Chapter 62

She gave him a baleful glance. "Yes, you don't need to ask."

He swore, it was like someone showing her common courtesy was unheard of. "Dinner's done." At her look of confusion, he elaborated. "I grilled some chicken." She may have only bought his grocery items earlier, but he'd countered. This kitchen split she'd tried to instill was ending here.

She didn't even deign to glance up from the screen. "I'm not very hungry, thanks."

He bit back a weary sigh and tried to remember strangling her would solve squat. "I haven't seen you eat all day. I made enough for two. Please join me?"

Lip chewing. Staring. Blinking. Finally, after the longest pause in the history of womankind, she climbed off the bed. "Sure. Lead on."

Praise Hihcebe. Progress. He pointed to the photos. "Are those from today?" She nodded. "Can you bring them down so I can see?"

And there she went with the stunned stupid expression again. "Okay." She gathered the pictures and preceded him out. In the kitchen, she eyed the plates. "It looks really good. Thank you."

Taking a seat across from her, he said nothing. No sense in rocking the boat. He waited for her to cut into the chicken before starting himself, and an overwhelming sense of relief hit him when she chewed.

Strong and independent and fiery as she always appeared, he'd had a different impression of her through the years. Especially recently. Nothing specific had triggered the sensation, but it was there just the same. Her bravado seemed like a front. Without a word, she screamed a contradiction of take me and take care of me.

And an ingrained instinct to suddenly do both was too overpowering to ignore.

In the silence, he reached for the photos and sifted through them. Damn, but she was good. The undershot of the tree and filtered sunlight was amazing. He chuckled at another of Bones with a ladybug on his nose. She must've snapped it after Nakos left to tend to the horses.

He turned it around to show her. "Olivia's going to love this."

She smiled. "I'm printing a larger one for her tomorrow."

Nodding, he kept flipping while they ate. There was a close-up of a dandelion, blades of grass surrounding it. Simple, yet it spoke volumes between the colors and the background blur.

At the last batch, he paused over his own image. Two of him leaning against the barn and three of him crouched by the dog. He'd never been comfortable having his picture taken, but these were artistic more than candid. And...emotional, if that made sense.

Amy was the first person to complement or boost another's ego. Forever honest and supportive, too. But if her actions were a sentence, her words a page, then her photos were the whole book. They relayed a tale through her eyes and it always intrigued him.

Yet these? Of him? For the first time in memory, he was getting the unfiltered version of how she viewed him. Strong. Pensive. Gallant. There was something oddly romantic about the shots, as well. His chest swelled the longer he stared.

Unsure whether to get choked up or nervous, he turned them around. "Didn't know you had the camera on me."

Her grin stalled his lungs. "I'm sneaky like that. Don't worry. I won't show anyone. Which is a crying shame. You belong in a magazine ad."

"What?"

"I'm serious." She set her fork on her empty plate. "There's a ton of stock photo sites where advertizing people and others go to buy pictures. Some just purchase for private use. Authors and cover designers are the biggest pull, though. I could make a mint on you alone."

He placed the stack between them on the table, shocked his hand wasn't shaking. "Do you have accounts on the sites?" How many others of him did she have?

"No, but I'm thinking about it. Might earn me some decent additional income." Her lips twisted. "It would take awhile to build an audience, but the right tags would draw people to my stuff. The real bank is shots like these." She tapped the one of him. "Private shoots with models or exclusive rights to certain pictures."

Huh. He didn't know what the hell she'd meant by tags and whatnot, but she should set up accounts and plow forward if she could make a profit from the sites. Besides, he'd love nothing more than for her to get her work in the public eye.

Picking up the pictures of himself, he glanced at them again. He hated attention and the very idea of being slapped on book covers or something made him shudder. But, if it would help her, he wouldn't hesitate. "You can use these, if you like."

She froze, pretty mermaid eyes bugging. "Say what?"

"None of these show my face. That would be my hard limit. I don't want to be recognized. As long as you get my permission and let me see the shots first, you can upload and sell them." He paused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Expelling a ragged breath, she rubbed her temple. "Why, he says." She shook her head like he'd sprouted wings and said he was the Tooth Fairy. "I mean, the better question is, why would you let me do that?"

There was very little he wouldn't do for her, and he was more than a lot pissed off she didn't know that. Obviously, he'd done a crappy job of showing her how much he cared. "Because 'Woods Photography' has a nice ring to it."

She tilted her head in thought, then dropped her chin in her hand. "It kinda does." Her gaze slid to his. "Are you sure? I can go forward without your pictures."

"I'm sure." He rose and grabbed their plates, rinsing them in the sink. "Do it, Ames. Put yourself out there." Drying his hands, he turned to face her and leaned on the counter.

She studied him with a mix of awe and disbelief. Not unlike the state in which he'd spent his day. And that brought him back to a conversation they needed to have.

"About what happened earlier..."

A slow blink, and she turned her head away. "Let's not."

"We need to talk about it."

"No, we don't." She looked at him, and the somnolent hollowness in her eyes killed him. "It happened. It's over. Let's ignore the whole thing."

Why? And he didn't want to ignore it. Hell, he didn't think he could. For that matter, how could she? It wasn't as if she hadn't participated. Willingly. Eagerly.

Damn, the reminder had his blood heating.

Rubbing his jaw, he chose his words with care. He had no clue where her head was at. "That was one hell of a kiss. Pretending it didn't happen is begging for trouble." He fought for divine wisdom because he was at a loss. "I..."

She raised her hand to stop him and stood. "You didn't mean it and putting focus on the situation will only upset you more."

Didn't mean it? Was she joking? He'd meant it so fiercely his shaft was going to have a permanent zipper impression. "You're confusing me to no end."

"Am I? Think about it, Nakos. Really think."

He didn't need to rehash the kiss. It was playing in a constant loop before his eyes. Heaven help him, but he wanted to do it again. Repeatedly. He'd asked her, begged her, to answer the question of whether she was attracted to him. Her utter refusal and the deflection in her eyes was all the reply he'd needed. So what, exactly, was she trying to do by getting him to ignore the elephant in the room?

"I'm not sorry, anim. I'm not," he insisted after she shook her head.

"We're not going there, not doing this."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, lest he use them to throttle her. "Why not?" Nothing. Not a syllable. Fine. He'd try something else. "What do you want?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Of course, it matters."

Hands on her hips, she huffed. "Did it matter what you wanted when Olivia didn't return your feelings?"

Damn her. She should've been a lawyer. "This situation is entirely different." Like night and day. Oil and water. Politics and integrity...

"How?"

"Because you kissed me back." Olivia never would've done that, even if he'd been stupid enough to try. Amy, though? He nearly groaned. He was not alone in this attraction.

The brutally open gaze she cut him was jarring. "Your body responded to our kiss. Yes?"

Hell yes. He nodded, not sure he could speak. Or should.

"Your body was into it. That's basic. Visceral. But your mind and heart don't want me. No." She lifted her palm to stop his argument. "Don't lie to me. Can you honestly say the first thought running through your head wasn't Oh, shit. I just kissed Amy? What the hell am I going to do?"

Okay, she had him there.

But that didn't mean he didn't want her. Physically or emotionally. He simply needed to discuss the matter with her. Explore possibilities. Conversation had never been a problem for them, and he despised the way she refused to talk now. This was too important to brush off, damn it. How were either of them supposed to know if there was any potential if she put up walls around the event?

She crossed her arms, her head bowed and shoulders deflating. "That's what I thought. Here's your out, Nakos. Take it. Don't beat yourself up over a simple mistake." She turned away. "Thank you for dinner. It was delicious."

While he picked his jaw up off the floor, she quietly left the room.