Gladly. He’d had enough on his plate at the time, with having to decide which employees had to take fewer hours in order to cut back on costs.

Elisa lowered her camera and rolled her head from side to side.

“Do you need a break?” he asked her.

She craned her head over her neck and then stood. “No, I’m fine. If I stop I might lose momentum.”

“I was thinking the soup would look better with some steam coming out of it.”

Elisa set her camera down, then pulled her hair back in a high ponytail, revealing a long neck. One that was perfect for dropping light kisses. “I always digitally add steam in later. If you want it.”

His eyes danced over her neck. He’d never paid attention to such a thing before, so why was he starting now? “Won’t digital steam look fake?”

“Charlene said you’d never done this before,” she said with an alluring smile. “Digital steam looks just as good as the real stuff. Besides, real steam is too much of a variable. The slightest breeze can make it curl in an unattractive shape.”

Suddenly he found himself interested in the art of photographing food. Who knew? “And all the mirrors? What are those for?”

She planted her hands on her slim hips and ran her tongue along her lower lip. It was full and looked good enough to nibble. “They deflect the light in different directions. Different foods need light coming from different angles.” She gestured to the table. “Like with the salad, I had the light coming from behind so you can see the veins in the lettuce. But the soup needed light coming from above so you can see the reflection on the surface of the liquid. With the hamburger, I’ll probably have the light coming from behind so we’ll have some cool reflections on the plate and also have some translucency in the tomato…” Her deep eyes lit on his. “Sorry. I tend to get carried away when people ask me about taking pictures. Most people don’t realize how technical this all is.” Her laugh was melodious and sent blood rushing down to his groin.

He barely managed not to adjust himself around her and glanced at the staging area. “Very technical, I can tell.”

Her teeth nibbled her lower lip.

If she didn’t stop that, he’d do something to seriously embarrass himself.

“I’m boring you, aren’t I?” she said. “It’s just that you’re the first client to ask me questions. Most don’t care about the process, only the end result.”

His eyes stayed on her white teeth, which were still worrying that delectable lower lip. “It’s not boring at all.” Well, he wouldn’t go that far. It was a little boring. But the light in her eyes alone was reason enough to keep asking her questions. “This is all new to me. I just thought I’d be able to take pictures with my camera and send them to the magazine.”

“That’s what most people think. But you would have ended up with yellow food.” When he lifted a brow, she continued. “Light is very important to photographing food. If you don’t have enough light, the food in the picture will look yellow. Not very attractive to potential customers.”

He nodded his understanding even though the science of it still eluded him. “That makes sense.”

Elisa’s eyes roamed down to his mouth before she cleared her throat and picked up her camera again. Was she checking him out? Could he possibly be having the same effect on her that she was having on him?

“After you’re done, you should stay for something to eat.” Now, why would you go and say that? Isn’t it bad enough you’ve been staring at her ass, now you have to come on to her? “You’re taking pictures for us. The least you could let me do is feed you.” Okay, that sounded much more reasonable; not like you’re trying to hit on her while she’s doing a job for you.

She gazed at him over her slender shoulder. “I’ll have a Caesar salad with grilled chicken.”

TWO

ELISA SCOOPED HER FORK BENEATH a piece of soggy lettuce and tried not to stare at the man sitting across from her. She wasn’t even hungry, but the fact that an attractive man asked her to stay for a meal had her agreeing. Well, he was more than attractive. He was downright otherworldly. During her modeling days, she’d been up close and personal with some of the most handsome men on the planet. Had any of them made her heart go all pitter patter and her mind conjure up images it shouldn’t have? That would be a negative.

Brody was what Elisa considered a double threat. Not only did he have devastating looks, but he had an engaging personality to go along with it. When the chef had dropped off her salad, Brody had eyed it like it had worms and said she should be adventurous and eat a burger. Then she said she’d been adventurous enough that morning with the cinnamon roll she’d eaten. The comment had earned her a wicked grin, causing a shallow dimple to appear in his left cheek.

Brody could do some major damage if a woman wasn’t paying attention. Fortunately for her, she had both her eyes wide open.

“So, why food?” he asked after taking a sip of his water.

She paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. “Because you asked me to stay for a meal.”

Another slow grin broke across his face. “Why photograph food?”

Before answering, she slid the fork in her mouth and tried not to wince at the amount of dressing weighing down the lettuce. “I started off photographing landscapes, which is my real passion. If I could, I’d be out there right now taking pictures of anything in nature. Then I realized the world does not need another generic landscape photographer. So I got into food. It’s more lucrative.”

“When you say you’d rather be out taking pictures of nature, what does that mean exactly?”

She pursed her lips and thought about her answer. “Spending time indoors and taking pictures of food was never my ultimate dream.” She gestured toward where she’d snapped pictures earlier. “I mean, I love being behind a camera no matter what, but…” She lifted her shoulders. “It’s just not what I imagined myself doing.”

“So, what happened? Why aren’t you out there taking pictures of sunsets, or whatever?”

His question made her grin. “When I first got into the field, I was. But landscape photography is extremely competitive. And although I loved what I was doing, I wasn’t making enough money. I needed to switch my focus to something more practical.”

Brody tilted his head to one side. “So, if you could you’d be out traveling the world with your camera?”

Was that disappointment she heard in his voice? And if so, why did that make her happy? “Absolutely. When I first got started I traveled the U.S. to build my portfolio. My ultimate dream is to photograph a collapsing ice shelf in Alaska or a migrating heard in Africa. If I could get my photos published in Time Magazine or National Geographic, I would die a happy woman.” She pushed her food around her plate before stabbing a piece of uncharred chicken with her fork.

He stared back at her with admiration coloring his spectacular eyes. “You sound like you’re a woman who knows what she wants.”

“I am.”

When he shifted in the booth, his leg brushed hers. The heat coming off him was palpable.

“If you’re half as good out in nature as you were in here, I’d say you could make a good career for yourself.”

His compliment warmed her in a way nothing had in a long time. Why did his approval mean so much to her? “Most people don’t realize how scientific and professional photography is. It can take hours to get one good shot.”

Brody glanced at the dining room, now put back together. “Yeah, I noticed that.”

The dry humor in his deep voice didn’t go unnoticed on her part.

As he took a sip of his water, his stormy-gray eyes burned into her over the rim of the glass. Something close to butterflies skittered around her stomach at the way he looked at her, as though his mind had conjured a naughty fantasy involving the two of them. Damn, she’d just met the man, and already he had her hormones in disarray.

And Elisa had never seen eyes quite that shade before. They couldn’t really be considered blue; they were too light. The penetrating gaze accompanied by hair as black as her own made for a knee-weakening effect she wasn’t used to, nor was she comfortable with. She’d only met the man a few hours ago, and she already felt like she wanted to come out of her skin.

With his eyes still on hers, he lowered the glass and wiped a bead of moisture off his lip.

His gaze ran over her face, then dropped down to her plate. “You’re not eating much of your salad. Is part of being a health freak not eating a whole meal?”

Elisa followed his attention to her meal. Let’s see, drenched lettuce, overcooked chicken, and questionable tomatoes? She’d done the salad more justice than it deserved, which was a shame considering the one she took a picture of had been damn near immaculate. This one looked like it’d been thrown together by a six-year-old.

“Well,” she started, not sure how to tell Brody the meal was subpar. “Would you like me to be honest?”

He lifted a hand off the back of the booth in a please-do gesture.

“The salad’s not that good. There’s way too much dressing and the chicken is overcooked. Quite frankly, it’s almost inedible.”

One of his large hands pressed against his chest. “Wow. Don’t tiptoe over my feelings or anything.”

She picked up her water glass. “You asked me to be honest. I didn’t think I’d be doing you any favors by lying.”

Something darkened those beautiful gray eyes. “Trust me, you wouldn’t be. Believe it or not, I appreciate the honesty.”