Page 5 of For the Cameras
“I’m a little nervous,” I said to Chase. “I barely know how to smile for a regular picture. I’m going to be awkward when the cameras roll.”
He waved a hand through the air. “Everybody’s awkward at first, then they get used to it in ten minutes. You’ll be a natural on camera.”
I felt a slight heat creep up to my cheeks again, but I appreciated his compliment. How was I supposed to respond?
Another tip from the article I read:Always say thank you when you are complimented. Don’t reject a compliment.
“I wouldn’t count on me being a natural, but you’re very kind. And, well, thank you,” I said.
Chase looked great as he gracefully went around my kitchen, setting things up with Carla’s help. His crystal-blue eyes were surrounded by thick, dark lashes, and even his basic clothes hugged his body like a glove.
He was exactly the kind of guy I’d always been attracted to, and always been too afraid to make a move on.
He was somehow pretty at the same time as being masculine. Talkative, confident, and charming, even when meeting me for the first time.
Chase was clearly the kind of guy who got as much sex as he wanted, anytime he wanted.
And if I spent any more time letting my eyes linger on his biceps, I was going to forget how to speak completely, no matter how much advice I had rolling around in my head from the internet.
“Honestly, Adam,” he told me as he swung back around near the counter island, “I think you could probably wear a burlap sack and still look great.”
“Who’s ready to get this party started?” a voice said from near the front door of the house. Shawn and Nathan, the brother duo behind Fixer Brothers Construction, appeared at the edge of the kitchen, all decked out in their construction work pants and branded shirts. I’d already met up with them before when they’d decided to take me on as a renovation client, but I still felt starstruck seeing them walk into my kitchen. They’d started up their home renovation TV show in the past couple of years, and being around them still felt like seeing a minor celebrity.
If this morning had already felt surreal, now it felt like a fever dream.
“Wow. I can’t believe it. Seeing you guys here in my house,” I said, reaching out to shake hands with the guys. “I’ve watched every episode of your show. Even though it’s not my usual kind of show. Not that home TV shows are bad, I just—I mean, I love you guys.”
Shit. When I’d met them for the behind-the-scenes meetings at their office, I’d been able to keep it cool, but now I was as scattered as could be.
Shawn and Nathan were cool and professional, though.
“We’re excited to get started on transforming your home,” Shawn said, already looking TV-ready. “This place is already great, and we can make it shine.”
“We’ll get started on the initial footage soon, but first, we always like to talk to our clients off-camera, just a little bit,” Shawn explained to Adam. “A few minutes to get comfortable. What do you do for work, Adam?”
3
CHASE
It wasn’t as if I expected Adam to say that his career was completely centered around putting explicit videos up on OnlyShots.
Yeah, guys, I upload videos of myself coming online multiple times a week. Oh, and no one knows it's me, by the way.
Adam was shy enough to begin with, and he certainly wasn’t going to admit that.
I knew it must not be Adam’s real job anyway, because there was no way in hell he was making much money from his videos. Finding his profile was like finding a diamond in the rough for me: almost no one knew about him, but he had a small, steadily growing follower base on the website.
But I sure as hell didn’t expect that Adam’s actual job would be something intensely demanding.
“I’m a data analyst,” Adam said, seemingly confident for the first time this morning. “I work with research doctors.”
“And because I knownothingabout the world outside of construction, what does that… actually mean?” Shawn asked,grinning at him. “Me use tools. Me fix houses. Me not a smart man.”
Nathan snorted. “My brother’s being modest. He’s smart as hell. But I’m also curious what kind of data you work with.”
Adam was polite as he pushed back his hair. “I work with research neurologists to perform mathematical data studies.”
Shawn and Nathan both blinked at him.