Between Heats (Downtown Aquatics Book 1) (3 page)

What in the world did
she just do?

That was the last time she was going to let her instincts take
over. What ever happened to better judgment?
To
professionalism?
What would her family think? They would have collective
heart attacks if they found out, even her easygoing older sister. She sneaked a
peek at him because she couldn’t quite look at him straight in the eyes.

Goodbye, Merman Hyde.

Hello, Hotshot.

This time when the shoot began and Madison stepped into Aaron's
arms, everything seemed much more relaxed. The corners of Aaron's mouth would
curl up as if he couldn't keep from smiling, and the gesture, coupled with his
strong determination to project a more serious face, resulted in a really
handsome smirk. His hand rested possessively around her waist and when Madison
was asked to put his arms around him, she couldn't help but notice how perfectly
they fit.

She couldn't help notice that when she had taken him in her
hands earlier, too.

Madison was torn between wanting to grin right back and wanting
to roll her eyes whenever their gazes locked. She wanted to drag him back into
his dressing room and tell him to get it together, before kissing him
senseless. But it didn't seem as if anyone around them was complaining. If
anything, the photographer was calling out praises. She kept hearing how they
had great chemistry all along. Their poses had gotten sexier fast. And it
wasn't even supposed to be an intimate shoot! The peg was just sexy sportswear,
which was why Madison couldn't understand why every pose, every shot, every
outfit change was getting her all hot and bothered.

Scratch that. She could very well understand.

Their last pose for the day had him in swimming tights, with
her in a
racerback
suit standing behind him. They
were supposed to be just looking at each other, with minute variations on where
their hands should be or how much profile they should show. "Are you
joining the shoot tomorrow? The one at the pool?" Aaron asked while the
photographer was finishing the set-up.

"Yes, but Anna and Lakeisha will be doing all the
underwater shots," she replied. "I'm not that very good at
swimming."

He looked surprised. "I could teach you."

"Look, Harding, what happened earlier…" She tried not
to blush. "Don't get any ideas, okay?"

Aaron's brow crinkled then understanding slowly dawned on his
face. "What do you—
Oh.
I get it. You're
saying you only did it to keep the job."

"Yes… no… that's not what I meant!" Madison
protested. "I meant we don't have to take things from professional to
personal, if you don't want to."

His reply was to clench his jaw and look beyond her. Madison
sighed. "You're doing it again. You're stiffening up."

"Don't tell me what to do. You're not my girlfriend."

She looked up at him in alarm. "Do you have a
girlfriend?"

He snorted at her, with that sexy smirk he had recently
acquired on his lips. "We don't have to take things from professional to
personal, Miss Thomas," he sniped her words back at her.

Madison wanted to retort but the photographer was already
calling for the shoot to start. "Aaron, we want you to be looking down at
her—"

And so it began again. Madison's breath grew tighter. Damn this
man. He was making her want to lose control but there was still a job to do.
Last pose,
she kept reminding herself.
Last shoot. You won't have to see him or
look at his face or have to explain yourself... until tomorrow.

Yeah, tomorrow where she'd have to see him and look at his face
while he was in a pool with another model.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Madison asked again, when
the photographer called for a few minutes to show the client the last frames.
They still had to stand at their marks but at least they could relax a bit.
Madison tried not to look at his lean body but she had to reason out that if
she looked anywhere else, she'd lose her mark. "And I'm asking purely out
of professional interest."

"No," Aaron said abruptly. "But you better
define what sort of professional interest involves asking after my
relationships."

Madison was very interested in a spot on his smooth chest.
"Just wondering if someone will get jealous when these photos come
out."

He gave her a lazy grin. "No," he assured her.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He muttered something underneath his
breath, something that sounded like, "Lucky bastard."

Madison remembered the dressing room and how she went down on
him. Of course he'd be interested to know if she had someone else to practice
on. She felt herself blushing. "No. I don't have a boyfriend," she
added.

Not technically, anyway.

"Okay, kids, I think we have it. That's a wrap," the
photographer declared. "Thank you for the hard work. You guys knocked it
out of the park. If it were anyone but you two, I think we'd have been here
longer."

Madison thought it was nice for the photographer to say so,
even after their disastrous start. She hoped she had impressed the clients
enough. She thanked him and turned to leave, but Aaron was quick to grab her
wrist. "What are you doing tonight?" he demanded.

Madison's jaw dropped. "Are you asking me
for—?"

"Dinner," he answered, his gray eyes leveled at her.
"Dinner and dessert afterwards. I want to thank you."

"Done. No need. Y-You're welcome," Madison stammered.

"I want to get to know you," he forged on, and for
the first time since that afternoon, she glanced the boy-next-door persona that
everyone seemed to go nuts over. "You. Not the model. No strings attached,
no
sexpectations
, no—"

"You said sex!"

"I did not!"

"You're already thinking it!"

Aaron scowled. "I'm trying not to, but you're making it
damn impossible!"

Madison crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, let me lay
down the rules. No strings attached. No
ex
pectations.
Just two people having dinner and talking.
Okay?"

Aaron nodded. "That's what I want to say." He spread
his hands in front of him. "I'm not a bad guy, Miss Thomas. I'm not used
to all of this. I'm just a swimmer. And I just so happen to like you."

Those gray eyes of him looked so intense that Madison could
feel herself melting. "All right," she agreed softly. "Dinner
tonight."

This time, his smile broke out unhindered. "Great. I'll
just go get changed," he said, nearly tripping over his own feet in haste.
Hell, why was he so handsome?
And damn adorable?
Madison closed her eyes and sighed. She had so many things to think about.
Getting involved with Aaron Harding was going to be trouble.

Then she remembered the way he looked at her, like she was the
most beautiful girl in the world, how his body tightened from just a touch, how
they seemed to want so much more after that.

And she knew it was going to be worth every minute.

She checked her phone. There was a notification for a
Facebook tag from her sister, a few likes for an
Instagram
photo she posted last night. And then there was a missed call from Sean, but no
message. She ignored it and stuffed the phone deep into her bag. If it were
important, he would call again, but she knew why he was calling and tried to
put it out of her mind. Sean was a complication she didn’t need right now.
Instead she said goodbye to Elliott, who seemed surprised when she told him
with whom she was riding.

Aaron's car was a modest one—neat and comfortable, but
bigger and roomier than her Toyota. He walked over to open her door and Madison
murmured some shy thanks. As he tossed his bag into the backseat and walked
over to the driver's side, Madison took a deep breath and wondered for the nth
time if this was a good idea.

She was in a car with Aaron Harding—a guy she had just
met and jacked off, all in the same day. Wrong. This was all wrong.

She stretched her legs and hit something on the floor. Bending
over, she picked up a half-open make-up kit. Either he had been lying about
that girlfriend or he had tendencies that ran counterpart to what she had
expected. Or, she realized, maybe he didn't have an exclusive girlfriend but
dated around. He was an athlete, after all.
An Olympian, for
crying out loud.
He had girls throwing themselves at him all day. Didn't
she just?

Aaron opened his car door and got in and Madison handed him the
make-up kit. "One of your dates must be missing this."

He looked puzzled as he took it, then recognition dawned.
"Oh, it's my sister's." He closed the pouch, and placed it in the
back to rest on his bag. To do it, he had to lean backwards and stretch an arm,
and Madison couldn’t help but admire the way his shirt emphasized his muscles.
Then he buckled himself in, interrupting her fantasy, and started the car. "Any
preferences? Any allergies?" he asked her.

"I'm not a fan of French food, but anything else is fair
game," she confessed as they drove out of the studio garage. Not that she
ate much. She bent her head down a bit because she didn't want any of the crew
and other models to notice that she was leaving with the star. She didn't want
to be a frigging cliché.

"Look, I realize we may have gotten off on the wrong
foot," Aaron began. "I'm sorry. I really didn't know how to fix
earlier…"

"Don't worry about it," Madison murmured.

"…And I know I may have seemed so rude to you but it was
really just poor judgment on my part..."

"Really, don't mention it," Madison insisted, hoping
he'd stop bringing it back and making her remember how she had his hand around
him. Sheesh, she was thinking about it again now, how large and insistent he
was, how he filled her up, how she grew all tingly after that.

"…When all I really wanted to do was get you to like
me," he forged on.

"I like you already!" she cried out. Aaron looked at
her in surprise and then she blushed. "I mean, I-I think—I think
you're a decent guy," Madison stuttered.

"So earlier was… earlier wasn't just to keep your
job?" Aaron pressed.

Madison rolled her eyes. "This should be in the ground
rules. No more mention of earlier." She could feel her own neck and face
heating up.

"Aye, aye, captain,"
Aaron
said, but not before she caught the smile on his face.

He turned on the car stereo and she looked at him in surprise.
"Is that Japanese? I wouldn't have pegged you to be a J-Rock fan."

"Can’t live in California without having heard at least
one Asian band in your life," he said. "Some of them just stick more
than others. But you recognized it. You listen to them?"

She shook her head. "Just some of the words. I live and
work in Little Tokyo. Sooner or later, you tend to pick up one or two phrases
beyond
sashimi
and
arigato
."

There was a grin on Aaron’s face. “Impress me.”

“
Aho
!
Baka
!
Damare
!”
she recited. “Don’t ask me what they mean; I
just know my next-door neighbor loves to say it when she gets into an argument
with her husband. Louder person wins. Are you properly impressed now?”

“I’ve been impressed for quite some time now,” he replied, and
Madison unexpectedly blushed again.

They were quiet for a while as he drove down the I-5. “You
mentioned work. Isn’t modeling your job?” he wanted to know. He gave a small
laugh. “Sorry. I must be the only person in SoCal who doesn’t know someone
who’s trying to break into the industry.”

“Don’t worry. Modeling gigs like the Stroke campaign don’t come
every day,” she replied. “But when the agency doesn’t call, well… thank God
there’s Common Grounds.”

“So you work as a barista
and
book modeling gigs through an agency?”

“They represent me, and I’ve a different one to help me get
some acting jobs as well,” Madison revealed. She hesitated. She didn't want him
to think that she was showing off.

“Anything I might have seen you in?”

“Nothing major,” Madison admitted. “Just blink-or-you'll miss
me roles in local commercials and one police procedural. I was a
Hungover
Hooker. I haven't even merited a Victim Number One
yet. I also do some catalog shoots and print ads, but Stroke really is my big
break.”

She saw him wince. “And I almost made you lose it. Sorry about
tha
—”

“Ground rules, remember?” she interrupted. “We said we wouldn't
talk about that.”

He nodded in understanding and was quiet for the rest of the
trip, the silence between them mercifully filled by the Japanese band's
pounding beat. Madison wondered if she was too harsh with him but couldn't find
a way to take it back. She wanted to touch the back of his hand on the wheel,
but decided against it. In the end, she just waited until Aaron brought her to
a restaurant in Monterey Park. He didn't seem to mind the drive and neither did
she.

She had to agree that the place had a great view. The lights
along the freeway darted across the scenery, but it was the restaurant's
dramatic pathway with its
small lit
candles that gave
the place a romantic glow. It felt like she was on a first date, and when
Madison glanced over at Aaron, she couldn't help but blush and accept that
maybe it was.

True to his word, Aaron tried to steer the conversation away
from their earlier close encounter. Over grilled chicken nachos for appetizers,
he asked, “You're really not swimming in tomorrow's shoot?”

Madison raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you had enough of me
in a swimsuit?"