Sexy Wreck

Chapter 21

Zeke chuckled in amusement. "Oh boy, her mother has that wait-until-your-daddy-finds-out-about-this-you-silly-kid look on her face."

Axelle lifted a brow. "And how would you know that look?"

"Because it's a universal look among mothers, my own included." he said with a shrug that made the firelight play along the muscles in his back and arms. "Anytime my mom shot any of us boys 'that look', we knew we were in big trouble when Dad got home."

She sorted through more photos, wishing her mother had cared enough to snap out of her depression long enough to take an interest in whatever her daughter was doing: good, bad or otherwise. Luckily, Axelle's photography hobby had kept her from turning into an outright rebel with a cause. And Lord knew she's had plenty of cause.

As the fire crackled warmly in the hearth, and with Zeke enjoying her pictures, Axelle continued to entertain him with the stories she saw within the photographs. On some of the snapshots, he even offered his own observations, most of which echoed hers. When she came across a picture she'd taken of a homeless man, her chest tightened with emotion as she remembered that day. 

"This is Rubiño, she said, and showed Zeke the five-by-seven shot of an endomorph man sitting on a park bench, his clothes old and tattered. His hands were gnarled and dirty, his face unshaven, and he was holding a crude cardboard sign that said "Will Work For Food". "I took one look into his eyes and knew he'd lived a long, hard life. I bought him a hot dog and soda from a vendor in the park, and I sat down to talk to him. Despite how gruff and scruffy he looked, he was a sweet man, and when I asked if he had any family, he told he'd lost his wife and two kids twenty-three years ago in a car accident, and that he's been the sole survivor of the accident. It didn't take much to figure out that the loss had devastated him, to the point that he stopped caring about anything, including his own life."

She brushed her thumb along the edge of the photographs, feeling the man's pain and heartache deep in her chest. "I asked him if I could take his pictures, and he gave me permission to do so. He even smiled for me," she said, pointing to the man's gap-toothed grin.

Zeke glanced from the photo to her. "I'd bet you were the bright spot of that man's day."

"I'd like to think that I was. Before I left him, i gave him twenty dollars to make sure he had few more good meals, but her gave me so much more in return." A lump rose in her throat when she thought about her memorable encounter with Rubiño. "This photo tells a hundred stories, and every time I look at it, I hear a different tale. Crazy, huh?"

Zeke gently tucked wayward curls behind her ear, his expression full of tenderness and understanding, as if he had a direct link to the lonely, vulnerable little girl inside the woman who sought comfort in her pictures of other people. "No, it makes perfect sense to me."

Her breath caught and held, much like her stuttering pulse and the squeeze of her heart that yearned for all the things she'd grown up without. All the things she swore she didn't need in her life, but Zeke made her believe were possible.

Fears and insecurities reared their ugly heads, and she looked away and began picking up the picture to put back in the portfolio folder. 

"Most people read books, I read pictures," she went on in a rush. "And the photos I take outside of the studio are my own personal storybook."

"I like that, he murmured, more calmly than she felt.

She knew she was babbling, anything to keep the conversation going. "Sometimes I take certain shots of people, and it's like I have a window straight into their souls." Finished putting away the snapshots, she set the folder up on the couch, but couldn't bring herself to look at Zeke again.

But she should have known that he wouldn't let her escape him so easily. His fingers curled around her arm, and he gently tugged her down onto the air mattress, then stretched out beside her, with half his body pressing against hers and a thigh resting heavily between her legs.

He started deeply into her eyes, so intuitive and determines. "Sometimes people don't need a camera to see into another person's soul," he said, and cradled her cheeks in his big, warm palm, forcing her to confront the emotional connection between them that scared the living daylights out of her. "I look into your eyes and I see a little girl who's carried a wealth of emotional burdens for too many years now, and a woman who is afraid to take chances on what most likely is a sure thing. I see a woman who hides behind her camera, even while she tries to uncover everyone else's deepest secrets."

She shook her head frantically, trying to deny the painful truth he'd so easily unearthed about her. She'd let him too close, shared things with him she should have kept to herself. 

"Zeke..."

He pressed his fingers against her lips, quieting her. "You don't need to hide anything from me, honey. Ever. I'll always be here for you."

It was those words that she found the hardest to trust, even though her heart wanted so badly to believe in Zeke, the honorable man he was, and the promises he mad. Tears gathered in her eyes and stung the back of her throat. Not wanting him to witness her weakness, her greatest fears, she plowed er fingers though his hair an brought his mouth down to hers. 

ANNOUNCEMENT!! EVERYONE, EYES HERE!

Sorry for the late update! I'm trying to continue writing this book despite my busy life. Don't worry, I think I'll finish the book next week... who knows. If I dont feel lazy! lol.

Suggestions, anyone?

Tell me your ideas about the upcoming ending! I have been working on it. Awwwwww :) #mixedemotions