his eyes found mine. Those eyes were commanding, their icy colour catching the light as it shone through the window. They were far too welcoming, those eyes, and I got the feeling he was going to enjoy this. He was going to enjoy it a lot. Mustering my trusty false confidence, I walked to the chair and tentatively lowered myself onto his lap. My hands instinctively went to his shoulders for balance, and his hand grazed my hip.

Our eyes met, and I sucked in a breath. I was up close and personal with Oliver King’s face yet again, and I couldn’t look away.

“Hi,” I said, trying my best not to sound awkward.

He gave me a smile that lit up his eyes. “Hey.”

“Are you regretting coming with me now?” I asked, voice quiet. Bradley had already started taking pictures.

King brought his mouth over my ear. “Never. It’s the best idea I’ve had in ages.”

I swallowed and looked down, my lashes shading my eyes. Unfortunately, looking down also meant looking at King’s abs, and now I couldn’t look away.

“That’s perfect. I love it. You two are doing brilliantly,” Bradley encouraged us. He was close, but he sounded far off. King had captured all of my attention.

“Oliver, bring your hands up to Lexie’s shoulder blades. Lexie, can you move so that you’re straddling him? I’ve gotten plenty of you side-saddle for now.”

I sputtered a laugh. Side saddle? Really? Letting out a tiny sigh, I moved my legs so that I was straddling him and felt a small breath whoosh out. When my gaze went to his throat, I saw him swallow. Was he having just as much of a hard time with this as I was? I was painfully aware of my ever-hardening nipples and how easily King would see them through the thin bra and white vest I was wearing. Bradley had told me to lose the shirt, so I didn’t have any coverage. Thankfully though, King’s attention was locked on me, alternating between my eyes and my lips. A minute or two passed as Bradley continued to provide us with directions.

“Place your hand on her face, Oliver. I want lots of eye contact.”

King didn’t hesitate for a moment, his hand gently cupping my cheek. The heat of his palm sent a tingle shooting right between my legs. I tried looking anywhere other than his face until Bradley gave me hell.

“It doesn’t work unless you’re looking back at him, Lexie.”

No other choice left, I lifted my gaze. My eyes met King’s, and his deep stare held me captive. One of my knees was hurting a little as I held up my weight. I adjusted myself so that King was taking some of it, and that’s when I felt him.

He was hard.

I gasped quietly, but King was the only one to hear. I didn’t know what to say. I mean, how would a lesbian react to having a penis hardening against her? Maybe she wouldn’t care. The problem was, I did care, and though I tried my best to ignore it, my traitorous body had other ideas. The spot between my thighs ached, and involuntarily my torso moved by the tiniest fraction. Delightfully exquisite pressure ensued. God, that felt good. And then I was wet. So wet.

King didn’t fail to notice. His brow furrowed, his gaze searching, as I tried my best not to let him see the turmoil raging inside me. It felt like an eternity had passed, a million questions in his eyes that I didn’t know how to answer. Then those eyes left me, and I felt a flicker of relief. It didn’t last long, because when I saw where his attention had moved, my heart wanted to beat its way out of my chest. He was staring at my nipples, my nipples that were practically as hard as his cock.

He moved closer, his lips at my ear again, as I felt every muscle in his body go taut. His words were lethal. They held equal parts anger, triumph, and satisfaction when he whispered, “I fucking knew it.”

Nine

Subtly, he moved his hips, his hard-on lightly pushing against me as he let out the tiniest masculine grunt. He felt heavenly, and for a moment I forgot that even though I hadn’t breathed a word, my body had betrayed me.

The cat was very much out of the bag…or should I say, the fake lesbian was out of the closet.

“Oh, this is fabulous! Okay, both of you get up. I want some shots of you standing by the window. Oliver, you go behind Lexie. Put your arms around her and, I don’t know, nuzzle her ear or something.”

First of all, was he shitting me?

And second of all, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience when I moved to get off King. Just before he let me go, he clutched my wrist, giving it a hard squeeze that said, This isn’t over.

I walked to the window, sensing him follow directly behind. I felt like a small animal being preyed upon by an expert hunter. He’d caught me out, and I was under no illusions that he was going to make this easy for me.

But still, he was my boss. He shouldn’t have been acting the way he was acting. Even though we weren’t in the workplace right now, I needed to remind him of that. A moment later King’s heat was on me again, this time as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. And oh, my God, in spite of everything, it felt so good to be held.

“You’re attracted to me,” he whispered with a touch of curiosity.

I huffed out a breath. “Can we talk about this later?”

“You’re not gay, are you? You know I value honesty, so why would you lie?”

I felt the tip of his nose against the back of my ear, nuzzling me just like Bradley had asked him to do. My breathing stuttered; my heart hammered. Wow. His hand moved to my belly, fingers just barely slipping under the hem of my vest. I had tingles everywhere.

“I wasn’t intentionally trying to be dishonest with you. It was supposed to be a joke, but then you thought I was serious, and it kind of got out of control. I didn’t know how to take it back.”

His hand moved a fraction further, his fingers digging hard into the soft part of my lower belly. “You take it back like this: I lied, King. In fact, not only am I not a lesbian, but I also think you’re hot.”

“C-cocky much?” My words came out weird and choppy.

He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was grinning.

“Okay,” said Bradley. “Turn around, Lexie. Put your arms around Oliver’s neck and stare up at him. Make me believe you’re infatuated.”

Oh, jeez.

As I turned, my breasts brushed King’s torso, and I heard his breathing deepen. How on earth did professional models do this every day? Perhaps I was just more sexed up than the average person, because every single touch got my mind racing to dirty, forbidden places.

I reached up, slid my arms around his neck, and hooked my fingers together. My chest was flush with his, but this way I couldn’t quite tell if he still had an erection. Perhaps that was for the best.

“You really had me believing you for a while,” he said quietly.

“Are you mad?” I asked, desperate to know.

“A little bit. I thought we were friends.”

“We were. We are.”

“Then why lie?”

“Because I wanted to keep it that way.”

Understanding lit in King’s eyes, his expression softening as his mouth firmed. “I see.”

He went quiet then, and he didn’t say anything more for the rest of the shoot. The other models were called back from their break, and I was still needed for a few more group pictures. I swear I was sick to death of smiling and pretending to be “having fun with the girls” by the end of it. When Bradley called a wrap, I went to change back into my own clothes. As it happened, I wasn’t allowed to keep the ones I’d worn during the shoot.