Shuttered Affections (Cornerstone #1) by Rene Folsom Page A

you,” I
said with a hint of embarrassment.
    “Okay,” he responded nervously.
    “My friend, Maddy, the one I went with to Pat’s place
yesterday,” I clarified, making it sound like a question more than a statement.
“She asked me about you. She said she could tell you showed interest in me.”
    His eyes went wide and he dropped his hands on the table. I
reached out for his hand, to hold him and comfort him, but I quickly retreated,
remembering our agreement.
    “Damn. I didn’t realize I was that obvious,” he said,
clearly stressed as he ran both hands through his hair.
    “Don’t worry, she won’t say anything. And, she knows me
better than anyone else in class. She could tell my reaction to you was
anything but innocent,” I said with a blush.
    That made him smile and relax a bit.
    We spent about ten more minutes chatting over nothing
important before some students finally started trickling through the doors.
    He gave us free time to work in the lab during class, which
I welcomed because it meant we would separate a bit, making our desires a little
easier to control.
    Now that I had some separation from Aiden, I noticed just
how many of the girls were drooling over him. At first, it made a nervous
tickle run through me. I usually wasn’t the jealous type, but the thought of
any of them putting their hands on him made me pulse with anger.
    Get over yourself,
Julia. He’s not yours.
    I stealthily watched him as he interacted with the other
students, going over their projects and giving advice. He was genuinely good at
photography instruction. The way he spoke to the students was precise,
knowledgeable, and professional in every way. I also observed just how
different he related with me compared to how he interacted with them.
    Just as I was losing my mind in thoughts of Aiden and I back
in the darkroom together, he glanced over and caught me smiling at him. And,
damn it, I blushed. In an attempt to make it look purposeful, I winked and bit
my lip, causing a delicious smile to spread across his face as he turned his
attention back to the student he was talking to.
    Everyone knew I had my independent study by myself after our
class, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for me to stay behind.
    Maddy was the last to leave. Just as I said goodbye to her,
Aiden rolled his chair to the door of his office and popped his head out to
say, “Hey, Maddy. Could you kick away those door stoppers and shut the doors on
your way out?”
    “Sure, Mr. Stone,” Maddy said, with a flash of a grin in my
direction.
    I just mouthed ‘thank you’ as she rolled her eyes and began
to shut the doors behind her.
    Through the crack of the almost-closed door, she brought her
thumb and pinky up to the side of her head and mouthed call me . Before I could respond, the door clicked shut.
    Aiden rolled back into his office.
    I sat down at Aiden’s big L-shaped desk in the center of the
classroom and loaded the digital photos I took of Pat’s place onto his iMac. I
should have been using one of the student iMacs, but there was something
exciting about using Aiden’s station.
    As I began thumbing through all the photos, I realized I
took a lot more than I thought. They turned out beautiful, but paled in
comparison to the real thing.
    Just as I came across a few photos of the mirror I loved, I
heard a gasp from behind me. Startled, I turned and saw Aiden leaning, one hand
on his big desk, the other on the back of the chair I was sitting in.
    He was just staring at my photo in utter shock and I
immediately felt embarrassed. I didn’t want him to see these photos.
    Ground, swallow me up
now, please, I begged.

Chapter 13
    “This is a very vulnerable part of me, of who I am.”
    “Is that the mirror you were talking about? The one you
wished you could afford?” he asked in astonishment.
    With awkwardness evident across my face, I slowly nodded. Needing
to act more confident than I felt, I answered, “Yes. It’s much bigger in real
life