Seductive Shadows by Marni Mann Page A

couldn’t believe I had been partnered with him . This was the closest I’d ever been to a celebrity. He was one in my little world, at least.
    He handed me a piece of chalk. “Impress me.”
    I immediately thought of Victoria and how her eyes watched me from the monitors. Cameron’s were watching me like that now. My body reacted the same way it had before my first shift at the mansion.
    “I’m really better with paint, so why don’t you go first?”
    He grinned. “Pretend it’s black paint, then...in stick form.”
    I moved the chalk over to the canvas, but I stopped before it hit the grain. I hated to even ask; I didn’t have a choice. “This isn’t what you probably want to hear from your partner, especially on the first day of class, but what am I supposed to be sketching? I didn’t hear the assignment.”
    “I know.”
    My back straightened. “You do?”
    “The professor repeated your name three times.”
    “Right. About that…” I exhaled the air I’d been holding in, but the nervous flutter in my stomach didn’t settle at all. “It’s an early class, and I worked late, so it’s hard to stay focused.”
    When Cameron smiled, his teeth weren’t straight. They weren’t bright white, either. But his mouth wasn’t what held me; it was his eyes. They were an icy, baby blue that popped against his light caramel skin. His hair was buzzed short, each strand the same length, and it spread down his cheeks, around his chin and top lip. He was sexy...and not in a subtle way.
    He leaned closer. His pupils circled the room before they landed on me. “We’re artists. We all work late.”
    My face reddened and I laughed, but not for the reason he probably thought. His breath smelled of citrus. I wanted more of it.
    “So…the assignment is?” I asked.
    He stared at me for several seconds before his lips finally parted. “We have to paint life drawings.”
    “Of each other?”
    He nodded, and a hint of a smile spread toward his eyes. “We’re supposed to model in different colored lights.”
    “I’m going to be your model?”
    “Sounds like you’re having a hard time understanding the assignment.”
    “No, I understand it perfectly.” I grinned. My teeth weren’t perfect either, but at least they gleamed now from Sandy’s polish. “But the only life drawings I’ve done have been with naked models.”
    “You don’t want to get naked for me?” he asked.
    “Do you want to get naked for me ?” I asked back.
    He let out a laugh. It was honest and refreshing, and despite the thought of stripping for him without wearing a mask, my whole body started to relax.
    “Why don’t we meet tomorrow night?” he asked. “We can start slowly.”
    I had one more shift scheduled for this week…and it was tomorrow night.
    “How about tomorrow afternoon?” I asked.
    “You know this is going to take more than one session, right?”
    I nodded. “Several, I would imagine.”
    He smiled again. “Then tomorrow afternoon it is.”

CHAPTER TEN
     
    I helped Lilly into bed and waited for her to get settled before I fluffed the pillows and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She had just returned from a three-night stay in the hospital; the doctors had tried to determine why she was excreting so much blood, and the spot it was coming from. We were sent home with a shorter life expectancy and three new prescriptions that required multiple doses per day. She wasn’t lucid enough to take her meds while I was at work. I wasn’t sure if she even had the will to, and I didn’t trust any of her bar buddies to dispense them.
    I had her take a sip of water, and then moved into my room, closing her door behind me. My cell phone sat on top of the bed. I picked it up, squeezed it into my palm, and threw it on the mattress. Why wasn’t there another option? Someone besides Dallas who I could call? It had been such a long time since I’d needed help from anyone. I hated that I needed it now, and that the help was