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.”I"d already turned to check out the next picture when hesnorted.“It was more than two years ago.” He sighed.“YouCaught | A.B.Gayle63said you only arrived a week ago, Daniel.You"re no tourist.”The acidity in his voice was sourer than the beer he"dhanded me to drink.Fuck.I"d been so intent on trying to find a topic ofconversation to cheer him up that I"d forgotten the role I wassupposed to be playing.I went over and placed my bottle on the low table, wellaway from the photographic journals.My hands had startedshaking so badly, I was scared I was going to spill it.He hadevery right to be angry with me.I"d lied about who I wasright from the start.If I"d been sincerely trying to helpsomeone I suspected of being on the verge of suicide, Ishould never have consented to have sex with him.And if I"djust been acting on my attraction, I should never have liedabout who I was.Either way I was at fault.I wiped my hands on the jeans again, picked up thejournals, and handed them to him.“Thanks for showing me,but you better put these away.I"d hate them to getdamaged.” My voice shook, and when I finished speaking, Ihad to bite my lips to hide my feelings.He took the books, locked them away in one of the tallbookcases, and turned to stare at me.“Well, Daniel, who areyou, or should I ask, what are you?”“I"m not a tourist,” I admitted quietly.“Why did you lie to me?” At least his cold anger wasbetter than the grief that had been present when he"d staredat the photo.He came closer and towered above me.Bothhands clenched into tight fists at his sides.Caught | A.B.Gayle64Shit, the sooner I left, the better.I knew I shouldn"t haveaccepted his invitation to come inside.“Look, just give memy cam—”“And what was that all about? The parents in Boston,the photos of the lighthouse, the story of your travels.Werethey all lies too?” The words were spat at me like machinegun bullets.Each one hit home.His hands might have been clenched into fists.Minewere shaking.I folded my arms tight against my body todisguise the fact.“My parents did live in the States and arenow in Hong Kong.That part was all true.Just give me mycamera, and I"ll leave, okay? I"m sorry.”“You"re sorry? Is that all you bloody well have to say foryourself? So what do you do—pick up stray men for a living?Use your beauty to lure them into bed? Then what? Nicktheir bloody wallet when they"re asleep? Take photos and usethem for blackmail?”I lashed out at him before I realized what I was doing.He hadn"t been expecting the blow, so I managed to connectquite hard.He caught my wrist more by reflex than anythingand tried to twist my arm up behind my back.Using skillsthat had almost become second nature, I broke free andretreated to the far side of the room.I stood there fighting back tears, massaging the wristhe"d twisted while he rubbed the side of his face.The redmark on his cheek still stood out against his tan.The cornerof his mouth curled up in amusement, as it had so manytimes before.“Seems like you can look after yourself quitewell after all, but why aren"t you running? Aren"t youafraid?”Caught | A.B.Gayle65“I"m not scared of you.”He raised his eyebrows at my statement, but strangely, Iwasn"t frightened.Maybe I shouldn"t have hit him, but hisaccusation about my motive had ripped open the sore spothe"d prodded a few times before.Plus I couldn"t deny myguilt.I had lied.“Look, just give me my camera back, and I"llget out of your hair.”He laughed and rubbed his bald scalp, genuinelyamused by my inadvertent turn of phrase.“Oh, Daniel, whatam I going to do with you?”What was I going to do without him? Despite all theintensity of the last few minutes, my body still rememberedthe feel of him inside me.He shook his head and disappeared down the longhallway leading from the living area.Moments later hereturned to stand beside me near the sofa and held out mycamera.A lump formed in my throat.The moment almostfelt anticlimactic.I grabbed the camera, and this time he pulled it back soI fell against him.Once again he held up his arm, so I wasoff balance and trapped in his embrace.Shit.This guy hadthe trick down to a fine art.Maybe he had sisters he"d teasedthe same way.If he did, he sure as hell wouldn"t have heldthem as tightly as he did me.The hair on his bare chesttickled.As my gaze shifted from the camera to his face, hetwisted the Pentax out of my fingers, dropped it on the sofa,and caught me in both arms.Caught | A.B.Gayle66“Do you deny you were deliberately trying to attract myattention?”I shook my head.“Will you tell me why?” He seemed to be pleading withme, wanting some reason that made sense.“I don"t care whether you believe me or not, but I wasn"ttrying to pick you up for sex.” I hated seeing the hurt in hiseyes, but no way could I tell him the truth.Connie hadstressed to me not to tell anyone what we were doing.Peoplewould probably inform the authorities, and then all sorts oflegality issues would come into play.Currently, acting on herbehalf, I was only having friendly chats with people.Officialknowledge would change everything.“But you won"t tell me why.” Bitterness tinged hiswords.“No… I can"t.”A flash of anger crossed his face to be replaced by one ofgrim determination.I tried to twist out of his grasp so I could grab thecamera, but he held me even tighter, bringing his face onlyinches away from mine.“Stop it.I"m thinking.” For a secondI thought he was going to kiss me again, but he shook hishead slightly instead.Every part of me was turned on by him again.Thehardness of his leg against my throbbing cock and the roughwarmth of his hand against my back.Despite everything, Istill felt like burrowing my nose into the hair on his chestand rubbing my hands all over his body.Caught | A.B.Gayle67“Okay.I"ll give you the camera on one condition.”“What?” I struggled to get the word out and swallowed towet my throat.“That you model for me”—hot breath warmed my skinas he whispered against my ear—“nude.”The grip on my back relaxed, so I pulled myself out ofhis grasp.“No way.”He picked up the camera and headed toward the steps.“I don"t like being lied to.I think you owe me that much atleast.”“You want me to pose like one of those?” I called afterhis retreating figure.My heart was hammering in my chest.He stopped, turned, and raised an eyebrow.“Why not?You"ve been „posing" all afternoon as a tourist.With youracting abilities, you shouldn"t have any problem.”Caught | A.B.Gayle68Chapter 5I FOLLOWED him downstairs.The front door beckoned.Atthe bottom step, I paused.Taylor stood at the entrance toanother room, watching me.All trace of anger had vanished,and the bleakness that had been there when we met wasback.“If you really want to go, Daniel, I"ll take out the memorycard and return the rest of your gear.It"s up to you.But Ineed a model for a certain… project… I need to do, and youwould be perfect.”Go or stay? I did feel like I owed him my time, if nothingelse.“I don"t do porn shots.”The wicked gleam returned to his eyes as he walkedback toward me.“I prefer to think of them as erotic, notpornographic.” He glanced at a series of black-and-whitephotos that lined the wall of the downstairs corridor.Theywere even more explicit than the pictures upstairs.“These aren"t like the ones on display in Paddington,” Icommented as I studied them
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