Angelina’s boyfriend, Mike, openly glowered at Gabriel, while Sabrina tried once again to adjust Mike’s pocket handkerchief so that it could be seen more clearly in the photograph. He kept craning his head around to see what Angelina was up to, pulling on the small piece of fabric until she wanted to scream. To her disgust, Joy took the antics in stride, laughing openly at how ridiculous the girls and guys were behaving. Every time Sabrina glanced at the older woman, she smirked. Of course, she’d been a photographer in New York and this little studio was her retirement job, so she could afford to find amusement in others’ misery, Sabrina thought darkly.
Adding to her frustration, Jimmy and Gabriel, in their own perverse way, had suddenly decided that a bit of open flirting with her would only add to the fun atmosphere in the studio. They winked at Sabrina while she adjusted the lights and positioned the boys, and studiously ignored the other people except for Joy. Angelina and her little posse didn’t notice at first what was happening, but once they did, trying to get them to pose correctly and smile caused Sabrina no end of irritation. Of course, as soon as Mike snarked at her about how badly she used to dress, Jimmy and Gabriel began paying even more attention to her, stroking her arm when she walked past and calling her “babe” and “darling.”
She sighed, trying to pretend exasperation, but as embarrassing as it was, she loved it, even if it made the shoot next to impossible. Sabrina felt like they were photographing puppies. Non-housebroken puppies, she muttered to herself. All she wanted to do was go home, strip off her clothes, and sink into a relaxing bath, which was ironic considering how badly she had wanted to leave the house just a few short hours ago.
“Honey, that’s perfect, right there,” Joy said and Sabrina stepped back, brushing a piece of lint from Mike’s jacket. He stood behind Angelina for the “King and Queen” shot while the rest of the court wandered around the studio, touching things and generally making a nuisance out of themselves. Joy looked from her computer to the couple, took a few photos, then moved her camera to shoot from a different angle. They only had a few more left to take before the final group photo.
Sabrina rubbed her aching eyes, but even with her hands over her face, she saw Angelina glaring at her. She ignored the girl and stood next to Jimmy near the exit. She sighed as he slung his arm around her neck companionably, leaning over to kiss her behind her ear.
“Man, I will be so glad when this is all over,” Sabrina said to him, staring flatly back at Angelina. If looks could kill, I’d be dead, she thought.
“They always so hostile?” Jimmy whispered, kissing her again. Joy was trying to persuade Angelina to smile while Mike picked at the handkerchief Sabrina had just arranged, to her irritation.
“Yeah,” she replied, rolling her head around to loosen the kinks. “I’m used to it.”
Jimmy frowned, and then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Gabriel checking them out from across the room. She nudged Jimmy and inclined her head to indicate the other man’s gaze. Gabriel deliberately hitched his jeans a bit lower on his hips when he saw he had their attention, adjusting himself and not at all discreetly. Sabrina choked on a gasp, while Jimmy froze.
“Jimmy, I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” she whispered when she could breathe again. Gabriel smiled at them. Sabrina glared at him but he just grinned wider. The rest of the girls were staring back and forth from Jimmy and Sabrina to Gabriel, while the boys stood sullenly in a corner, looking for all the world like a group of six-year-olds in time-out.
“You know, I think I completely understand where you’re coming from.” Jimmy gave her one last kiss before straightening up and winking at Gabriel. “Goddamn, he’s fucking hot,” he breathed. Sabrina watched Gabriel’s pants slip lower on his hips, revealing a strip of skin between his shirt and the top button as the other man moved around the perimeter of the room toward them. Sabrina felt Jimmy’s hands twitch against her waist and she knew he was staring at Gabriel, too.
Sabrina nodded distractedly, agreeing with Jimmy, unable to take her eyes off the delicious man coming closer. The three girls of the court stood a few feet to their left. Gabriel would have to walk past the girls to get to her and Jimmy. As he neared, a bead of sweat rolled down his face. She wanted to lick it off. It was hot in here from the lights, and he was wearing that leather jacket. He was probably roasting.
“Why doesn’t he take the jacket off?” Sabrina whispered to Jimmy.
“Doesn’t want to scare the civilians,” he answered, watching as Gabriel stepped around the girls. Sabrina glanced at Jimmy just in time to watch him lick his lips. She stared for a moment, then looked at Gabriel again. She couldn’t move. Disaster neared, but it was a beautiful kind of disaster. She wanted it. Of course, just her luck, as soon as Gabriel reached her and Jimmy, Joy waved to come help her again. As she turned to go, Gabriel tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She smiled at him and strode away, leaving the two men standing next to each other.
“You going to be able to keep your mind on work?” Joy asked when Sabrina came over.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Sabrina rolled her eyes at Joy as the older woman laughed. Then Angelina gasped and Sabrina sighed to herself. What now?
Sabrina had already beckoned the rest of the court over so she could place them in the shot, but on their way to the mark, a few girls stopped to ogle Jimmy and Gabriel. Then one of the guys tripped and all of them almost ended up on the floor in a mess of hideous taffeta. Sabrina looked back to see what had caused the traffic accident. When she saw that Gabriel had taken off his jacket, she rolled her eyes again. He and Jimmy stood very close to each other as Gabriel adjusted his holster. Their shirts outlined their sleek muscles, and she watched Gabriel’s biceps flex as he tried to reach behind and adjust the straps. Even Joy stared when Jimmy reached around Gabriel to help reseat the leather. Sabrina heard him say something about it twisting, then saw him smooth his hand up and over Gabriel’s shoulder. She coughed uncomfortably, remembering those hands on her, how it felt to touch those shoulders.
“Damn, girl, I’m an old lady and those two are distracting me,” Joy said, helping sort out the girls as Sabrina tugged on skirts to settle the folds correctly against the floor. “How the hell are you living with both of them without going nuts?”
Sabrina laughed, ignoring the incredulous looks the girls were giving us. “Who said I wasn’t going nuts?” She thought how yummy Jimmy and Gabriel looked at home, tousled from sleep, then shook her head. Focus!
She moved one of the boys into the correct position for the camera a little more harshly than she intended, but he wouldn’t cooperate. She looked up to see what the problem was and found him staring at Gabriel’s gun. This was ridiculous! She sighed. “For god’s sake, just stand behind Melissa and put your hand on her shoulder and don’t move,” Sabrina said clearly.
He blushed, then did as she said while Joy snickered. If she’d known getting a little cranky was all she had to do to get people to listen, she would have snarled at them a long time ago! Sabrina huffed and the other guys in the shoot looked at her before posing obediently. At school she’d been mostly quiet, so it was probably a shock to them to discover that she could speak at all.
“So, you’re living with the two of them?” Angelina asked, looking up at Sabrina from where she sat on the stool. “Oh wait, I forgot, Jimmy likes guys. They probably don’t even know you’re around, huh?” She grinned evilly at Sabrina, who ignored her as she tried to pose the rest of the group. Sabrina knew from experience that a battle of words with Angelina never ended well. And she didn’t particularly feel like talking to the girl who’d once smeared mashed potatoes down her blouse in tenth grade. Ignoring them always worked for me before, Sabrina thought, then cringed as she heard Joy snark from behind the camera.